Sola plant stem is an ideal material for making bird foot toys from as its easy to chew and shred. Learn about what makes Sola ideal for bird foot toys.
Sola material originally comes from a shrub plant that’s native to the South Eastern areas of the world. The pith of the stem is a lightweight and shapeable material. This allows it to be formed into any design making it a perfect bird foot toys. Sola is also excellent as bird foraging material.
Aeschynomene Aspera in the wild - IRRI Photos - Part of the image collection of the International Rice Research Institute
Sola is also known by the names of Shola, Shola Pith Plant, Yucca, Netti and more. The species of this flowering plant is Aeschynomene Aspera and it is from the family Fabaceae. The stems of this shrubby plant are where the wonderful Sola material is harvested from. To make the Sola Bird Balls many strips of Sola are laid next to each other and then tightly tight together into a bunch. This bunch is then formed into a sphere form and left to air dry. Once the material is completely dried out the balls are hand cut into their final lovely shapes.
These balls are perfect foot toys to play with as they are. Easy for pets to pickup with their beaks and feet, the balls can be manipulated all about. Sola material is similar to balsa except that it doesn’t splinter and is much easier to chew apart for pet birds. Sola is so grippable that pets will be easily be able to grab the ball with their talons and hold it while chewing it with their beak. The balls can have holes drilled in them for hanging from the cage and other larger toys. Even easily break the balls up with your hand and use the Sola as added foraging & stuffing material.
