Are fake plants OK for finches?

[Trinosaur]

I'm new to the hobby and became a finch keeper quite suddenly, but I have 2 finches in this enclosure. They are male/female. On advice, I removed the nest to prevent breeding but I want them to still have a roosting area. I've seen others use fake plants in their enclosure so I wanted to try the same.

But I've been thinking about it and I wonder if these are OK? They don't seem to use any glue or anything but they do have that funky plastic smell when I took them out of the bag. I saw both of the birds take a cursory nibble after I put them in and I'm wondering if it's better to remove them now.

Any thoughts on this?

[Sheather]

I prefer softer leafy plants and silk flowers, use them in all of my cages. I avoid the plastic ones, as they seem like they'd be less comfortable. Not sure about the smell.

I get mine at Dollar Tree, but hobby stores sometimes sell nice long garlands too.

[Trinosaur]

I prefer softer leafy plants and silk flowers, use them in all of my cages. I avoid the plastic ones, as they seem like they'd be less comfortable. Not sure about the smell.

I get mine at Dollar Tree, but hobby stores sometimes sell nice long garlands too.

I went to basically a Dollar Tree equivalent here in Canada called "Dollarama." Maybe a little closer to "Family Dollar" in the states. Either way the plastic smell seems to be fading and I think it's too thick for the birds to actually damage. My main concern is them potentially ingesting it and getting sick.

Do your birds try to eat your plants?

[lovezebs]

Trinosaur

If the plants I buy have a smell, I'll soak them in hot water with Dawn dish soap. Then I'll rinse them off and place them outside to dry.

Usually after this treatment, whatever smell was on them has dissipated.

To answer your question, yes, my guys do nibble on the plants in the flights. However, not being hookbills, they usually don't get far.

What you have to watch for, are those little fake berries and seeds inside the flowers. Very often these are made of painted styrophoam (which can be very dangerous). I always remove them and toss them out.

[sparrowsong98]

Trinosaur I love your societies! I have the same question...

[Trinosaur]

Well, it's been a day or two and the finches seem healthy and happy still so I've elected to not worry too much about it. I doubt they'll be able to ingest the plants as the plastic is too hard and they have other things to occupy themselves with in the cage. Cinnamon likes to nibble it more than Chai, but I haven't seen him break any pieces off.

As always I appreciate the advice!

@sparrowsong98 thank you! I love them too!

[Celeris]

Trinosaur

Mine certainly tear them apart, but have never shown an inclination to eat them. I tend to stick with the silk plants, but I can't imagine the plastic would be particularly harmful, since that the skeleton of most fake plants. The way you have yours draped around the interior of the cage looks quite lovely!