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AmityvilleHams · 01-17-2017, 05:51 PM

If you used wood shavings there would still be a risk of an allergic reaction,which doesn't matter what type of wood or how dusty it is.

Newspaper,even if the ink were verified to be safe,would not likely end up as appropriate for burrowing as some other substrates.In fact,the hardest part of substrate is making sure it is appropriate for burrowing.This goes a lot further than whether something is toxic or non-toxic,since it has to be soft enough but also stay together nicely and not be rough or capable of injury and/or harsh poking(mostly an issue with wood).

You'd also probably end up spending way more time trying to make the substrate than it would be worth if that's all you used.It would take so much time to actually make even just cardboard into an appropriate substrate for burrowing with a suitable depth for anything but maybe robos or Chinese if you're lucky.

Starting with a base substrate as mentioned would be a lot more risk free and you'd at least know it would be incapable of causing an allergic reaction and would not be capable of hurting a hamster if you used something completely safe such as Kaytee Clean and Cozy.Instead of using the newspaper which wouldn't really do much,you could just use a combination of Kaytee Clean and Cozy,cardboard,toilet paper,and a safe substrate topper such as a mix of a hamster-safe forage and Carefresh Crinkles or similar paper crinkles from a pet store.

If you used newspaper and soap you'd be infusing the paper with more chemicals which isn't good.Unless you found a completely safe and chemical free soap(Dawn dish soap for example would even be too risky),it wouldn't be anything but questionable and certainly not guaranteed safe.

01-17-2017, 05:51 PM
AmityvilleHams PM Fluffy for custom title Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 4,545	Re: Safety of Materials If you used wood shavings there would still be a risk of an allergic reaction,which doesn't matter what type of wood or how dusty it is. Newspaper,even if the ink were verified to be safe,would not likely end up as appropriate for burrowing as some other substrates.In fact,the hardest part of substrate is making sure it is appropriate for burrowing.This goes a lot further than whether something is toxic or non-toxic,since it has to be soft enough but also stay together nicely and not be rough or capable of injury and/or harsh poking(mostly an issue with wood). You'd also probably end up spending way more time trying to make the substrate than it would be worth if that's all you used.It would take so much time to actually make even just cardboard into an appropriate substrate for burrowing with a suitable depth for anything but maybe robos or Chinese if you're lucky. Starting with a base substrate as mentioned would be a lot more risk free and you'd at least know it would be incapable of causing an allergic reaction and would not be capable of hurting a hamster if you used something completely safe such as Kaytee Clean and Cozy.Instead of using the newspaper which wouldn't really do much,you could just use a combination of Kaytee Clean and Cozy,cardboard,toilet paper,and a safe substrate topper such as a mix of a hamster-safe forage and Carefresh Crinkles or similar paper crinkles from a pet store. If you used newspaper and soap you'd be infusing the paper with more chemicals which isn't good.Unless you found a completely safe and chemical free soap(Dawn dish soap for example would even be too risky),it wouldn't be anything but questionable and certainly not guaranteed safe.