Toilet Paper Rolls Have Glue on Them

[obscura]

For years and years and years people have been giving toilet paper rolls to their hamsters and other small rodents to sleep in, hide in, chew through, etc. Has anyone ever been worried about the glue on toilet paper rolls? Has there ever been a problem with it? I've tried avoiding toilet paper rolls with my last rodents and instead have been buying all natural chewable tunnels. What about cereal boxes? It's not just made up of cardboard, they printed a design on it. I've always known to stay away from newspapers. Is this the same with things like cereal boxes?

[Audrey]

I must have given thousands of these rolls to my rodents over the years and I never noticed a problem. As for cardboard boxes as long as it's cardboard that has contained food it should only be mad of safe natural dye so is fine to be chewed.

[obscura]

Okay fantastic! Thank you so much! I was just wondering because one person made a nasty comment about how "stupid" people are for giving toilet paper rolls to their pets. I kept my mouth shut because I wasn't totally sure... I always gave my hammies toilet paper rolls and they loved them. I never noticed any problems either. But then I avoided them for my gerbil and rats because of what that lady has said... It kind of made me skeptical... When I pick up my new hammy next week, I'd like to be able to give her toilet paper rolls! I already have some saved up!

[KatiePillow]

I give mine egg boxes (the cardboard ones) and toilet roll tubes, I find the glue on the loo roll tubes isn't particularly obvious, so I assume they're ok.. I doubt it could be too bad for you anyway since you have to use it on your intimates.
Cardboard boxes and pringles tubes I understand a bit more, especially with chewing animals - my hamsters don't tend to chew on the tunnels anyway (although they do on egg boxes)

I remember somebody once saying people were stupid for giving their hamsters egg boxes for fear of e coli, or salmonella - I think that some people are just very cautious.

[Lougarry]

They don't accept egg boxes at our pre-school anymore for fear of salmonella - and some eggs are covered in hen poo too. However, I only buy free range organic eggs so the risk of salmonella is low and I give the boxes to the hams. They also won't accept toilet roll inners, only kitchen roll. Generations of hams have played with these things with no obvious ill-effects.

[KatiePillow]

My mum used to help out at a nursery and she said that you had to microwave them before you could take them in, but I suppose that's outdated now. I still microwave my egg boxes and loo roll tubes, just in case

[samzyzg]

hmm microwaving them may start now before the hamsters receive them

[kiania]

Not sure what microwaving would do - didn't we have this discussion with nasties and cork and microwaving doing nada for killing nasties?

Having just looked it up on the internet...yeah, if you microwave something, it is the water heating up that kills the nasties, not the microwaves themselves. Putting your bone-try toilet roll tube in the microwave just gets any toilet bugs in your microwave, and kills none.

Reading materials:

All this microwave zapping is a load of urban myth!!!

I am a real scientist (changed course).

Microwaving for seconds does not kill Salmonella spp., nor does it rid loo roll tubes of any pathogens such as Enterobacter spp. If this was an efficient means of sterilisation, I would know. It is not. Surgeons do not use instruments that are microwaved. Sterile medicinal products (e.g. injections and eye drops) need more than a microwave oven to get then "clean" and safe for intended use.

Knowing what I do about health matters, I can't see why we shouldn't use loo roll tubes (is there a published study of microbacterial contamination of these?) or egg boxes (or these, for that matter?) with children (except, perhaps the latter in REAL cases of egg allergy- I mean those possibly resulting in anaphylaxis).

It is not a major issue - we can satisfy everyone by using kitchen roll tubes ("beware those kitchen germs" say the scaremongers) and by using "unused" egg boxes (ask your local egg supplier to donate).

The microwaving may keep some happy, but it really is a complete waste of time. You may as well pretend that you have done the microwaving, because scientific analysis probably couldn't prove otherwise.

Loo Rolls And Egg Boxes - Early Years Foundation Stage Forum

And this one too:
I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!: Ode to Toilet Roll Tubes

And this one:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...-kill-bacteria

General idea is...if they look 'clean and unsoiled', then it is no worse than having your pet in the same house as the one in which you use the toilet. I remember a study on toothbrushes and faecal matter - even putting the toothbrush a rather long distance away (think large house + downstairs in far corner from bathroom), it still got 'infected'. And if you're going into toilet roll tubes, eww! But kitchen rolls are 'all right'...well...there is a great deal more of food-born bacteria in your kitchen

So...if you don't pee on your toilet rolls before offering them to your hamster, then there isn't a risk (or at least, is so minimal as to be ridiculous), and microwaving them does nothing but sap your electricity bill (and give you 'peace of mind' over a complete myth).

As for the glue - that I'd be more concerned about, but the sheer amount of pets of a wide WIDE range of species, get given toilet roll tubes (and other similar cardboard related products), over such a long period of time (I was going it almost 20 years ago!), that I think the vets/scientists might have noticed it, and if they hadn't, the breeders would have. I've used cardboard (cereal & cereal bar, veg, phone packaging (and similar), amazon (and similar), etc etc) boxes, and cardboard tubes (kitchen & toilet roll) with rabbits, guinea pigs, chinese hams, syrians, hedgehogs, a staggering array of new and old world monkeys and apes, lemmings, mice, gerbils, skunks, and meerkats. Then I've also seen or heard about them being used with birds (crows, parrots, songbirds), goats, sheep, chickens, jungle fowl, more primate species, deer, african spiny mice, rats, ferrets, the other dwarf species of hamsters, dogs, cats and reptiles...fairly sure I'm missing a few species, but there is a good starter list at least. Either way, across the breeders, lab scientists, research scientists, zoo keepers, pet shops, and private owners, if there was a problem, I think we'd have seen it by now...
Ergo, I'm not terribly concerned about glue being a factor either I'm not suggesting you force-feed your hamster glue (even the 'edible' stuff), but it is likely non-toxic at best, and tastes nasty at 'worst' to discourage eating it.

[obscura]

Wow kiania fantastic information! Thanks everyone I kinda felt the same way but I wanted to check with a wider array of people with first-hand experience before giving my new hammy the toilet paper rolls I'd been saving for her!

[kiania]

Thought I'd add, the only thing I'd be concerned with with the smaller animals is toxic ink - but tbh, in food boxes at least, the chance of them using toxic ink in western countries is likely very very low. Same with toxic ink being used in general in western countries - especially the UK where we tend to throw a paddy if we learn about such things

Ink can dye pets, but due to recycling being so widely accepted, cardboard and paper products are probably under pressure to use non-toxic ink on the basis that it stops it going into the air/eco-system when it is recycled (again, this is going to be more common in developed countries rather than developing - and even more so in eco-encouraging and 'activist' countries who have free markets and a high level of consumer choice (and therefore boycotting power)).

Of course, only conjecture, but considering newspaper ink, manufacturing and company image advances, and toxic substances generally being frowned upon, it makes logical sense (although I have zero actual evidence ).