oof.

**Cascadia** · 11-04-2018, 08:01 PM

sooo my friend gave me her hamster stuff because she doesn't have or like hamsters anymore and I heard that you can clean wood things by boiling them

I did that and this happened

it used to be so colourful and pretty

what could I have done to prevent this? I'm not too upset about it but it would be nice to know what I should do in the future

mangoandmimi · 11-04-2018, 09:57 PM

I don’t know if it can really be prevented with dyed items. It’ll always run in boiling water I would’ve thought. Although for future reference I certainly wouldn’t reuse any wooden chews, houses, wheels, and anything else that has been chewed or heavily peed on. Not at all convinced boiling them makes them good as new. I wouldn’t reuse wood with any rough surfaces either. The smoother ones like grapevine or plywood items are easier to clean so that type might be okay.

SKB_Hamsters · 11-06-2018, 08:30 AM

You won't be able to prevent dyed wooden item colour from running if you boil them - unless sealed into the wood with a clear pet safe paint. I find the best way to clean any items that have been dyed is freezing them for 48hrs or more is best in a sealed bag and is left to thaw still in the bag to prevent mould forming (to kill insects and their eggs) - then either bake (for dyed items) or place in boiling hot water to kill bacteria.

Boiling is good at sanitising other wooden item though as long as it natural and hasn't been dyed.

flowerfairy · 11-06-2018, 03:00 PM

Erins animals has a good video on sanitising hamster stuff. I love her youtube channel.

Pebbles82 · 11-06-2018, 03:03 PM

I think it looks very nice! Natural

alpacassei · 11-06-2018, 05:29 PM

I also like the natural look! Chew toys should be painted with hamster-safe digestible dyes so it makes sense that it came off during cleaning, there’s not really anything that can be done to prevent it if you want to thoroughly clean it.

**Cascadia** · 11-07-2018, 04:31 PM

Thanks for letting me know, y'all

Now that I look at it more, you're right, it does look cool that way. Natural things are always cute <3

alpacassei · 11-07-2018, 08:38 PM

Plus hamsters are colourblind so your hammy wont even know the difference!