[mis.kay]

My dad was recently talking about getting a paper shredder for important private documents. I sat there for a moment and said, "We already have four paper shredders upstairs." Lol they will happily welcome this job opportunity!

 

[abratforarat]

SO TRUE!!! My rats love taking stray paper and junk into the cage during free range time and scaring me to death when it looks like there is a dead rat in the cage!

 

[Thor]

I work in a school so I have lots of shredded paper but I haven't been using it as I thought that the ink was bad for them. Is that true? Should I try it and if so will the cage be smellier than using fleece?

 

[Kuildeous]

Well, at least the paper should be easy to dispose of. And unlike fleece, you won't get mad if they chew on it.

 

[Gribouilli]

Thor- it depends on what kind of ink your school use. I once tried to do my own shredded paper liter with unused white paper, but it was awfully dusty so I did not use it. I personally wouldn't do it.

 

[Thor]

Thanks again Gribouilli. I didn't think so.

 

[JAnimal]

I work in a school so I have lots of shredded paper but I haven't been using it as I thought that the ink was bad for them. Is that true? Should I try it and if so will the cage be smellier than using fleece?

I think vegetable based ink is fine.

 

[mis.kay]

I did research a while back pertaining to ink being dangerous and the only real threat I found was if it's ingested. I just assumed since most rats don't eat paper, they just tear it to shreds, that it wasn't an issue. I don't use it for bedding, they have fleece. And really they just sleep on it for a day or two then I clear it out before it gets nasty.

 

[liesel]

I agree with mis.kay on this one, if they don't ingest it they should be fine and most rats don't ingest they just shred. Right now my rats are using a mix of pet store bedding and shredding paper (most of which they shredded themselves). It's cheaper than just using pet store bedding and mixing in some bedding helps with the smell. Having 6 rats I would not be able to deal with just paper bedding, smells too much. But any credit card documents I don't want people to see just goes straight in the rat or gerbil cage, and I think it gets shredded even better than paper shredders do

 

[Rat Daddy]

Some of the laser and photo copier cartridges my office uses say they have to be disposed as "toxic waste"... Newsprint is usually printed using veggie oil based ink... I suppose what kind of ink is on the paper matters.

 

[Gribouilli]

If you are not sure 100% the ink is safe, don't do it. Even if rats don't usually eat their bedding, some do (pica). Even chewing it would leave a little ink in their mouths, I wouldn't risk it. Artificial food coloring isn't good for anyone health, so I can't imagine ink (even vegetable ink) to be really harmless.

 

[Binky]

My rats love to shred the newspaper and sleep on it, but it does get smelly quickly.