Great idea, Is it safe?

[LongEaredLions]

Ok so I was at the pet store the other day and saw some cute bunny hideys made from recycled newspaper. That gave me an idea. Could I make bunny hideys and toys with paper mache? For anybody that did not know, paper mache is when you wet strips of newspaper with a flour/water mixture and then layer them all on a balloon or other mold, and after it is dry the paper will stay in the shape. If I made it for the bunnies, I would use regular water instead of flour/water, and would use newspaper printed with soy ink. I think the bunnies would love it, and you could make it in any shape. So, do you guys think it is safe? I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't be.

[Sarita]

It has flour which is not a good idea. I would stick with plain old cardboard boxes.

[LongEaredLions]

As I said, I would NOT use the flour/water to stick the paper together, I would just use plain water.

[MoveDiagonally]

Interesting idea for sure. Will it stay together with just the water? If it’s just newspaper and water I don’t think it would be any different then giving them newspaper and should be fine.

[LongEaredLions]

I *think* it will stay together with just water, I will attempt tommarow. I will take pics!

[Sarita]

Sorry, I misread it. It may stay together with water though because I’ve gotten soggy newspaper before and it is very sticky but it does seem to be a bit crisper upon drying. Let us know how it goes.

[jerseygirl]

I’ve thought about doing this also but I know it would not last long with my buns so I haven’t gone to the effort. Lol

I was thinking of using brown paper. Like packing paper. Making sure to let one layer completely dry before adding the next.

A few weeks ago a friend told me something about newspaper. It’s kinda concerning because I use it for some of the litter boxes. She said it contains spores (if what i don’t know) and should avoid using newspaper older then 2 weeks old. : (
I don’t know the source of her information but she’d told me there was a report of birds at a vet clinic becoming ill and it was linked to spores in the newspaper. Something to that effect anyway.

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By jerseygirl on 09/28/2013 08:11 AM
I've thought about doing this also but I know it would not last long with my buns so I haven't gone to the effort. Lol

I was thinking of using brown paper. Like packing paper. Making sure to let one layer completely dry before adding the next.

A few weeks ago a friend told me something about newspaper. It's kinda concerning because I use it for some of the litter boxes. She said it contains spores (if what i don't know) and should avoid using newspaper older then 2 weeks old. : (
I don't know the source of her information but she'd told me there was a report of birds at a vet clinic becoming ill and it was linked to spores in the newspaper. Something to that effect anyway.

 

That would be aspergillosis spores. There are SOME present in a lot of our every day items (peanuts often have dangerously high levels for certain animals). After 14 days of storage however, the spores on the newspaper begin to replicate at a very high rate, causing dangerous levels for birds. Probably a little longer for something as large as a bunny, even longer for it to be dangerous to humans. Aspergillosis causes respiratory infections as a fungal disease. It was discovered by a vets office in Australia that had avian patients being lost regularly with complications they didn't have before they came in, every one tested positive for Aspergillosis. They had 12 months of newspaper stored for use for their cages. They tested them and discovered how well the fungus breeds in newspaper, even if it is kept dry and clean in storage.

 

[jerseygirl]

Thanks so much for that info!
I had so little detail and hadnt followed up further on what my friend had briefly mentioned.

You’d think newspaper such an harmless thing…

[Stickerbunny]

Nothing is truly harmless. It’s probably got to do with the soy ink, since food based materials are a prime breeding ground for the spores. Alternative is using toxic ink though with arsenic or something even worse in it.

[LongEaredLions]

Hmm… That’s interesting…. I will now be very careful about what newspaper I put in the bottom of my bunnies boxes O_o and I will try making the paper mâché with brown packing paper instead.

[Eepster]

I would think a great many of the things we give our bunnies have the same level of risk of growing mold, and pretty much everything comes with mold spores on it. It’s not like the hay we feed them is sterilized and comes in sealed bags. The hay is raw from the field, and twisted shut. It is certainly full of mold spores.

Simply wetting the paper probably won’t work like papiermache. However, soaking it till it falls apart back into paper pulp would let you form new paper from the pulp. You can form the pulp around your mold a bit like clay, or more like the way you form sand for sand castles. Allow it to dry thoroughly and it will be shaped paper.

Even though one shouldn’t give a rabbit flour, I am doubtful that the flour in papiermache would be harmful. One shouldn’t give a rabbit flour for two reasons; 1. it is too high in calories and protien, 2. it is a powder that could be inhaled. The ratio of flour in the paste to cellulose from the paper would be very small, and the papiermache itself would be relatively low calorie, low protein and high fiber. Obviously, once the flour is mixed into the paste it is no longer a powder that could be inhaled.

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By Eepster on 09/28/2013 09:14 PM
I would think a great many of the things we give our bunnies have the same level of risk of growing mold, and pretty much everything comes with mold spores on it. It's not like the hay we feed them is sterilized and comes in sealed bags. The hay is raw from the field, and twisted shut. It is certainly full of mold spores.
 

 

Nearly every item has some mold spores on it, be it Aspergillius or not. It is a very common mold. The issue Jersey brought up is the fact that certain old newspapers, just as certain other litters (corn cob for example is a very common host of large amounts of the fungus) can become host to a large amount according to this case. Small amounts are harmless and actually probably help to boost the immune system. But, the 14 day mark was for avians, not lagomorphs. And ones with immune systems that were already compromised as well. A perfectly healthy animal the size of a rabbit … it's probably going to need to be a pretty old newspaper. The particular fungus just likes organic materials such as paper (and probably the soy / vegetable based inks we use nowadays as well).

 

[jerseygirl]

Too easy to freak oneself out when you start thinking about the things at a microscopic level.

[LongEaredLions]

Ditto Jersey! You guys are all technical and smart and I’m over here thinking: old newspaper=mold, mold=bad. Hahah just kidding!

[Author]

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