Curious about what types of wood to avoid when building guinea pig hideys?

[Alamerona]

Hi TGPF; me and my partner are looking at building our little bundles of joy (Thankfully they're both feeling much, MUCH better now!) some custom houses for their C&C cage, inspired by a load we've seen on Etsy - We've seen that Plywood should be avoided due to the glue that binds it, and MDF should be avoided as it's apparently toxic - This got us thinking, however, "What other types of wood (Both natural and synthetic) should we avoid?". This includes toxicity, coatings, splintering, dust, etc. We've also seen that Cedar and Pine wood should be avoided for similar reasons.

What types of wood can we use, and can't use to build something like this for our pets? We're interested in wood due to the longevity, sturdiness and to let them always have something to nibble on no matter what. If you do have any other material suggestions, please let me know!

 

[SweenAndWillow]

I've heard that you can use apple wood, but that isn't available in our area haha. DEFINETLY not plywood, but really, I don't know what other wood you can use besides apple. It would smell good,

 

[DMS260820]

Try and call an independent hutch maker, if you Google one they'd probably be willing to give advice on what wood is safe. I know pine isn't safe

 

[Sweet Potato]

kiln dried pine (most cheap pine is kiln dried) can be used it has to be kiln dried and cedar is still a no but it's not as bad for releasing fumes and dust in a solid plank as it is when it's shaved down to make bedding. avoid any wood from the prunes family (anything that produces a fruit with a stone) as i have heard this is toxic for piggies. solid wood is always going to be better than anything synthetic as you can be sure there has been no glues involved.

my brother has made some things for my boys in the past but we usually stick to kiln dried pine because it's cheap, easy to cut and safe for piggies.