Problem with newspaper!

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Kym

Kym

Junior Guinea Pig
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My piggies are eating the newspaper! Not just a little! but the lot! They have plenty of hay and veg but they seem to want to eat the paper. Charlie started first and now Bailey has started it! Also the noise drives me mad! =O what do I do? Is there anything else I can put underneath the sawdust?
 
Now Jack has started! =O am I missing something? Does newspaper taste like veg? =O
 
It can't be good for them though, surely? I'm just worried it might make them poorly :(
 
Kym said:
It can't be good for them though, surely? I'm just worried it might make them poorly :(
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Think I read somewhere, that as long as they are it eating it all the time, the odd bit doesnt hurt them. Rainbow doesn't eat as much as he used when we got him, but he still does it .
 
With newspaper, the ink is safest after a week of printing so try to use the oldest paper first. Do they have anything other than hay to chew such as loo roll tubes? They like stuff to chew so if you're worried about the newspaper, try cardboard :)
 
They have wooden chews and wooden bridges and things things. They chew those too but not as much as the paper. I will try the loo roll haha is that safer? They are serious eating machines. They will chew through and eat just about anything if they can get to it. I was cleaning them out the other day and Charlie chewed a whole in the bottom of the bin bag. I didn't realise until I picked it up :( Note to self: Must not let Charlie near anything! I get the chewing, it just concerns me that they swallow it :/
 
Loo roll tubes are completely safe. The main concern with newspaper is the ink rather than the paper. If you're looking for something else to line it with you could try towels. Have you thought about switching from shavings to fleece at all?
 
mine eat and shred newspaper, the ink is safe for them. loo rolls and cardboard boxes are ok to. obviously not in large quantities, i find if i scrunch up bits of newspaper into balls they dont like it as much and distracts them from the newspaper on the bottom of the cage

when you say sawdust do you mean wood shavings?
 
Mine used to get at it when I used shavings, I think ink nowadays has to be safe for legal reasons so it shouldn't harm them :)
 
My guinea pigs eat loads of newspaper too... they eat anything that isn't nailed down. I found Freddie trying to eat a wine glass once. And most of my books have guinea pig shaped nibbles taken out of them. Marmalade nearly choked on the tassle of a blanket once. I watch them like hawkes now when they're out of the cage. I provide them with loads of chew toys!
 
I recently seem to be having the same problem with my guinea pig, in the last week he has been chewing and i am sure eating the newspaper that i put in his corners that he uses for the toilet.

He kicks a lot so seems to find the paper when he kicks the woodshavings, I thought the ink is really bad for them although all our papers are old.

would plain paper do any harm to them if they eat it, as just thinking because of no ink.

I have changed him today and sellotaped the paper down so we cant kick it up with the woodsahving and find it or pull it up and chew it, so faw he has not found and is more intrested in his tube which she is destroying the paper off which is safe, will have to buy another on one soon.

anything else i can try and is newspaper harmful to them
 
newspaper isnt harmful to them as the inks are soy based. although eating it isnt good for them it wont harm them either.

plain paper is ok, but i find mine dont like it as much.
 
My boys do it all the time and given that one is 5 and half and one is heading towards 5 I don't think it does them any harm. Sparky will literally chew anything within his reach incuding tin foil and wall paper. He's also raided the tinsel of the Christmas tree mallethead
 
I use a mat under my guinea pigs bedding. The wee just dries on it so its pretty good. I still add newspaper just in case but I'm sure you could use it without. :)
 
Haha yes I meant woodshavings not sawdust. I always call it sawdust for some reason, even though its not =/ Well, I feel much better about the paper now. I'm going to scrunch some up into balls and also use the roll idea with hay. I used to be on fleece but the boys spend most of their time outside now so I have had to switch. Thanks everyone :)
 
i was worried about this too as my boys seem to like to nibble on it a lot. glad to know its safe for them.
 
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