Stories- ringneck, quaker, and gcc

[Wolf]

What is crinkle paper?

[shiraartain]

If you go to eBay and type in "natural crinkle paper", it should come up. I just want it as a toy filler. Currogated cardboard could also work, and would also probably last longer.

I have the habit of typing krinkle, because Kraft+crinkle. Sorry about the mixup.

[Wolf]

Thank you, I have seen it used for packing, but never knew what it was called. I end up saving paper to use for various projects just to keep work areas neater and easier to clean up, newspaper for cage liners and so on. What about getting a small document shredder and making your own shredded paper for your bird toys? I get newspaper for free and much of the junk mail that I get, I run through the shredder for packing and bird toy paper. The shredder is not that expensive and all the paper that I use comes to me for free.

[shiraartain]

We have two shredders, actually, but my concern is with the ink, and also the dust that results from teh shredded paper.

[Pajarita]

Ink has been safe for many years now. Nothing toxic about it (it's soy-based).

[Wolf]

I can relate for certain, especially about the dust. The ink is deemed to be non toxic, although it is a soy product, which I don't like but is better than the best alternative that I am aware of. But there are advantages and disadvantages to everything and even more so when it is DIY and you are the only one who can decide which advantages out weigh which disadvantages for your situation.

[marie83]

I use home shredded paper. I didn't give the dust consideration tbh. I stuff the odd toy with it not line the bottom of the cage with it and i reckon most of the dust would come off when picked up to put in the toys.

[Wolf]

With the dust from 7 birds, one of whom is a Grey, even with air purifiers running, I don't notice the dust from paper shredding which is only done every few months. I make more dust while carving on pieces of wood and my main air purifier is strong enough that on its lowest setting it draw enough air from other rooms to noticeably cool the air in the room it is in. It takes it a couple of hours for the temperature to stabilize when I turn it off or back on. I can feel the filtered air being blown across the floor for a good 20 feet, almost like standing in front of a fan. and I have two other air purifiers running in other rooms.

[Pajarita]

I don't use shredded paper for anything so I can't give an opinion on it. I line the cages with entire sheets and although I give them paper to shred (magazines, catalogs, etc), I've never noticed any dust when the birds chew it.

[shiraartain]

The dust i'm talking about is the dust produced by the shredder itself, when it shreds the paper. The dust is then mixed in with the paper. I'm not worried about it in the house, but rather it potentially causing problems when inhaled. Seeing as you all have used it and not had any problems though, I think I'll start using it. The finger traps are doing well, the pair is chewing them and they're lasting longer than the tissue paper, thankfully. Lemon still prefers popsicle sticks. He'll hop around on the grate, tossing around his wiffle ball, and then grab a popsicle stick he dropped earlier and get to work turning it into little pieces.

Fajr ignores the finger traps, I'll probably run by the dollar store and buy some coin rolls for him as he loves playing with those. Stuffed with shredded paper, they should keep him occupied for a while.