# Birch dowels (guinea pigs)



## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

No, I'm not wanting to give guinea pigs straight up dowels - I would like to make something with the dowels that are safe to chew. HOWEVER everything says:

"made of maple"
"made of wood". Uh, duh, I know a wooden dowel is made of wood. WHAT KIND OF WOOD?!

It's frustrating that I don't get a straight up answer.

1. Are Elmer's dowel rods made of pine, birch or "everything" (as in scraps of wood).

2. Are any CRAFT dowel rods made of birch?

3. Is maple/oak safe at all? I wouldn't know, I don't use it!

I already checked online for one of the stores we have here (Rona) and their site is less than helpful because of "made of real hardwood" and "made of wood".

I'm trying to make absolute sure what I get is NOT pine, or other unwanted woods. Apple, birch, and willow are the best chewable woods. However I am not going to break the bank to make anything out of them, because that defeats the purpose - considering it is for my site, which will be up and running April next year. If I spend 50.00 on one small structure, they'd be paying 100.00. And I don't want that - neither would they.


----------



## NeptunesMom (May 4, 2012)

I would recommend asking your questions on Guinea Lynx. Someone there will know the answer I'm sure.


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Pines are the cheapest wood so I can almost guarantee anything "made of wood" will be some sort of pine/evergreen. Made of hardwood would probably be maple or oak, the cheaper hardwoods.
The woods you are looking for can be a little tougher to source, birch especially is a pretty delicate wood and isn't good for much of anything building wise. I'm not sure willow is even used commercially, same with apple wood.
Maple and oak will be easiest to find, I use them for my rabbit but that's a completely different animal.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Guinea lynx takes weeks if not months to reply. I gave up on sites like that. 


Researching it, oak and maple seem to be okay as well. Pine is the usual wood for big box store's supplies... And pine (and cedar) is not good as it is due to the phenols - also why I keep telling people to lay off the bedding :roll: aspen is awesome... Carefresh is cleaner... Fleece is reusable... But that's another rant :lol:


----------



## NeptunesMom (May 4, 2012)

Sena Hansler said:


> Guinea lynx takes weeks if not months to reply. I gave up on sites like that.


Are you sure you were on Guinea Lynx? I've been a member for 4 years, and I've never had problems. The response to questions may take a day or two, but I've never seen one take weeks or months. I'm pretty sure anything that takes that long would get lost in the pages anyway and never get an answer. 

You could also ask on Guinea Pig Cages. That is a very active forum, and people are on there about as frequently as here. Although it's cliquey, and I've not had a lot of luck getting responses on there.


----------



## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Sorry, I think I meant Guinea Pig Cages. I don't want to have to be apart of every forum though. I don't see a point in it!


----------

