wondering if snak shak items are safe for rats?

[lilangel]

as i bought some snak shak items and looking at the ingredients well it contains pine wood shavings as its first ingredient. is it safe for them to eat pine wood shavings? im thinking no if they can not live in it how could they eat/play with it?

this is the 8 in 1 Ecotrition Snak Shak:
Pine wood shaving, cassava starch, alfalfam straw liqui mix (water, sodium alginate, potassium sorbate, propionic acid, honey, glycerin, propylene glycol).
- -- -- -- -
this is the 8 in 1 Ecotrition Snak Shak Hamster, Gerbil, Rat & Mouse Treat Stuffers:

Pine wood shavings, cassava starch, alfalfa, white millet, red millet, milo, medium sunflower seed, wheat, whole corn, oat groats, buckwheat, safflower seed, straw liquid mix, honey, glycerin, propylene glycol, modified starch, maltose, corn oil, water, ground corn, feeding oatmeal, wheat middlings, soybean meal, soybean oil, dicalcium phosphate, salt, yeast culture, calcium carbonate, monoammonium phosphate, potassium chloride, l-lysine, dl-methionine, vitamin a acetate, source of vitamin d3, vitamin b12 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin k), riboflavin, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, choline chloride, d-biotin, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, ethylenediamine, dihydriodide, sodium selenite, sodium alginate, propionic acid, peanut flavoring, corn flavoring, potassium sorbate (preservative), red 40, yellow 5, blue 1.

 

[sausage4ever]

We bought some of this stuff for our gerbils because I didn't like them eating their plastic houses, after I gave it to them I read the ingredients and joked with my mom they might as well keep eating the plastic. But seriously I wouldn't give it to any animal rat or otherwise, the gerbils liked it but we won't be getting anything like that again for them. Might I suggest timothy club from Oxbow. It seems safer.

 

[rat.charmer]

I got one for my rats once and they didn't eat it once. THey just sat on it. So maybe they knew something I didn't at the time!

 

[lilspaz68]

I use the Snak Shak Log Large (Rabbits, Guineapigs, etc) and some of mine devour it...


Ingredients: POTATO MOLASSES FRESH ALFALFA AND GOLDEN HONEY (I looked at this before I bought it)

Now I know why. :giggle:

The other one is for smaller animals, and has the pine, etc...blech

 

[lilangel]

I use the Snak Shak Log Large (Rabbits, Guineapigs, etc) and some of mine devour it...


Ingredients: POTATO MOLASSES FRESH ALFALFA AND GOLDEN HONEY (I looked at this before I bought it)

Now I know why. :giggle:

The other one is for smaller animals, and has the pine, etc...blech

the bigger one also has pine as its first thing too i was going to buy the big one but did not because of that. if you look at petco they all have that as the first ingredient.

http://www.petco.com/product/106693/8-i ... ffers.aspx

 

[lilspaz68]

That link is for the treat stuffer not the log.

 

[Fidget]

just a note - I expect I'm preaching to the choir, but they don't EAT the stuff they chew. They have some kind of specialized mechanism that the stuff they chew comes out of their mouth and doesn't go into their stomach.

I'd think you could give them anything (that was not toxic) and all that would matter is if you meant them to chew it or not. They sure don't pick up on what we mean them to chew and hope they don't - I have shredded sheets & pristine toys to prove it. :laugh4: .

Apparently pine is not good cause it has phenols which are detrimental to their respiratory systems. But I bet when something's been thru enough manufacturing processes there would either be chemicals used that were worse than the phenols, or render the phenols harmless. Who knows? Anyway, I wouldn't be at all concerned about some toy made of pine in their house. It's not going to be pumping out phenols from it's split edges like bedding that's newly made and replaced often. Tobacco, alcohol, tasty burgers, sugar & milk are gonna kill us all eventually, but kill me now if I can't have them :gaah:

There have been extremely rare occasions when a pet rattie has died or been in distress from chewing on something and it getting lodged where it shouldn't (maybe someone could post a link to the rattyheimlick here? I can't find it) I don't know of any instances where a kid has died from chewing on any non-toxic wood (phenol-carrying or other).

 

[lilangel]

That link is for the treat stuffer not the log.

heres is all of them not sure what one your saying maybe the one with the log hole on top but that also has pine as its first they all do:

http://www.petco.com/Shop/SearchResults ... =snak+shak

 

[lilspaz68]

The Large log isn't found on petco, so I tried Petsmart...you are right. I read the ingredients on the side of the box it sits in and there was no mention of the other...stupid 8 in 1!!

But as Fidget says they chew rather than eat...I know mine get turned into a lot of "dust" on the fleece with the more avid chewers. :doh:

 

[Rodentist]

We received one as a present, but I took it out after I inspected the package and discovered that it was made in China....it is probably fine, but I would rather be safe than sorry with my fur children.

 

[SQ]

Made in China?

Guess I'll dump all of mine too ....
I don't trust anything that wasn't made in North America. North American standards are too low but still so much better than the standards in much of the rest of the world.

Please tell my rats they aren't allowed to chew any wood that is pine
.... you might just save my couch :wink:
..... the frame has been well chewed over the last few years ... :cheeky:
..... the little round-tailed beavers don't listen to me :?

 

[Fidget]

Ok, nothing from China now.. there goes all their hide-houses, their hammocks (made at Little Mischief Rescue but who knows where the fabric was weaved?) their dishes and their cage too to be on the safe side.
Now they're gonna have to live with me on my bed - god knows where my sheets, quilt, pillow, mattress & boxspring were made...
There's such a thing as going too far! Like the baby blocks I give my kids to chew on that might have poison paint, or the hooks I hang their hammocks from that they might hang themselves on. Man, one could be chewing a labblock and 2 kids are playing in front of her and fall against the block forcing it into her throat... Or she could wedge her head between the bars and stangle herself in 3 minutes desperately tryinng to get free...

You gotta be protective but rational. . If 10,000 ratties were ok with it then yours is too, unless they are doomed to go early & freaky - then the will go no matter what you do.

 

[jorats]

I hear what you are saying Fidget... I think with all the bad food and items coming out of China has scared everyone. They even had to pull their baby foods off the shelf because they add melamine to it.
But those logs, my rats love it...

 

[lilspaz68]

I cannot take my logs away from my rats. After hammocks its their favourite thing!

I'll just have to take a chance.

 

[Dahlas]

My rats love them as well....and they do chew on them but don't eat them....I have three and they are nibbled on but still look like when I first got them...

 

[lilangel]

yup my point with them was not eating them but playing/chewing them. if they can not live in pine i would think playing with pine is not good nether in the long run. that was my point never eating it.

 

[jorats]

With pine, you can smell the phenols. But with the shak, there's no smell at all. It's the phenols that is bad to the rats.

 

[lilspaz68]

They must treat the wood when they mulch it to use for the shaks.

 

[lilangel]

one more question the alfalfa in it can they digest it well?

 

[theratlady]

eww i'll pass its full of preservatives and dyes too boot, they are safer with a pine board to chew up.