Can painted items be baked to sterilise?

[Pastacat]

Today, I deep cleaned Topaç's cage. It was so exhausting. I threw out all the cardboard items, washed the plastic items and put the wooden items in a bag to freeze later. I tried to replace the thrown out items with what I had at hand, but I didnt have much.
This is what it looks like now.


As you can see, it looks a bit barebones. He was busy with foraging for seeds I scattered for a while, but now he's hiding in his orange hide. I am thinking of making more hides today, but I want him to have a bit of familiarity. He had a red wooden tunnel in his cage that I had put aside, because I saw a bug walking on it. Can this be baked in the oven to sterilise or would the paint or dye make it unsafe?

 

[Maz]

It is hard work isn't it? He probably will feel a bit exposed. I would maybe add a couple more things to fill up the space. And give him a new chewstick. Pringles tube maybe? And another cardboard hide. Even a cereal box with a hole in as those are a good size.

I know it'll change again when things come out of the freezer but it might help him for now.

 

[Pastacat]

Update: I gave him two tunnels made of a wafer box and a cooler bag box.

 

[Maz]

Maybe tonight put a little trail of treats or sunflower seeds outside the cardboard multiroom house and leading into it, and then a handful of food inside the house and a smelly treat like a bit of cucumber or hard cheese - to tempt him in there to start sleeping in it. I'd also put a big pile of torn up strips of plain white toilet paper near the entrance of cardboard multiroom house - to one side of the entrance.

Hopefully he'll move in and make himself cosy in there.

 

[Socks' Mum]

I wouldn't bake painted items. The chemicals in the paint could be flammable and the paint could melt even at low temperatures. Freezing would be OK though. Painted items need to be non toxic on case hammy chews them.

 

[Pastacat]

What about beech chips? Is it a bad idea to bake them? He had a dig box full of beech chips in his enclosure, but I put it aside, since it's wood based.

I wouldn't bake painted items. The chemicals in the paint could be flammable and the paint could melt even at low temperatures. Freezing would be OK though. Painted items need to be non toxic on case hammy chews them.

 

[Maz]

I would bake beech chips I baked cork granules previously by spreading them out on a baking tray. Just do it at 100 degrees centigrade - it's quite low so they won't burn as long as it's no more than 40 minutes, which is plenty of time. It might take 2 or 3 sessions of baking trays