Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / April 2005

If what you are thinking of using is shavings from a woodshop, these tend
to be very dusty & the dust alone would be harmful to rats' lungs. Sawdust
used for small mammal bedding has had the dust removed before it is
compacted & wrapped for distribution to pet shops.

Parrot fanciers claim that oak, cherry, & eucalptus wood has harmed
hardbilled birds who chewed the wood. There is also a well publicized case
of suspected oak poisoning of a spurred tortoise, & hundreds of documented
incidents of cattle harmed by browsing from living oaks. There are many
oak species & some, such as red oak, shinnery oak, black oak, & post oak
are rated as moderately to highly toxic to animals, causing oak toxicosis.
Some other species such as white oak are regarded as of low to moderate
toxicity. This usually means browsing leaves & buds, & the same toxins are
not found in harmful concentrations in clean dry wood devoid of bark or
buds.

The bark, leaves, sprouts, young shoots, sap, & unripe acorns contain
tannic acid & several other chemical compounds associated with oak
toxicosis. If these parts of the tree contaminate the oak chips, it could
easily cause contact dermatitis in small pets even if they don't eat any
of it (it would have to be eaten to couse toxicosis).

However, even though the wood itself, if well dried, probably has little
or no toxicity, even so chips & sawdust from oaks being planed in lumber
mills is associated with increased incidents of chronic asthma, rhinitus,
& dermatitis in millworkers, & very likely the same range of possible harm
exists for small mammals.

I've never heard of oak shavings harming rodents per se, but then I've
never heard of oak shavings being available for rodents to be exposed to.
It isn't something I'd be eager to test on my own pets.

-paghat the ratgirl