Myth - Newspapers are Poisonous to Parakeets

Think of all the kids that play with newspaper and read the comics. Do you think the overzealous lawsuit-happy people of the world would let newspapers be printed with poisonous ink, so that comic-reading babies got sick? :)

Yes, in the days of old, inks were made with all sorts of chemicals. Back then, it was only the uppity rich men who got papers. Maybe they were already dying of lead poisoning from their lead crystal wine glasses and didn't mind the ink. But in modern times, most papers are printed with soy based inks which are perfectly safe.

Of course, a good cage design won't let the keet on the actual cage bottom. There will be a grate and then below that the actual liner that holds the poop. That way if your keet decides to hop around on the bottom of his cage, he is still kept away from the poops.

You can always call your paper to make absolutely sure that they use soy inks - and yell at them loudly if they are using a toxic ink! That would be a fun project, to alert all the local schools and make it an issue. But really, you can just as easily use sheets of paper towels as a lining, if that is the case. Just don't use gravel paper. That hurts keets' feets.

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