Tea or coffee ??!!!

[mrmarky]

Hi everyone.
Bit of a strange question this one......
Having very nearly finished my cage build (Pics attached), I have 2 large metal wheels to go in it that I would like to "customise" so they fit in with the wooden cage.
My idea is to cut strips of balsa wood to the width of the wheels and stick them to the outside of them. I would like every other one to be a darker colour and was wondering if I could stain the wood with a wet tea bag or weak coffee solution. Would this be harmful to my girls if they were to chew it ?
I presume there isn't a "Degu-safe" wood stain available to buy ??

Your advice would be much appreciated.

Mark.

[deguconvert]

Well . . . I would think that the tea would be safer than the coffee . . . but there are other things that will also make stains like rosemary, if boiled for a few minutes and then left to steep over night, is what people used to pour through their hair to help stain their white hairs back to a brown colour. The more the solution was poured through, the darker the colour became. So . . . that might be worth a try? You do know that they will tear into the balsa wood like it was paper, right?

[moletteuk]

I think child safe water based paints are OK, but I don't see a problem with using tea.

[mrmarky]

Thanks for the replies Deguconvert and Moletteuk.
I did think tea may be the better option.
I might give the rosemary a go too (if not for the wood then for my grey hair) ;D
I did think that the balsa wood might be a chewing invitation, but was hoping that with plenty of other things to have a chew on might last a while. Possibly thinking about covering it with cellotape to protect it a bit.
Ive now tested the tea on a scrap of the balsa and it does give it a lovely dark colour so I'm now hoping that the girls prefer coffee to tea and will smell it and walk away (oh how we live in hope) ;D

Thanks again for the advice.
Mark.