Recycling toilet paper tubes

[grandma]

every Saturday morning when I clean out and wash our budgie's cage, I put a *toilet roll in there; it is by far his favourite toy. Just to see him play 'lumberjack', trying to stand on it while it rolls away, is hilarious! He also sticks his head in it and makes a funny noise, like he is trying to hear the echo...so funny.

*By the way, as much as I'd like to take credit for this, I didn't come up with the idea; I saw it first on a budgie site...

As I'm typing this, I'm wondering if hens might do something similar with them.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Made me laugh just to picture it!

 

[PunkinPeep]

I don't think anyone has said this one yet: i just learned that you can use toilet paper tubes to raise crickets!!

I'm so excited!

 

[delia_peterson]

I don't think anyone has said this one yet: i just learned that you can use toilet paper tubes to raise crickets!!

I'm so excited!

Dont leave us hanging! How do you do this? Come on, give us some details!

 

[PunkinPeep]

I don't think anyone has said this one yet: i just learned that you can use toilet paper tubes to raise crickets!!

I'm so excited!

Dont leave us hanging! How do you do this? Come on, give us some details!

Oh, well i haven't done it YET. But we are planning to start raising crickets for our chickens, and my husband was reading up on how to do it. Apparently, you can use like a rubbermaid container (they're good for so many things!) to house your crickets, and they like to hide in something. Some people use layers of paper bags, but this one site said you could use stacks of toilet paper tubes. You just put them in the bottom of your little cricket habitat, and the crickets just use them.

We were thinking this might make it easier to deliver the crickets to the chickens too! You (we think) could just pick up one of the tubes out of the container and cover both ends with your hands until you get to the chickens and let them hop out - or maybe for more entertainment, just throw the tube in the run and let the chickens chase down the crickets as the exit the tube!

Anyway, i rarely ever have paper bags and would probably have to BUY them for this. Now i can just use my old toilet paper tubes.

I'm lovin' it!

 

[RLAZ]

For those who own caged birds can make toys out of them. They're safe and easy to poke holes through if you want to hang beeds.

 

[ORChick]

Old thread, I know, but I found a new use for the cardboard tubes, and had to share. You can use them as a form to wind yarn on. There is a neat gadget that does this for you, but costs close to $50 - http://www.pacificwoolandfiber.com/spinning accessories.htm - or you can take a TP cardboard roll, cut a little slit in one end, thread the wool through the roll so the end comes out where the slit is, and catch the end in the slit. Then wrap the wool a few times around the middle of the roll, and then start to wrap diagonally, rotating the roll as you go, always wrapping at the same angle. When you are done you tuck the end under the last few wraps, unhook the first end from the slit, and pull the cardboard out. And there you have a nice ball of yarn, that you can pull from the center. Just did this this for the first time today, and it works like a charm.

 

[Neko-chan]

That's a great idea! And keeps you from getting your fingers entanged in the mess as well. (I was using the hand technique to get the center pull ball of yarn effect)

 

[Britesea]

I know this is an old thread, but I do something that no one mentioned with my TP cardboard

I took a piece of 12gauge galvanized wire and coiled the wire around a glass spice bottle. After I slid it off the bottle, I took one end and curled it into a tighter spiral to make a 'bottom' to the the coil, on the other side I fashioned a hook.

Then I took my TP cardboard and wrapped a piece of tinfoil around one end (a rubber band helps keep it on)

Then I make suet using lard, peanut butter, cornmeal, birdseed and dried mealworms, and pour it into the TP molds. I store these in the freezer and periodically pull one out, tear the cardboard off and slip the suet into the wire holder.

 

[Dawn419]

Peronally, I like to see old threads replied to. It beats having to read through ump-teen threads on the same subject for an answer, but that's just me.

I've used tp tubes to start seeds in (I add a cheap coffee filter to each one then fill with soil before planting my seed.

I've used them as cut worm collars.

Rabbit toys. The rabbits shredded them then I just add them to the compost pile. Same with the cat and dog.

To make fire starters. Cut them in half, fill with dryer lint and place on a foil covered cookie sheet so that I can top them off with recycled melted candle wax. They'll start a fire even if all the wood to work with is wet (not dripping wet, damp wet).