[Sashko]

Someone is offering for my friends and I to play paintball on a large property that has some trees, some field, some marsh, a few small lakes and so on. Her only concern is that I ensure that no animals end up consuming the paint from the paintballs after we're done playing and potentially get hurt.

I've done my research, and have found out that while there are bio-degradable / soy based paintballs, there appear to be no paintballs that are safe for an animal to eat.

So this brings me to how I would go about cleaning the paintballs after playing in a forest for eg. I'm sure that most outdoor paintball fields that are in a forest do some kind of cleaning, so I'm looking for ideas :-)

[private_silver]

Animals eating the paint shouldn't cause any sort of harm to them really. While they may not exactly taste like heaven, there really isn't much in them to DO anything other than potentially make it throw it back up.

As for cleaning? I've yet to see a field "clean". All the ones I've been to use a bio-fill that within an hour of the ball breaking it has turned into an almost powdery substance that will come off on its own eventually.

[Traje]

I have played in the woods a ton, in my own back yard, etc... I have never seen or heard of an animal getting sick from consuming paintballs. I wouldn't be all that worried.

[Sashko]

I've seen mention in several articles that animals can get extremely sick from consuming paintballs to the point of dying if they're not treated. Here are my references:
http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=1678038 (I know this one goes back & forth in the peoples' opinions, but the bottom line is it CAN be dangerous to animals)
http://www.michvet.com/library/emerg...l_toxicity.asp
http://www.peteducation.com/article....+1275&aid=3425

[die.another.day]

Paintballs are 100% edible if you really want. There made of pig fat (bacon) water, some sort of thickener, and food colouring

[ElJefe13]

If you've ever been shot in the mask, you know paintballs aren't deadly. They taste like crap, but they're perfectly fine. My dog has also eaten paintballs (he's an idiot) and didn't get sick at all. You should be fine. If you're really worried, a hose should clean it off pretty effectively.

[Professional Rookie]

Paintballs are completely made up of food grade materials. Even the maker oils and lubes. Food grade meaning that these are materials that can be ingested, though you may not want to. An animal eating a few balls won't hurt it. A whole 500 round bag on the other hand... That may. But if you eat too many Cheetos, it'll make you sick. Call a few of the companies that make paint before trusting articles that know nothing about paintball. I have heard some really hilarious things come out of the uninformed...

[Twaltz628]

Just saw this, apparently my local field does a paintball eating contest at their bi-annual 36-hour scenario games.
http://brpaintball.com/index.php/pricing (bottom of paragraph near the top.)
I don't ink you have anything to worry about. Actually, I thought paintballs were filled with vegetable oil and coloring to not stain clothes, but since nobody has mentioned this, I'm not really sure now.

[IrockanEGO]

Paintballs wont make the animals sick. You wont see a deer out in the woods licking the paint off of a tree. The only way an animal could potential get sick is if it is eating a lot of paintballs. Just dont leave a bag out in the woods and there is no risk.

[Sirriko]

[Spidersquish]

Only way I could see an animal getting hurt from paintballs are
1)Getting shot
2)Choking on them
3)As previously stated, eating insane amounts of it them

[dps093]

My dogs have eaten paintballs before, and never got sick.

[ToBeUsedToBE]

my small dog ate nearly a whole bag, he just puked them back up later, no other ill effects.

[MstrKey]

The bears used to eat them when we had a renegade speedball set up. I know this because in the piles of bear crap you'd see loads of paintball shells lol. Didn't seem to hurt him......he kept coming back for more.

[cpt_crunch]

I have never heard of an animal getting sick from eating paintballs, I know dogs eat them all the time. I play in the woods all the time.

[GanjaPalooza]

Depending on how many people are going to play and how long you plan on playing, cleaning paint off of trees is best done by a few good rains lol.

It's going to be tough

[Christian P]

Eat a paintball then bring back your poop in a brown paper bag.

IF she doesn't want to see it, then light on fire on her porch.

[pembo0630]

Originally Posted by Professional Rookie

Paintballs are completely made up of food grade materials. Even the maker oils and lubes. Food grade meaning that these are materials that can be ingested, though you may not want to. An animal eating a few balls won't hurt it. A whole 500 round bag on the other hand... That may. But if you eat too many Cheetos, it'll make you sick. Call a few of the companies that make paint before trusting articles that know nothing about paintball. I have heard some really hilarious things come out of the uninformed...

/Thread

[Paper_Cut]

Originally Posted by Professional Rookie

Paintballs are completely made up of food grade materials. Even the maker oils and lubes. Food grade meaning that these are materials that can be ingested, though you may not want to. An animal eating a few balls won't hurt it. A whole 500 round bag on the other hand... That may. But if you eat too many Cheetos, it'll make you sick. Call a few of the companies that make paint before trusting articles that know nothing about paintball. I have heard some really hilarious things come out of the uninformed...

Just because it is safe for humans to eat doesn't mean it is safe for animals. If a person eats a couple hershey bars they might get fat. If an animal eats a couple hershey bars it will probably kill them.

[2nwyka]

Originally Posted by ToBeUsedToBE

my small dog ate nearly a whole bag, he just puked them back up later, no other ill effects.

I'd kill my dog if she ate a bag of paint!
Noah

[pberry96]

Ya no real harm comes to animals eating paint my dog got into some paint and he crapped blue for a few days but he was perfectly fine