Papier maché with toilet paper I have been looking at instructions for DIY hamster toys and equipment.  It's recommended not to use newspapers for hamster projects because one doesn't want the hamster to injest the ink.  (Hamsters are big chewers of everything within reach).  But all the other papier maché instructions I've seen are based on newspaper strips, dampened with a thin flour paste.

The hamster project instructions recommend using toilet paper strips instead of paper, and some instructions have you painting the strips with just water, not paste.  But some call for the usual thin paste even on the toilet paper.

The most common papier maché project for a hamster is to cover a balloon and then cut an opening.

Is there something special about toilet paper (or kleenex) that makes the layers stick to each other better than strips of paper do?
Are there any disadvantages, when using toilet paper, to using plain water?
Toilet/tissue paper is processed in such a way as to be as absorbent as possible.  So, by soaking it in water the paper fibres expand and when they dry, they shrink back and stick well to each other. Other papers, like inkjet papers, are coated, or otherwise processed, in such a way as to reduce the absorption of ink. In your case this means that if you try to make papier-mâché with such paper and just water the fibres won’t be able to absorb enough water in order to expand and stick well together when dry.

So you can use toilet/tissue paper and just water to make papier-mâché but for less absorbent paper you may need some adhesive (e.g. starch from flour).