A few Questions :)

[VickyXD]

Hi all,
I will stop pestering soon i promise
Anyways, When I bought my syrian Elsa from P@H, I was given free bedding which was the saw dust type. Ive since read on here that it is bad for them? Ive also got the really soft paper type which she seems to prefer and has made her nest out of. Would I be better off just using the soft paper type or is there anything else you recommend?
Also, I was recommended to get a seed stick for the side of her cage and was pointed to the fruity honey one! I feel so bad now that Ive read how bad they are for them. Anything you could recommend?

Thanks guys

[cypher]

Have a look at this thread for ideas on the best substrate to use Substrate poll
You can just used shredded plain white toilet paper for nesting, no need to buy anything special for that, they love the tissue & it's safe.
You can give all sorts of natural foods as treats without needing to buy sugary things, seeds like sunflower or pumpkin (in the shell) monkey nuts or other nuts in the shell as an occasional treat, not too many! Small pieces of veg or fruit, a little scrambled egg, those are just a few of the things they can have.
They also enjoy things like Bonio dog biscuits & generally love the antos dog chews!

[Artisans_uk]

Hiya Vicky - no need to apologies and don't stop asking questions, that's one of the important functions of the forum, and your questions will help out someone else too.

Wood shavings are fine as long as they are from pine, are kiln dried and not scented with anything.

Some people prefer different substrate from wood shavings, carefresh, fitch to hemp etc. Personally I have used wood shavings and carefresh. I prefer carefresh but as I have to move the cages then I have to keep them light. As soon as I have different cages then I will probably use carefresh or explore fitch. I used carefresh in Aspen's tank as it wasn't moved so the weight didn't matter.

As I have dwarf hams, I steer clear of any treat sticks with honey or added sugar but I do buy the Rosewood treat sticks, like the ones in the links:-

Rosewood Dandelion Sticks

Rosewood Shrimp Cookies

Something else to bear in mind is how long it takes a fluff to eat a treat stick. Mostly, mine will take ages but Rue will devour hers, so I tend to give it to her for a while then remove it, otherwise it'll go in no time at all.

All my experience comes from a dwarf ham's point of view, but certainly too much of a sweet sugary treat might be unwise, so either don't keep the treat stick in the cage all the time or find others that aren't as sweet.

I'm sure others will recommend some treats.

[Pebbles82]

The fruit honey one won't do any harm as a one off. I was sold those by a pet shop too. Most hams seem to adore the antos chews that cypher mentioned. Charlie (Syrian) also goes bonkers for a monkey nut. His favourite in cage chew is this carrot log - first he stripped all the bark off the outside and every night he'd be getting the carrot out of the middle and chewing the wood. It lasted months and eventually I chucked it because I wasn't sure how hygienic it was after so long! He currently has an antos toothbrush stashed in his house and one of the rosewood dandelion chewsticks - he's not so keen on that though - he's quite picky and doesn't seem to like herby things.

Here are the links for the carrot log roll, the antos chews (I got the pack of four mini ones - they're about 3 to 4 inches long. Charlie likes all of them except the algae ones)

Antos Cerea Toothbrushes Dog Chews

The carrot roll isn't cheap (£4 ish) but lasts for ages and is popular.

Rosewood Boredom Breaker Natural Treat Nibble Woodroll Carrot: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

He also adores these Rosewood little hearts and they last for ages too. He especially likes the pink ones and then the green ones and the white ones if there's no other option lol. It says they're made of herbs, vegetables and edible flowers. I found them good for taming and for hiding the odd treat somewhere for him to find.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosewood-Nat...+little+hearts

If it's actual sawdust (rather than shavings) you've been sold, I wouldn't use it, but kiln-dried dust extracted shavings are ok - although I think paper is better. Fitch works out much cheaper than Carefresh, but is only sold in bulk. I bought some of this recently and it seems good too - not dusty like carefresh and not bleached either, although Fitch is also dust free. Fitch works out cheaper but you have to fork out £20 up front and find somewhere to put a huge sack!

Supreme Petfoods CosiNDri Bedding 8 Litre: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

Fitch Recycling - Fitch Pet Bedding - Animal Bedding

I bought the small 10kg bale of fitch and fits in a corner of our bedroom! It's about the size of 3 large cushions on top of each other.

[VickyXD]

Thanks for the replies
I'm going to have a look at the links and probably end up buying all of them. I can't believe how much I've spent on her already, it really is like that bank advert that was around a while ago where the hammie had a gold cage

[cypher]

Hamster shopping can get a bit addictive lol!

[peasypea]

I use woodshavings to cover the bottom of my tank and then shredded paper (which my bf gets from the office at work) on top of that so there is a nice depth to it It's totally free so if you can get hold of that its great! She makes a little nest out of that and I also give her shredded toilet paper too which she adds to the nest.