Not keen on hemp

[lorrapaw]

I got hemp substrate for ted after it was reccomended on here. Ted had got mites probably from infected batch of fitch so vet says. Im think the fitch wee woody pieces are quite hard and jaggy, and im worried ted could hurt himself. He also has not built nest up all around him as usual hes just sitting on the paper bedding i gave him. I know hes not too warm cos i put more paper bedding in and he immediately dragged it into hist nest and built it up more around him. Is there a softer but good bedding i could try?

[WinnieTheHam]

Aspen wood shavings are softer but are still quite sharp looking.

Megazorb is a wood pulp substrate but many people have said that it's quite dusty. I don't recommend it for long haired hamsters. You can air out the megazorb if you wish. It's usually around £16 for a large bag online but if you have a shop near you they usually sell it for around £8.

Kiln dried wood shavings (which are usually pine) are recommended by a lot of people. It contains less of the oils which are known to cause respiratory problems.

[cypher]

Good quality hemp should be perfectly safe so it's unlikely your ham will hurt himself, if he's used to Fitch it will take him a while to get used to something different so I would just give him lots of shredded toilet tissue to nest in for now at least.

I haven't tried any of the wood shavings but I did find megazorb very very dusty.

[Shannonmcn]

Hemp isn't the cosiest thing in the world, I use a bit of carefresh and toilet paper for Ccs nesting area and then have the rest of the cage hemp. Having the whole cage carefresh cost a fortune but now one of the £5 10lt bags of carefresh does me for ages so I don't mind paying it.