Mixing aspen and paper bedding?

[lanimeli]

Hey everyone My bin cage is underway! I've been shopping around for a while and I found a very large clear bin finally.. I measured the bottom and the measurements are (in inches) about L 35 x W 17 x H 17.

I've been looking at types of bedding, and I've learned that aspen is great for odor control, but carefresh (or other paper types) are better for burrowing.. plus they're much softer. I have a few questions:

1) Would it be a good idea to mix some aspen and paper bedding together? I was wondering if anyone else uses this method, or if this is a bad idea. How well do you think it would work for odor control?

2) I also read about some people who layer aspen on the bottom, and then layer paper bedding on top. How does this work for odor control and burrowing? How do you clean it when there are two distinct layers like this?

If anyone would like to share pictures or ideas/tips for how to prepare bedding for hamsters, I would really appreciate it.

[Princess Pixie]

I do this. But I use kilm dried pine and torn up soft toilet paper, my girl loves it. I just put a really deep layer of wood shavings and a ton of toilet rolll on top, then I let her put it as she wants it.
My dwarf has Carefresh though, nothing else, the kilm dried pine made him scratch.

[Crystalroborovski]

Aspen is safe to use and you can use it if you want, but some hamsters can develop an allergy to it so they might scratch or sneeze excessively.

I use carefresh in a section of one of my hamsters' cages. It controls odor well, I've never been able to smell pee very well in that section

[cypher]

I use Fitch (paper) & hemp in my cages, I usually put the hemp on the bottom & fitch on top & leave them to mix it all up which doesn't take long!
Once you find the pee spot or use a litter tray & can spot clean there really is very little odour at all anyway so that shouldn't be a problem.
I think a mix of carefresh or paper substrate with aspen would work fine for burrowing, it really doesn't matter whether you layer it or mix it up yourself, if your ham is a digger & burrower then it will all get mixed together as they dig.

[lanimeli]

Thanks guys! I think I'm going to try mixing up aspen and paper substrate and see how it works!

If I can find hemp bedding, I'd like to try that as well.. Is there a brand you recommend?