Is Vitapol a suitable bedding option?

[sumasa]

I got my new family member a few days ago, going completely fresh into this I asked a ton of questions at the pet store and walked out of there with a cage with a wheel and a house, a huge block of compressed sawdust and a bag of food.

Upon arriving home I did some more digging on the great internet as the lady at the store really couldn't care less about hamsters and didn't have much useful to tell me.

I bought a bigger wheel, I'm going to have to buy a bigger cage, and the sawdust I brought back does not state anywhere on the packaging what kind of wood it is made out of. Having nothing else to use as bedding I am using it in his cage, should I buy something else and switch it out upon the next cleaning of the cage or can I keep using Vitapol Natural Sawdust?

[cypher]

I wouldn't use a wood based substrate if it doesn't state what it is or if it's kiln dried on the pack, it might be ok but you just don't know, if you can find any paper based substrates where you are that would be better or hemp is good too if not try to find wood shavings that have the information you need on the pack.

[Pebbles82]

If you order a new cage online then maybe phone the pet shop to say you want to bring the other one back for a refund because it's not suitable but need to use it for a few days until a replacement arrives. Are you in the Uk? Carefresh, Fitch, aspen are all ok beddings.

[cypher]

I'm guessing India from Google results I'm getting, did have another search but there seems to be very little in the way of substrates on any of the pet sites there.

[Pebbles82]

OK - agree with Cypher - don't use any wood shavings as they're most likely not kiln dried if you're outside Europe. As an emergency you can tear up lots of plain white toilet paper and use that on the base of the cage in a pile - strips are better than whole sheets so they don't flatten so much and so the hamster can rearrange them. That will dofor nesting as well, so put masses in As you've already got the cage it might be best just to let your hammy settle for a couple of weeks and then make a bin cage out of a large plastic storage bin. Ikea sell the 78cm Samla bin if you have an Ikea.

If it says nothing on the packaging for the wood substrate, then it means it isn't kiln dried or dust extracted.