dont make the same mistake i made

[Brianh96]

at Christmas i got the barney hamster cage and was looking at what different substrates you can use in hamster cage and i saw that you can use aspen,but the only place local to me that had this was pets@home. so i went down and picked up 2X10L bags reptile aspen 2for9quid.
Straight away i was dissapointed to find out this didnt make a deep enough bedding[2-3 inches] , so i went back and picked yet another 2 bags[this bringing the total price to EIGHTEEN POUND.
it tuns out i only needed one more 10L bag, so i was left with one spare bag. once i put him in with the aspen he loved it.
he had loads of burrowing space and a sufficient amount of ground substrate

considering i had spent a ridiculous amount on ONE cage clean i knew i needed to find a cheaper alternative.

i didnt want to pets@home after that so i took to the internet and went onto zooplus and i couldnt find any aspen, so i browsed and browsed then finaly stepped onto Hugro Hemp Bedding. i went for the 30l size because i figured since 30l of aspen filled the cage, that 30l of hemp would do the same...
i was WAAAAAAYYY wrong.

first off hemp bedding is completely different to aspen bedding.
aspen. it looks and feels completely different
as for the size comparison you get soooooo much more bang for your buck with the hemp. the 30l filled the whole base up and didint even go half empty. i have more than enough for another cage clean.

heres the best bit

pets@home reptile aspen -- 6 pound or 2for9 --per 10L bag[ you need to get three bags to fill the cage FOR ONE CAGE CLEAN ]

whereas

zooplus; Hugro Hemp Bedding 8.99 per 30L bag [you can do 2 OR MORE CAGE CLEANS]

the only neggative is that hemp bedding is not a burrowing substate , and toffee loved a good dig. but this was easily sorted because i had that spare bag of reptile aspen and thats great for burrowing, so i sectioned off a part of his cage and put the aspen in so now he has both.

seriously dont make the same mistake i did and pay such a large amount of money for such little product. and if you do wanna try aspen go online and get it in bulk for cheap. thats what ile be doing

[cypher]

It's easy to make mistakes when first buying substrate, hard to know just how much you need & how far a bag will go, hemp is nice, I found mine could burrow in it ok but it works better with Fitch, you might want to consider that when you need to stock up again, it's about the best there is & very economical if you buy the 10 or 20kg bags.

[Brianh96]

Originally Posted by cypher

It's easy to make mistakes when first buying substrate, hard to know just how much you need & how far a bag will go, hemp is nice, I found mine could burrow in it ok but it works better with Fitch, you might want to consider that when you need to stock up again, it's about the best there is & very economical if you buy the 10 or 20kg bags.

thankyou for the help. ile have a nosey

[Pebbles82]

I would also recommend Fitch! It lasts for ages - you can mix it in with aspen as well and switch over gradually. It works out very cheap. I get the 10kg bag and for a 100cm Barney cage it lasts me about 6 months.

Another tip - you don't need to clean out and replace all the substrate regularly. If you have a good depth of substrate, just spot clean. ie take out the odd handful of pee'd on substrate and replace it with a clean handful and mix it in. You can do this for some time. I only then do a substrate clean about every 3 months and even then I only remove half and replace clean half (usually lower half) and mix it in so it still smells familiar to the hamster (reduces clean out stress).

Also don't clean everything at the same time so something always smells familiar. Do the wheel one week, any toys that need a clean another week, and substrate when needed in between.

Final tip - if you use a litter tray you may not even need to spot clean much. Litter tray goes in area (often a corner of the cage) that hamster uses as a toilet mainly. Put the litter tray there with chinchilla bathing sandin and a bit of the smelly substrate on top first time. Then you just need to empty the litter tray every 5 days or so and the rest of the cage stays clean.

[Swissgreys]

Here (in Switzerland) it is very common to offer a deep (15cm +) substrate that consists of a mixture of hemp and aspen. The combination helps keep it stable if you have a hammie that likes to burrow. My boy is in a tank with up to 20cms of substrate (the level varies), and has got quite a decent network of tunnels going in a hemp/aspen mix.

[BethandLil]

Hey Brian,

I agree with Cypher and Serendipity in endorsing Fitch - I bought a 10kg bag, which costs about £17, back in June of last year and I still have more than 1/3 left!

The only drawback is storing it.

I also agree with Serendipity on her top tips re: clean outs

[Brianh96]

Originally Posted by BethandLil

Hey Brian,

I agree with Cypher and Serendipity in endorsing Fitch - I bought a 10kg bag, which costs about £17, back in June of last year and I still have more than 1/3 left!

The only drawback is storing it.

I also agree with Serendipity on her top tips re: clean outs

that is the only problem i have , when i got the 30L bag of hemp bedding i didn't realise it would be so bit so at the mo im struggling to think of a place to put all the remaining hemp. i realy wanna try fitch as from the sounds of it its great but that it my problem .

[cypher]

The 10kg bag isn't so hard to store, if you're really short on space you can throw a blanket on it & use it as a bean bag