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Old 02-26-2018, 03:55 PM   #1
maxhanckel
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Default Safe potting soil? And bedding for long-haired Syrian?

Hello! I've got a couple of unrelated questions.
One, what is the best bedding for a long haired Syrian? What won't just get tangled and stuck in the little guy's skirt? Right now I use primarily aspen bedding and I fill his hidey-houses with soft paper bedding. I live in the US, and I'll use whatever works, but preferably something cost effective, too
Also, I understand that you're only supposed to do a deep clean once per month? He uses his little box for pee, and I only spot clean poo from his nest once or twice a week.

Two, what kind of soil is okay for the critters? Brand name would be helpful, but what am I looking for when I'm looking for soil? Also, how much of their cage can be soil or sand?

Thank you very much!
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Old 02-26-2018, 11:24 PM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: Safe potting soil? And bedding for long-haired Syrian?

I don't know about US substrates for long haired syrians, hopefully someone else will, but don't put any soil in your hams cage, they don't need it & most just aren't safe.
For a syrian just a sand bath is enough the rest of the cage should be substrate.
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Old 02-27-2018, 09:48 AM   #3
SKB_Hamsters
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Default Re: Safe potting soil? And bedding for long-haired Syrian?

I never had a Male long haired hamster, so I don’t know what the best bedding would be. I would probably think something like a paper based bedding in his cage might be better than aspen.
As he is litter trained then you won’t need to do full cleans every month - with my girl I remove about 1/3 of her substrate every month usually the area where her nest is as she likes to bury her poos in this area. And then mix some new substrate in with the old to help keep as much your hamster scent in the cage as possible as hamster do get stressed out with full cleans.

I also wouldn’t recommend using soil either - they often have other things added to them such as fertilisers, perlite which makes them unsafe. It can also make quite a mess of it gets wet and also soil can be quite moist therefore can go mouldy.

I use a 26cm ceramic roasting dish for my hamsters sand - in her play area she has a smaller one.
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Old 03-02-2018, 04:44 PM   #4
Sefka
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Default Re: Safe potting soil? And bedding for long-haired Syrian?

My (fairly scruffy) long haired Syrian does okay with shredded tissue bedding. He sometimes gets bits of it in his skirt, but he gets bits of everything in his skirt and he managed to clean it all out okay.
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Old 05-17-2020, 11:31 PM   #5
carrie strutt
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Default Re: Safe potting soil? And bedding for long-haired Syrian?

Quote:
Originally Posted by maxhanckel View Post
Hello! I've got a couple of unrelated questions.
One, what is the best bedding for a long haired Syrian? What won't just get tangled and stuck in the little guy's skirt? Right now I use primarily aspen bedding and I fill his hidey-houses with soft paper bedding. I live in the US, and I'll use whatever works, but preferably something cost effective, too
Also, I understand that you're only supposed to do a deep clean once per month? He uses his little box for pee, and I only spot clean poo from his nest once or twice a week.

Two, what kind of soil is okay for the critters? Brand name would be helpful, but what am I looking for when I'm looking for soil? Also, how much of their cage can be soil or sand?

Thank you very much!
Hi, I found an organic soil, which I mixed in with paper bedding and put aspen shavings on top. I used the substrate to put over tunnels and they love the tunnels. The paper bedding helps absorb the moist. I think to make their cage as natural environment as possible being safe regarding the material is nice and fun for them. I was told chinchilla sand is ok for them too.
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Old 05-18-2020, 02:44 AM   #6
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Default Re: Safe potting soil? And bedding for long-haired Syrian?

Organic soil isn't safe, just as with any other actual soil. The only safe option for a "soil" material would be coconut fiber, and even that has to be used carefully despite being significantly safer than any actual soil. You wouldn't want to be mixing the coconut fiber with any other substrate either - it would need to be a shallow small container.

This is in an old thread to posts might get deleted, but it is critical for anyone with actual soil in their cage to remove it completely - yes, even organic, which is NOT any less dangerous than "regular" soil. Anyone looking for a soil type material should stick to coconut fiber and nothing else, while doing so carefully to keep it to small amounts in a well ventilated cage keeping the coconut fiber neither too dry(can become too dusty) or too moist(can also impact the respiratory system negatively). Soil shouldn't be used outside the cage either and the same rules would apply, but you can potentially get away with a larger and deeper amount of coconut fiber outside the cage for a variety of reasons!
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Old 05-18-2020, 09:43 AM   #7
carrie strutt
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Default Re: Safe potting soil? And bedding for long-haired Syrian?

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams View Post
Organic soil isn't safe, just as with any other actual soil. The only safe option for a "soil" material would be coconut fiber, and even that has to be used carefully despite being significantly safer than any actual soil. You wouldn't want to be mixing the coconut fiber with any other substrate either - it would need to be a shallow small container.

This is in an old thread to posts might get deleted, but it is critical for anyone with actual soil in their cage to remove it completely - yes, even organic, which is NOT any less dangerous than "regular" soil. Anyone looking for a soil type material should stick to coconut fiber and nothing else, while doing so carefully to keep it to small amounts in a well ventilated cage keeping the coconut fiber neither too dry(can become too dusty) or too moist(can also impact the respiratory system negatively). Soil shouldn't be used outside the cage either and the same rules would apply, but you can potentially get away with a larger and deeper amount of coconut fiber outside the cage for a variety of reasons!
I am wondering why organic soil isnt safe? If we use it to grow our vegetable and eat those vegetables then is it not safe to eat those vegetables?
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Old 05-18-2020, 10:20 AM   #8
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Default Re: Safe potting soil? And bedding for long-haired Syrian?

We don't eat the soil, we eat the vegetables(including washing any soil off which you should be doing even with all organic produce). Soil of all kinds has many safety issues for hamsters when used directly by them, one being fertilizers and this doesn't stop with organic ones. We shouldn't be exposing our hamsters to potentially ingesting the fecal matter of other animals for example. They are incredibly prone to potentially ingesting things inside their cage, so we always need to make sure anything we add is either digestible or cannot physically be ingested in the first place.
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