Undecide between these types of beddings only, help welcome!

[Pigsland]

Hi Guys,

I need your precious opinion about these type of beddings as I would like to get something today, we are currently using woodshawing from pets at home however I am not sure how safe is that, if anyone can confirm that it is a good type of bedding then we will carry on however I am scared out Squeaks can injury himself with that wood.

Please see the following choices, I am not liking them as I just got a forum error and lost all my long thread without chance to recover it because of the links.

1. Natural Hemp Bedding Siccofloor - 150l (approx. 14kg) - £15.99
2. Hugro Hemp Bedding - 30l - £8.99
3. Carefresh Confetti - 50l - £19.99

Also found this one but on Amazon

• ProRep Hemp Bedding - 25 litre - £14.99

We are currently using a Pets At Home cage so we would like to change that for something slightly bigger with some ramps and pipes for Squeaks to have fun, we just got that two days ago because it was cheap and can be used when we take him to the boarding where we take our guinea pigs when we go away.

Your expert opinion is welcome as I am a bit confused, our guinea pigs have fleece however they are not even comparable type of pets.

I want something safe at the same time something not too expensive so we can go for a larger cage keeping the whole thing affordable.

Thanks!

[crazydaisy]

Unless the wood shavings are aspen then it is very highly recommended that you use some kind of paper based bedding, because wood can cause respiratory problems. The only bedding I've ever used is care fresh so i can't speak for the other ones on the list but that is a great option for me!

[cypher]

Of those three substrate you mentioned I would recommend the Hugro hemp, although a bit more expensive than the other it is softer, I found the Sicofloor one could have some sharp bits in it but I had no problem at all with the Hugro hemp when I used it.
I still do use some but mostly use Fitch, someone did recently have a problem with it but many of us have used it for years with no problems, it's soft recycled food grade paper & the hams love it, it's very economical if you get a 10 or 20kg bag. I would definitely recommend that over Caarefresh.
https://www.fitchrecycling.co.uk/fit...r/bedding.html

[Oreo13]

Hi Pigsland,

I've had a quick google and Natural Hemp Bedding Siccofloor and Hugro Hemp Bedding pretty much look like the same stuff. I use a hemp bedding called auboise (20kg for 12.99 on Omlette) which is the same again. It won't hold tunnels but is quite good as a main cage substrate. You'll need something softer, like plain tissue/carefresh/fitch/kaytee clean and soft for nesting.

I've found that while carefresh looks nice its dusty and a lot more expensive than others.

The last time i was in pets at home i looked at the wood shavings. There's nothing on the packet that identifies what sort of wood it is so probably best avoided.

hope that helps at least a little.

ta,
Emma

[Pigsland]

Thank you both!

Yes woodshaving seems wrong to me as idea di per se', however I was suggested that as he was in the shop charity area for 3 months in that, we adopted him so we did not have time to do as much research as we did with our guinea pigs before getting them, catching up.

Great thank you Cypher, Hugro Hemp seems reasonably priced, it also depends how long you go with a full bag, definitely cheaper than Carefresh, I will give it a go and let you know odor control is another factor as we rent out flat in London, let's see!

Thank you for the hint, I will order the Hugro.

[Pigsland]

Originally Posted by Oreo13

Hi Pigsland,

I've had a quick google and Natural Hemp Bedding Siccofloor and Hugro Hemp Bedding pretty much look like the same stuff. I use a hemp bedding called auboise (20kg for 12.99 on Omlette) which is the same again. It won't hold tunnels but is quite good as a main cage substrate. You'll need something softer, like plain tissue/carefresh/fitch/kaytee clean and soft for nesting.

I've found that while carefresh looks nice its dusty and a lot more expensive than others.

The last time i was in pets at home i looked at the wood shavings. There's nothing on the packet that identifies what sort of wood it is so probably best avoided.

hope that helps at least a little.

ta,
Emma

Thanks, saw your post when I hit reply

Exactly, and staff cannot tell you which wood is in there! Not a good combination, the fact that they sell sawdust it says a lot...

auboise was suggested however I could not find it, I will look at that option too, however the Hemp seem good as it can hold a test, however I think I can always create a specific part in his cage where to nest with a higher layer of bedding and use two types... let's see!

[cypher]

Wood shavings in the UK are kiln dried so while they may not be the best substrate they are safe unlike in some other countries.
For the nest area just provide a big pile of shredded plain white toilet tissue.

[Pebbles82]

I agree with Cypher - Hugro Hemp or Fitch. Carefresh is expensive and Fitch is better - although if you like the idea of one colourful area then a bag of Carefresh confetti along with hemp might be fun

Cagewise. You do well to check what to upgrade to. If your hammy is in a temporary one at the moment, best not to upgrade for 3 weeks at least to give Squeeks time to settle and then move all his existing bedding across to the new cage on top of the new bedding so it smells familiar. It won't matter if there is some wood shavings mixed in with the new bedding and it will gradually get changed over as you spot clean over the next few weeks.

Is Squeek a dwarf or Syrian hamster? Cages with tubes actually aren't a great idea - especially for Syrians. They do better with more floor space, not too much height and enrichment within the cage - eg tubes as floor toys or access from one part of the cage to another are good - these can be cardboard, cork, hyacinth type tubes - or plastic. Any kind of tube or tunnel but shorter lengths are better than longer ones. The idea being that they use the tunnel because they want to rather than having no option but to go down a long tube to get from A to B.

A lot of people hear that bigger cages are better and think tall is big What it means is size of floor area, as they are basically ground dwellers and not that good at climbing (and tend to just drop and can hurt themselves if a cage is too tall). So when thinking about a new cage think - floorspace, floor toys and one level so it;s something to sit under and to put heavier items on so they don't sink in the substrate or get tunnelled under.

They also like enough substrate to dig in and may make mountains out of it or dig tunnels. A house that's open underneath and on top of the substrate is ideal so they can burrow down and bury hoards under the nest and snack while in bed Which they like doing.

So when looking at cages it's good to think about- floorspace, height, accessibility (ie does it have good sized doors and where are they).

Zooplus has some good options that aren't too expensive:

The Alaska, Barney and Alexander cages are all popular. If it's for a Syrian I would suggest the Barney or Alexander. If it's for a dwarf hammy - any of those three but setting up would need thinking about to avoid fall risks from a height.

The Hamster heaven is also good for a dwarf hammy is it's lower than the three mentioned above - but personally I think it can be a bit cramped for a syrian especially with a larger wheel in it. Most of the colourful plastic stuff in the Hamster Heaven is pretty useless and most people end up removing it all. The tubes get blocked up and it doesn't allow hamsters to have normal nesting and foraging behaviours using the tubes and penthouse.

So if you like that cage, it's good but I;d think about putting your own items in the empty cage and only keeping one of the platforms, no tubes or penthouse.

[Pigsland]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

I agree with Cypher - Hugro Hemp or Fitch. Carefresh is expensive and Fitch is better - although if you like the idea of one colourful area then a bag of Carefresh confetti along with hemp might be fun

Cagewise. You do well to check what to upgrade to. If your hammy is in a temporary one at the moment, best not to upgrade for 3 weeks at least to give Squeeks time to settle and then move all his existing bedding across to the new cage on top of the new bedding so it smells familiar. It won't matter if there is some wood shavings mixed in with the new bedding and it will gradually get changed over as you spot clean over the next few weeks.

Is Squeek a dwarf or Syrian hamster? Cages with tubes actually aren't a great idea - especially for Syrians. They do better with more floor space, not too much height and enrichment within the cage - eg tubes as floor toys or access from one part of the cage to another are good - these can be cardboard, cork, hyacinth type tubes - or plastic. Any kind of tube or tunnel but shorter lengths are better than longer ones. The idea being that they use the tunnel because they want to rather than having no option but to go down a long tube to get from A to B.

A lot of people hear that bigger cages are better and think tall is big What it means is size of floor area, as they are basically ground dwellers and not that good at climbing (and tend to just drop and can hurt themselves if a cage is too tall). So when thinking about a new cage think - floorspace, floor toys and one level so it;s something to sit under and to put heavier items on so they don't sink in the substrate or get tunnelled under.

They also like enough substrate to dig in and may make mountains out of it or dig tunnels. A house that's open underneath and on top of the substrate is ideal so they can burrow down and bury hoards under the nest and snack while in bed Which they like doing.

So when looking at cages it's good to think about- floorspace, height, accessibility (ie does it have good sized doors and where are they).

Zooplus has some good options that aren't too expensive:

The Alaska, Barney and Alexander cages are all popular. If it's for a Syrian I would suggest the Barney or Alexander. If it's for a dwarf hammy - any of those three but setting up would need thinking about to avoid fall risks from a height.

The Hamster heaven is also good for a dwarf hammy is it's lower than the three mentioned above - but personally I think it can be a bit cramped for a syrian especially with a larger wheel in it. Most of the colourful plastic stuff in the Hamster Heaven is pretty useless and most people end up removing it all. The tubes get blocked up and it doesn't allow hamsters to have normal nesting and foraging behaviours using the tubes and penthouse.

So if you like that cage, it's good but I;d think about putting your own items in the empty cage and only keeping one of the platforms, no tubes or penthouse.

He is a Robo so some for Syrian will not apply I am going quite mad looking for a cage as I can't go too big however what I have found of good size isn't suitable for Robo for a reason or another! I was looking at the heaven however I have read that ramps are too steep for Robo and tube are too big, ideally a 10cm less than that cage would be ideal to fit in our living room free space.

Bedding wise I have narrowed it down to Fitch and Hugro Hemp Bedding, I am just trying to understand which one is better for nesting, however I may do a mix with a main one plus a particular side just for nesting.

Just bought him a silent wheel as my GP were quite annoyed by him running last night on the built in wheel spoiled piggies!

[cypher]

Have you got a house for nesting rather than just a pile of substrate on one side?
If you don't have a decent sizes house you can use a cardboard box with no base & just a small door cut out laid on a deep layer of substrate with lots of toilet paper.