Sand alternatives

[Emilymm]

Does anybody know of any good alternatives to sand? My dwarf hamster has started reacting badly to her sand (it's causing eye irritation, even though she's used it for about a year without problems. I think it might be age related). We took her sand off her but she's missing it a lot so I'd like to give her something relatively similar to it. I've heard some people say loose coconut fibres are good, but I don't know how reliable that is and i'm not even sure where to find coconut fibres! Any suggestions would be great.

[cypher]

Sorry to hear your ham is still having a problem with her eye.
There isn't really an alternative to sand or at least nothing that will serve the same purpose, coconut fibre wouldn't be much use for anything really, you can get coconut fibre chips sold as a reptile substrate which would be fine for her to have a dig in if she liked it but nothing can really replace sand.
I hope her eye improves soon.

[Emilymm]

It's all cleared up now but we noticed it flares up whenever she goes near her sand, but other than that she's all healthy! I heard someone say that their hamster likes rolling in it so I thought it might be similar but I guess not. Thanks so much anyway!