Bedding Wars: Kaytee Clean & Cozy vs Aspen

SnoWolf · 08-04-2018, 04:51 PM

On my great quest to construct a magnificent new palace for my poof of a king I was displeased at the limited choices dreadful Singapore pet stores offered. But, alas! I found the most brilliant Singapore based online pet stores that boasted a marvellous array of toys, hideouts and accessories galore! That was when I stumbled upon the two mighty titans, the Kaytee Clean & Cozy Camo bedding, claimin boldly to be 99.9% dust free and a wonder for tunnels and digging, not to mention the way it would look in the natural theme I strived for. Then, in the other corner, the all-time crowd favourite: Aspen! It’s popularity was world reknown and the palace constructors of poofs adored him. He provided excellent odour control and was soft, kind on the respiratory system. Camo was more appealing, but the price tag was blown out of the water by aspen, who was a low SGD$10.80! Two bags of aspen would be nearly equal to one bag of camo. My plead to you fellow, more experienced puff owners is to aid me in choosing the victor of this ferocious bedding battle! My fluffle and I would be eternally grateful for your suggestions

Pebbles82 · 08-05-2018, 02:57 AM

Aspen is fine but can be dusty sometimes - also some hamsters can be allergic to any kind of wood (even though aspen is a safe wood, being a hardwood). But that's just trial and error. I prefer the softer beddings - Kaytee Clean n Cozy is very good - but as you say expensive. I wouldn't call Aspen soft - it can be quite scratchy - but hamsters seem fine with it.

Or you could mix the two

You can mix 2 or 3 different types of substrate - for a bit of variety - that would save on the cost of the Kaytee Clean n Cozy a bit. Or you could use Aspen as the main substrate and have one little area of Kaytee Clean n Cozy. This is for the litter/substrate for the bottom of the cage.

For nesting material the best is plain white toilet paper (the soft kind) torn into strips and left in a big pile in the cage so the hamster can take some when they need it to build their nest.

SnoWolf · 08-05-2018, 06:10 AM

Thx for the info! I just couldn’t seem to decide what bedding to use. The online stores only offer 500cu packages for the beddings. I was wondering if you have a detolf cage and how much bedding do you use if u do have one. My plan is to have a side of the cage where the bedding is high for him to dig through while the rest is just maybe 5-7cm thick

mangoandmimi · 08-05-2018, 06:45 AM

500 cubic inch? That’s 8L - I buy 85L bags of bedding and get maybe 3 detolf full clean outs if that, at a minimum of 7cm thick bedding. With half of it for digging you’re looking at over 40L a clean out. I don’t think you need half the detolf for digging though anyway - that’s a really big space.
Even if it’s infrequent cleans (I do a full clean once every 8 weeks) that’s still very expensive.
I would really try and find it in bulk if at all possible. If not get the cheapest possible.

SnoWolf · 08-05-2018, 06:04 PM

I’m planning to buy the bedding from amazon, a 1000cu bag of Camo bedding and the 8 cu ft Aspen bedding. I realised that there were more than one source that you could buy the aspen from. Can anyone tell me if the Amazon choice is reliable? cus I wanna save as much as I can but there seems to be no reviews on it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002...NkL&ref=plSrch

If anyone has any suggestions instead of doing this pls do share!

mangoandmimi · 08-05-2018, 06:43 PM

That would be a much better idea, that would last a while. If you can find a big bag of cheap children’s playsand (good quality not the rubbish stuff that’s like builders sand) that works out cheap for filling a quarter of the detolf. It’s what I do sometimes and works great, my robo loves it. Just got to either sieve it or make sure there’s no sharp bits of course.

Swirls · 08-05-2018, 07:11 PM

I personally prefer (and use) the clean & cozy bedding! Especially for its cheap price for a big bag, I think it does the job nicely without the risks of allergies or aspen's expensive prices. If you're on a budget, I trust clean & cozy for Honey, my ham, then you should 100% get the clean & cozy!

Pebbles82 · 08-06-2018, 06:10 AM

If it's for a detolf you want to buy in bulk - ie large bags - which is cheaper - so aspen might be best as the main substrate. You just need to find somewhere that sells large bags. Another popular option in Europe is hemp bedding (like chopped up dried plant stalks) - it's sold as horse bedding here and also sold in bulk - not sure if that's available.

With a large cage like a detolf it takes a lot of bedding at first but then after that you don't use very much for a long time, especially if it's a good depth. The larger the cage the less cleanouts you need to do really - especially if your hamster uses a litter tray as then you mainly just empty the litter tray.

I would go with at least 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10cm) depth of substrate all over rather than a deep end and the rest shallower. If you put it in shallower it's more likely to need cleaning more often - when you put it in deeper, the bottom half (or at least half of all the substrate) stays clean and dry and can be "recycled" - ie when you dodo a clean out, save the clean half and put it back with the new and mix it in (that way it still smells familiar to the hamster).

So basically the more you use, the less you use with a large cage. Yes it takes a lot to fill it initially but I only need to do a substrate change about every 3 months or even longer (replacing half each time). So it works out cheaper and less stress on the hamster.

I'd suggest 4" depth at least with maybe one area 6"or more.