can i use reptile bedding in a hamster cage

[Brianh96]

hello all ,
for the past couple of months I have been browsing the internet to find a new hamster cage for my Syrian `toffee`.
I realy wanted to get him the Alexander hamster cage but due to the high price I decided to go for the Barney cage instead, i heard that it is basically a smaller version of the Alexander
When it arrived a couple of days ago and i was shocked at how big it is . ITS HUGE!!!
i cant wait to set it up, but I realy want to try out some new substrate for toffee.
i was wondering does anyone know if reptile Aspen bedding is okay to use in a hamsters cage. Ive seen some at pets@home and its fairly inexpensive. And if so , does anyone know roughly how much of the stuff i would need to use in the barney cage.

Thankyou

[SKB_Hamsters]

Hello and Welcome to Hamster Central to both you and Toffee. I'm sure Toffee will really enjoy himself in his new cage.

Yes reptile aspen is safe to use for hamsters.
I have used p@h aspen for my hamsters mainly for my previous hamster when she was housed in a 80x50cm and currently use some in my current girl's playbin - although I only use it in a section of the cage.
You will need quite a few bags of the aspen to fill up the Barney cage base which will get quite expensive. Aspen actually can be quite expensive for the size of bag especially in the UK for more cost effective substrate would be hemp bedding from zooplus (if you want a natural substrate) or fitch from fitchrecyling.co.uk (paper based bedding - this is what I use and I highly recommend it).

[BluerayDarkes]

If you want a bargain I would suggest finding a 14kg bag of Hemparade, I got 14kg for only ten euros. Just wish I found it sooner when I had four hamster cages to do and not just one, since our money is a little tight right now this was a really good deal.

[CMB]

Welcome. I was surprised by how big the Barney cage was when mine arrived, even though I had read the size dimensions. I hope Toffee settles in well and enjoys the new cage.

I’m not sure how many bags of Aspen you would need. I use Fitch and got the 20kg bale. Which is a good thing as I now have three hamsters.

[Brianh96]

hey guys ,
thankyou all for the help.
bieng new to hamster central I got completely lost on the site and couldnt find this post lol .
Anyways an update about the aspen, i ended up buying a phew bags of the P@h aspen bedding. i cant wait to see how the little man does with it, ile keep yal posted about it.

i think after i have used the aspen up im going to try one of the other substrates that you guys have suggested. and also i need your help with finding a substrate that is big enough to be able to do several cage changes but doesnt take up much space. i know about carefresh but when i tried it on my roborovskis they both got mites, so i kinda dont trust that brand.