How long does aspen last?

[Wanna Hamster]

Hi guys!
I'm getting a hamster in early August and I just recently bought my toys, chews, bedding, food, disinfectant, and food dishes. The reason I got the supplies so early is because I am hoping to get my hamster from the humane society and I would like to call ahead as early as possible to ask if they get any young Syrians, to call me. My mum will not let me call until I have all the supplies at the ready. I was wondering if it would be okay to put the aspen shavings in sometime this week. The room I have the cage in stays at about 70-80F and has a ten gallon fish tank in it. The lid of the cage already has square cut outs with 1/4 inch hardware cloth. If I put the aspen in, would I have to keep a fan on 24/7, or would it dry out?
Thanks!

[Pebbles82]

Hi. Early August is still about 5 weeks or so away so it might be better to put the Aspen in nearer the time - apart from anything else it will probably get dusty just sitting there! Or is it that you want to get the cage all set up? It's an exciting time and it does take a bit of trial and error setting up a cage to get it just right, so if you were to do it now I would cover the cage over with a plastic sheet or something until you need it, just to keep it from getting dusty inside. I wouldn't worry about the Aspen drying out, your hammy won't be bothered about that and it might even do the Aspen some good to be aired a bit - anyway you can always add another thin layer of aspen on top to freshen it up, before your hammy goes in the cage :)

What might be better is experiment with setting it all up now with the Aspen in, then when you've got it how you want it, take a photo, take everything out again and put the aspen back in a bag, then set it all up again a a few days to a week before you get your hammy - that way it is all fresh but easy to set up at the time, and your Mum can see that you can do it in advance!

I wouldn't have had disinfectant high on the list of needs though - many of us prefer to just use a warm damp cloth for cage cleaning - disinfectant isn't necessary unless a hamster has a disease or something, and the smell can be way too strong for them. Generally the bottom of the cage isn't dirty or smelly as the bottom layers of substrate tend to stay clean.