best substrate for burrowing?

[borrett71]

I like my hamsters to be able to burrow, and my chinese dwarfs are especially keen on it.

Since I stopped using sawdust and woodshavings, I've been stuck for a substrate that they can burrow in. With sawdust they were able to build tunnels and chambers that didn't collapse.

So far I have been using carefresh, 'safe bedding' from well known pet store chain and sometimes paper based litter.

What do people suggest?

[souffle]

Many people find Megazorb as good substrate for burrowing as it tends to be quite dense and moulds easily however then can be some problems with the smell is some batches. We use shavings for short haired hamsters and Aubiose for long haired however the aubiose is no use for tunneling as it does run over easily and does not stay formed well. Some people make cardboard tunnels with tubes and cover it over with bedding which dwarf hammies enjoy.

[Matty Day]

care fresh is fine i have three chinese hams and two out of the three will burrow in carefresh

my athena who is currently due a litter is building on hell of a tunnel network. only about 2 collapse so far 1 my fault i dropedd some food on it

i have never treid megazorb might try it soon

[Holly]

Mine never seemed to have a problem burrowing in Carefresh either, though I no longer use it due to the expense. They used to construct quite elaborate nests like tennis balls and it always seemed to hold as well as digging under the "deep end"! I've missed that with Aubiose and already I can see that some of my guys (especially Smarts who's building a nest for a litter) are doing the tennis ball thing in their Megazorb so I'd say that holds well too.

I agree with souffle though - you need to be careful where you get it from as some batches smell like vomit

[happypet]

Finacard is worth a try. Hamsters will happily burrow in Finacard. Also you will find that foe long haired there will be minimal tangling.