Vitakraft Country House Substrate

_Steph_ · 12-08-2015, 02:35 PM

This weekend I adopted a new hamster, a robo being given away for free on gumtree. Apparently she had been bullying her sister and had to be separated, her owner did not want both.
So today I went to The Range to pick up a couple of bits and found Vitakraft Country House. It seems like a good product for creating a natural substrate. I haven't opened it up yet, has anyone tried this before?
The information on the back says that it has been heat treated and pest free so should be safe I think.

_Steph_ · 12-08-2015, 02:38 PM

Here is the back.

_Steph_ · 12-08-2015, 02:40 PM

And here is pumpkin! My first dwarf.
Sorry I can't work out how to add more than one photo at once on my iPad.

_Steph_ · 12-08-2015, 02:41 PM

Managed to get her still enough for another shot!

mylittlefluffyhamster · 12-08-2015, 03:04 PM

she is adorable!! xx

Pebbles82 · 12-08-2015, 04:47 PM

Hello and welcome. She looks gorgeous! I hadn't heard of Vitakraft Country Home (that's what it says on the packet rather than House) before. It sounds good, but I'd watch for any spiky bits like dried leaf stalks in there, and check through it. I think something like that is good to mix with a standard substrate, but maybe not just by itself.

I had something similar from Hugro but I stopped using it as Charlie poked his eye on a leaf stalk and I felt terrible! But providing you go through it and pick out any spiky bits it could be good mixed in with standard substrate.

cypher · 12-09-2015, 12:35 AM

Congrats Pumpkin looks adorable!
I hadn't heard of that product before either, I can't see from the photo what's in it & the most I could find online was "varied mix of birch bark, birch twigs, light wood chips, hay, birch leaves and moss" which does sound very much like some of the Hugro mixes I've used, not as a main substrate but as an addition, I like them but as Serendipity says do check for any sharp or pokey bits before you put it into the cage.

Scarlett Empress · 12-09-2015, 08:27 AM

I have tried this and agree about checking for sharp bits - I sort of scrunched up a handful before putting it in the cage and if anything stuck in me, I found it and took it out!

I think it's definitely nice as an addition to other substrate - on it's own, it wouldn't be very cosy and not good for burrowing, but I used to put just a small pile in my hamster's cage, and now she has some in a digging box for playtime, mixed with other stuff, and she enjoys picking through it. She especially enjoyed eating the birch leaves!

Hope Pumpkin enjoys it too, she looks so sweet!

_Steph_ · 12-09-2015, 10:15 AM

I've tried some out last night, just a couple of handfuls on top of the wood shavings in a corner of the cage. It looks good and she seemed to enjoy foraging for the food I'd sprinkled underneath. For a few seconds anyway before she went back to her wheel, robos can certainly run! I didn't see any dangerous bits in what I used, though there are some twiggy bits in the bag so will be careful. At £3.29 for a 10L bag I thought it was good value to add a little variety to her cage.