Paper towels??

[Sahara]

I saw a tiktok the other day about a woman who had a fairly large cage. In most of the cage, she had proper bedding. In a small part of the cage, she laid paper towels flat to set things like the sand bath and food dish on. I’m assuming she did this for easier cleanup. The paper towels were not shredded and there was no other bedding in this specific area of the cage... just paper towels laid down flat. I thought it was a good idea to help keep my hamsters food dish and sand bath cleaner and free of a ton of bedding. Is it ok to have a small section of the cage with just paper towels and no bedding if the rest of the cage has plenty of bedding?

[AmityvilleHams]

I would personally be hesitant to use paper towel. With toilet paper for example as nesting material that needs to be unscented, dye free, and one that readily and fairly quickly breaks down in water. That last bit in particular doesn't tend to happen with paper towel, which leads to it being a potential choking hazard or digestive blockage risk for example if ingested!

I'm sure others would have better options for a more flat but actually safe substrate. Alternatively, you could section off part of the cage with a bit of grape vine or another safe solid object and put a tile down in that area. Don't use bendy bridges on their sides though as they have gaps when placed that way that can cause serious injury.

Instead of a tile for that previous idea, you could also use a glass baking dish(or two if you wanted a large baking dish sand bath) or something similar.

[Petite]

I have a third of my enclosure (a detolf) sectioned off with 6 inches of bedding. The rest has a generous layer of sawdust which is flat enough for toys, the free-standing wheel, food dish, water bottle, etc. A large bag lasts ages.

[cypher]

I wouldn’t use paper towels, they’re likely to get chewed up or dug up & aren’t as safe as toilet tissue in the cage.
It would be better to. make a shelf (I just use a piece of safe wood with dowels for legs) to keep the sand & food clear of the substrate.