i can't believe i am getting back into rodents... (question about bedding)

[malevolentrobot]

okay, so after a broken promise and a hiatus from rodent keeping in general i have decided that i'm going to buy a standard hamster. yeah, apparently the heartbreak the last time still wasn't enough to deter me from getting attached to yet another fuzzy thing with a tragically short life.

anyway, back when i was keeping cedar and pine shavings were a huge no-no because of the phenols causing respiratory issues in small animals, but now there is this pine is fine website and i actually know people at the store who are agreeing with this stuff. (i think it still sounds kind of sketch...) my question to you all is: is it just spin from the other side or actually okay to use to use these pine shavings now?

i'm probably am still going to use aspen, since i buy it for the millis too (had a problem with a cavy who liked to eat recycled paper beddings, so i don't personally use it anymore) and i know its safe, but i was just wondering if anyone had more info on this topic.

 

[odiakkoh]

Kiln-dried pine is fine but aspen is still preferred if you're going with wood shavings.

 

[james206]

we used pine. and my rats started getting problems. i have switched to aspen recently. and they r all in good health. i would neveer go back to pine or cedar aspen is deff the way to go

 

[pouchedrat]

My first rat would get myco flare-ups all the time from pine bedding, way back when (mid-90's). Aspen's fine.. I always liked using unscented yesterdays news better though, since it holds odor better (in my experience). Not soft, but it works well.

 

[Nicole]

I always liked the pine pellets better than shavings. They seem to last longer IME.

 

[xBurntBytheSunx]

they sell some grey-fluff bedding at wal-mart that i liked a lot for my rats. it kept odors down and lasted several weeks.

 

[malevolentrobot]

i was a huge huge fan of this recycled pellet product we used to carry called back 2 nature/breeder's celect, fantastic stuff but it went to shipping direct and i haven't been able to find it anywhere since. yesterday's news also was a fav, until my old cavy started munching on it to pass the time. the other one, the one sun seed makes is awful though, left me so dissapointed. same with carefresh.

thanks for the input though, guys. he's probably going to be on aspen for now, and i'll evaluate from there. i just hate when they kick it out of the cage, aspen was a pain to get out of carpet

 

[catfishrod69]

i use carefresh natural for my ferret...about the best thing in the world.....bt if it was up to me i would keep my hampster in with my red tail boa....haha....cant stand the little biters....that and sugar gliders too....hampsters with wings...

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

I can't believe I am getting back into rodents...

When my hamster kicked bedding out I put the cage in a box whose sides corraled the "kickouts" before they got into the carpeting.

I recommend an "extra" box because the first does fill up.

There are plenty of boxes:
Many stores permit people to take empty boxes.

So I took some home....

And I put them to work.