Hemp mats and substrate issues

[Xellie]

Since my boy's unfortunate adventure with hemp matting, I need to change to something else.
(I think I will keep the hemp mats for my girls though since they can't have that particular problem.)

I'm thinking about covering the boys hemp mats with fleece (the idea being that the hemp will absorb wee, where fleece does not). 

I'm a bit nervous to use anything with long fibers now for the boys, I had been thinking about coco liner. Right now they have vet bed on the small shelves and kaytee on the main floors, but the metal pan shows through and it seems so cold for them. 

Any interesting alternatives out there?

Also, how hard is it to litter train them? 

[savvy]

To be absolutely honest, you will never litter train a degu. They use urine to not only scent marker, but also as a trail marker - to them it's fluorescent in the dark and helps them find their way around.

I've always used a loose substrate such as green mile or finacard. I did start with woodshavings but found them too dusty. Cage cleaning now means, I just brush down their wooden accessories and scoop out and replace the substrate. As both are cardboard based, they can chew it and not have any issues. They can also kicking around the cages and dig in it, plus I can compost it.

I've got fleece covers on the snugglesafe and unless I cover it with bedding I always find that Dixie gets a claw caught in the fabric. You will find that fleece also really stinks after a while from stale urine, and will need to be washed regularly, as in every few days. I'm not sure it has the right properties to allow urine to go straight through to the hemp.

[Xellie]

I'm gonna give them paper based substrates on top to pee on and bury things (I did that with the hemp to make it last longer anyway). It's just so cold at the moment, I don't want them on the cold metal floors! They have a mix of kaytee and aspen right now, I'm still waiting for my finacard in the mail. For some reason it was really hard to find places with it in stock recently.

[savvy]

Ratrations supply it, green mile is similar, just larger pieces.

[Xellie]

Yep, ratrations is where I ordered from as soon as the injury happened. They've just had a backlog and I think our local sorting office is slow due to covid too.

[savvy]

That's why I use DPD, they're a bit more expensive, but I get next day delivery.

[Xellie]

Last time we used DPD, they couldn't find our house and took a picture of a bush on the other side of the village to prove it. 

[moletteuk]

deguworld.proboards.com/thread/8754/cage-bedding-reviews

[bouncy]

Jan 26, 2021 19:14:52 GMT Xellie said:

Last time we used DPD, they couldn't find our house and took a picture of a bush on the other side of the village to prove it. 

Lmao! DPD are the only ones who CAN find my address! Charlie for DPD Local, and Mariuz for normal DPD!

If you'd said Parcelforce....... I can tell you a few stories about them! Always tell the customer services person to check the GPS of the delivery - it's the only way to find out where your delivery was left lol

[Xellie]

I'm going to try a few things, I've heard good stuff about Aubiose, which is chopped hemp.

I do have to be careful about dust, I'm asthmatic.

[moletteuk]

I'm asthmatic and I used to use aubiose and fitch with more fitch in potty areas. Both are pretty good for being low dust.

I had a parcel just left on my car bonnet in the driveway in the rain today! They normally leave them in the wood store, but I was out there sorting the wood store, so I must have looked scary or something...

[Xellie]

Any thoughts on vetbed? I had some and I've used it on the two small ledges on my boys cage after pulling and it and trying to tear or it damage it. it seems to soak up any urine and doesn't really smell. And is kind of snuggly. My boys have no interest in chewing fabric of any sorts it seems anyway.

My fleece with hemp mat underneath, with some loose substrate on top for burying in corners/under houses experiment seems to be working. I haven't seen any pooled wee and no smells yet (it's been about a day)

[moletteuk]

I generally would have a concern with goos ingesting some Vetbed, good to hear that doesn't seem to be an issue for you. My other concern is them getting their nails caught up in it. As they got older and less active I found my goos nails would snag on things pretty easily. We had a forum member whose degu was seriously injured when he got snagged on a hammock and was left dangling, so I do worry a bit about any fabric.

[deguconvert]

I second that, Moletteuk. I tried fleece for several months, and the longer I had it the smellier it got. It is also not easy to get the poo off the whole area . . . the more the fabric pills, the more the poo sticks. I found it to get more and more unpleasant to use .

[Xellie]

Ah my boys aren't even a year old yet, so I'm not worried about the old age thing. I know what you mean though, my dear fluffytail had that problem with his claws in his old age.