Bedding Question :)

[silvergerbil]

Hiya,

Newbie to degus here! I got reccomended to check you guys out!

I am awaiting getting my degu pups from a breeder local to me (some cutie blues!) and i have a question about bedding for their cage.

I keep chickens, and i have a bedding for them which is made from Rapeseed (which is a plant they grow and farm for oil) and the bedding is a buy product from the process, its used for horses, rabbits, chickens etc.

It is very similar to Hemp bedding, and i was wondering if it is suitable for degus?

x

[blossombrooks]

Hey! Welcome to the forum. :-)
I'm afraid it's probably not suitable bedding. If it's like hemp it secreates an oil which would be no good for the goo's. They tend to eat bedding so it's best to stick to an approved one. I use finacard which is very cheap for a very big bale and carefresh in the corners which is a bit more absorbant but expensive. If you head onto Degutopia there is a pro/con list for the suitable bedding available. X

[Cherpi]

Wasn't the rapeseed name changed to something else for marketing strategy? Lol not sure if it's safe though sorry.

[silvergerbil]

Ah thankyou for the replies! I do have plenty of woodshavings (i use them for my Gerbils and Hammies) i was purely curious as to if i could !

I didn't want to run the risk of just chucking it in incase its like pine shavings and causes respitory(sp?) problems.

x

[deguconvert]

I believe the alternate name for rapeseed is Canola, and I can see no reason why it would be a problem any more than if the bedding were made out of corn husks or other grain products. Hemp does have it's own oil that should be avoided, as Blossombrooks says, but I don't think Canola has the same properties, as the oil comes only from the seed itself, and is not found in the foliage as it is with Hemp.

I think that what I would ask about the bedding product is whether or not it is compressed into a pellet form, or if it is more like to a paper flake or shaving? Beddings that are compressed in pellet forms are quite dangerous for degus because of the fact that they DO like to chew on and ingest their substrates. So . . . pellets are made in this manner because of the absorbant nature of the compressed material, and so can hold a great deal of urine. However, these absorbant materials that may have been ingested will swell in the gut of the degu, causing a fatal blockage and severe dehydration. It is a very painful and horrible death for the animal.

[silvergerbil]

Hiya,

Its not in pellet form no! lol! I wouldnt ever keep any animals on pellets not even kitties with their litter!

This is what it is:




Its dry, has no smell to it other than what can be said to be a hay/strawish smell. It feels and looks like bits of straw/hay.

I was wondering because for that HUGE bale it costs me under £5 lol!

x

[blossombrooks]

That looks interesting! Sorry when you said rapeseed that wasn't the stuff I was expecting. In your photo I can see a label that says 'citronella treated' is that to act as a fly repellant? I'm not sure how the goos would get on if they ate that. X

[silvergerbil]

Haha! Thats no problem i guess i wasnt really helpful with my description aye! ! Well ive trialed my gerbils on it and they seem to really like it, theyve had no problems with it.

The citronella treated got me thinking too, i think its to repel flies/mossies maybe? But i cant smell it on there and citronella has a real pungent smell. It does say on the back (i couldnt get a good pic of it) that it isn't palatable for horses, maybe thats what its used for?

I just wanted to ask so i didnt risk harming my degus when i get them, as i know they enjoy eating bedding like gerbils do.

We keep our chickens on it, they eat bedding too if it helps? lol!