Bedding?

[flibble]

Hi all,

I'm just wondering what other people use as bedding for their degus? Currently I'm using wood shavings but I'm not a big fan of this as I don't think it's the best thing for such little critters and their small lungs! I have used Carefresh in the past for my rat but found it to be quite expensive for the quantity you get, also the degus are in a long tank so i would need more than one bag of that per clean out!! My rat is on wood based cat litter but I would prefer something softer for the degus as they like to dig? Has anyone got any suggestions? are there any websites that sell other bedding?

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated by me and the two boys!

Thanks, Naomi ;D

[thegrouchybeast]

I use Megazorb (www.northerncropdriers.co.uk/Megazorb.htm), which is a wood-pulp based horse bedding something like Carefresh. It's soft, very absorbant, not too dusty, and doesn't have much of a smell. The big advantage it has over Carefresh is that it is far cheaper - £5 for an 85 litre bag.

The only problem is supply. It's sold by some horse feed/equipment shops, and there is a list of suppliers on the website. Lucky for me, my mum and dad have a supplier very close to their house, so when they come down to visit me they bring a bag or two with them.

[Hanlou]

I use Ecopetbed - which is shredded cardboard. I don't like shavings either. I get the Ecopetbed from www.earthlyenterprises.co.uk/ - I know it might seem expensive, but a bale lasts ages and it is delivered to your door.

[flibble]

Hi,

Thanks for the info! Will look into it.

Naomi

[julie]

i plan on using aspen wood shavings which is what i currently use for my hamsters. its supposed to be safe and not bother their respiratory systems like soft wood shavings do. you can also use KILN-DRIED pine, or just let regular pine air out in open air for a week or two.

[skyeblu]

After a recent incident with some rescued baby rats, I am very "anti" wood or any kind of wood shavings for bedding.

The teacher next door left for summer and just "left" his animals in the classroom. (Some people just don't need to be pet owners!) Another teacher and I decided to take the baby rats...split the boys from the girls... and raise them to be hand tame (they were just weaned). These poor babies were in a cage with filthy wood shavings that had not been cleaned in a very long time (MONTHS) and the ammonia odor was almost toxic....I am very surprised they were not sick with respiratory ailments. They were, unfortunately, infested with these large black mites! (Mites love to lay their eggs in wood.) We moved the babies to new sterile cages and spritzed each one with mite spray. Literally, within seconds of spraying down the babies the mites staring crawling out of their fur!!! I know that the next time I see this man it will be very hard to even be civil to him.

Personally, I use Carefresh or Yesterday's News for bedding. I also shred paper towels into long strips and give them the to the degus. They LOVE this and will spend hours arranging and re-arranging the strips in their nest.

[Erica]

Just searching past posts about bedding... I love the seach function in the forum!

I've been using Aspen shavings in my cages for over a year with no obvious effects. Has anyone had any problems with Aspen?

What do you use for bedding?

[Aimeelou]

I use commen wood shavings in the base of my cage with shredded tissue/kitchen roll/ anything they can shred up and used in there bed. Ive allways used wood shavings and had no probs, and the cage is cleaned out evey week.

[Hanlou]

Aspen shavings are considered safe as they do not contain phenols. It is the phenols in pine that are thought to be toxic and can damage the liver etc. Aspen shavings aren't easy to get hold of in the UK so I use Ecopetbed. I've never personally seen kiln dried pine shavings here tbh. Any shavings I have seen have always been 'normal' pine and I *personally* will not use pine for the reasons I have mentioned. The degus love to play with the cardboard and shred it up as well, so it works really well for me.

ETA:

this is the article about pine shavings. I know it is rat oriented but the principles still apply.

www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html