Small animal bedding - which is the best?

There are so many kinds of bedding - which one is the best? And what kind do you use?

I know that cedar is toxic, so I never buy it, but what about pine? Some people say that all pine is toxic, some people say that certain kinds of pine are okay, and some people say that all kinds of pine are good. I'm confused. :confused:

I usually use aspen. It's fairly absorbant, not too expensive, and makes their cage look bright (unlike the carefresh I used to use. but carefresh is good too, just expensive.)

I prefer Carefresh. I've always used it for my hamsters and guinea pigs (both past and present). I always feel that it's safe, clean, & easy to use. That's just my personal preference :)

As you said, cedar's out. I've heard the same thing about pine...some are ok, some not, so I stick with premium, untreated (no aromatic oils) aspen. It soft and fresh looking and has a nice natural scent. I tried Carefresh for a bit. It's fairly expensive and I didn't care for the looks of it. After a day or two it looks like wet, moldy cardboard:D I know that it is an excellent product...but, I prefer the aspen:) (After I was asssured that it was completely safe!) I know there are some other "paper" based beddings out there, but I haven't tried them yet.

No pine, no cedar, no corncob.

Cedar and pine both contain oils called phenols, which irritate small animals lungs, giving them respiratory problems. When it comes to kiln dried pine I find that to be much safer than regular pine, because there is absolutely no dust and the phenols are removed, there is hardly any smell to kiln dried pine. Corncob gets moldy and can harbor bacteria. Some small animals may try to eat the corncob bedding which isn't good, especially if it is moldy.

I personally use aspen bedding, and I just picked up a bag of Kaytee Soft-Sorbent, which is exactly like white carefresh except about $200 cheaper.

Ground walnut shells, rabbit pellets, aspen, Carefresh, Yesterdays News, Crown Animal Bedding, Bio-Flush, Eco-Bedding, and Critter Country are some good alternatives to cedar and pine bedding.

Kaytee Soft-Sorbent

for my guinea pigs I use kiln dried pine, for my male gerbils I use sand, for my females I use towls and TP, for my rabbit I use swheat scoop small animal litter, this stuff is costly, but WAY worth it. its clumping, and elimiates odor but all naturally no chemicals, the stuff is litterally wheat, the natural starches clump the litter, and the natural enzymes hide odors. there is no dust to inhale, AND its biodegradable!, etc.. I love it, so I set aside the $12CDN for a bag each month, out of my allowence. :D

here is a link about swheat scoop litter

swheat scoop

As has been said, pine is not a good choice. Some people debate that kiln dried pine is fine, but studies have proven that this is false. They have significanlty lowered phenol content, but the phenols are still there. I used kiln dried pine before I knew it wasn't the best choice, and I could smell the phenols in it.

What I find that I like best is aspen shavings. :) I use a caullander (sp?) to sift the dust out. It has better odor control than anything I've tried (except the pine which had superb odor control). I use the aspen in their litter boxes, and they have rags for bedding.

I've tried Yesterdays News cat litter. I hated it. The rats hated it. It's quite hard, the odor control is terrible, and one of my rats is allergic to it.

I tried Timothy Hay. TERRIBLE odor control, and it was difficult to tell how sanitary the cage conditions were.

I tried Aspen moss. It didn't last long, didn't have good odor control, and was expensive. It was very comfy though.

I tried corn cob (Kay kob) bedding. It was hard and didn't absorb well, and it molded in two days.

DO NOT and I repeat, DO NOT use the Kaytee Soft Sorbent!!! This is a HORRIBLE product and extremely dusty. It is nothing compared to Carefresh at all. Yes it's cheaper, but why risk the health of your animals? It is so dusty that it stuck so badly to my rats that their whole cage floors were just covered in dust bunnies. There have been many complaints about this product and it's supposed to be dis-continued soon due to respiratory issues from the dust.

I gotta agree...soft-sorbent contributed to Chloe's last myco flare-up. I still haven't found anything better than Cell-Sorb (Which I think is almost exactly like Yesterday's News)

When we had hamsters, I used Aspen shavings most of the time until I discovered Carefresh. Sandra and I discussed this one time because she didn't like it and I did. I think the difference was the size of the animals. She has Guinea Pigs. Perhaps it is best used for the smaller ones like hamsters. I never had any of the problems she experienced with it.

When I got my birds, the petstore said use corncob in the bottom of the cage. I bought it. Then one of the first things I read in my Cockatiel book was to NEVER use corncob bedding! I didn't like it anyway because it did get moldy very quickly. Now I used newspaper as the liner in the cages and when we built the nest, recently, I used Carefresh in it.

Thanks for your responses everyone! I guess I'll stick with Aspen - seems like a good choice. ^_^

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Originally posted by wolfie
Thanks for your responses everyone! I guess I'll stick with Aspen - seems like a good choice. ^_^

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Good choice! :D If you can find kiln dried aspen, that's even better! I have kiln dried aspen, and there is absolutely no dust in it. I got a bag of regular aspen a couple of months ago and it was just about as dusty as a bag of pine- unless it was just a bad bag :confused:!? So I decided to get kiln dried and I just LOVE it, and so do the ratties from what I can tell. :D

I feel a bit of a fraud posting this as I don't have any small animals AT THE MOMENT but something was bugging me, you are all talking about some types of bedding being dangerous for your animals, WHY are these companies still able to produce and sell when their products are dangerous :mad: You probably won't be able to answer that but I just had to voice my concern and confusion :confused:

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Originally posted by sqwelch
I feel a bit of a fraud posting this as I don't have any small animals AT THE MOMENT but something was bugging me, you are all talking about some types of bedding being dangerous for your animals, WHY are these companies still able to produce and sell when their products are dangerous :mad: You probably won't be able to answer that but I just had to voice my concern and confusion :confused:

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An excellent question, Sqwelch, and one I don't know the answer to. :o

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Originally posted by sqwelch
I feel a bit of a fraud posting this as I don't have any small animals AT THE MOMENT but something was bugging me, you are all talking about some types of bedding being dangerous for your animals, WHY are these companies still able to produce and sell when their products are dangerous :mad: You probably won't be able to answer that but I just had to voice my concern and confusion :confused:

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Why do they make cigarettes? Why do they make alcohol? Most companies don't care about the effects of their product, only the money. If you look on the market, there are many unsuitable things to a pet's needs. :(

Kibbles n' bits is one of the worst dog foods on the market, yet people still buy it, so they keep making it. They just don't care about the animals. They can make the food so cheep. They make a cute little commercial to bring the people in, and bam they make a nice little fortune for themselves. Unfortunately that's how most of the world today works.

Oh, and I Like carefresh bedding. We use it on our mice, rats, tortoises, and iguana. We use towels on the rabbits and guinea pigs, and change them daily.

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Originally posted by sqwelch
WHY are these companies still able to produce and sell when their products are dangerous :mad: You probably won't be able to answer that but I just had to voice my concern and confusion :confused:

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I agree! My friends hamsters died because she used cedar bedding. It was so sad! She brought them to the vet when they started having trouble breathing, but it was too late. :( The vet said that he doesn't know why they sell it, because it wasn't the first time he's seen a small animal die because of cedar bedding.

I was actually thinking of writing to the company... I probably should! :mad:

KBlaix, I've been thinking about using towels for my guinea pigs too. Since I'm away at a dorm now I can only change their cage on weekends, but when I'm with them every day I think I'll try that. It's a lot cheaper, and less waste for the enviornment!

wolfie I would also suggest swheat scoop for your situation, as I said before it eliminates odor, it clumps, its totally safe, its certified flushable and biodgradble I only go though 1 10lbg bag a month for my rabbit. its easy to clean because you just scoop out the messes you dont have to change the whole thing very often. thats only $12CDN a month ;) its also gaining popluarity lol I each month when I restock there is often maybe 3 bags left, and every other kind of bedding is not going anywhere! lol

Cali, I'll have to try it out! Flushable - that's cool! I went to their website and they said they sell it at petsmart. Will check it out! :)

I boycott all Kaytee products (I got the bag of soft-sorbent I tried for free) because they use dangerous preservatives in their food and they sell toxic beddings. I've written to them befor ebut never recieved a response. :(

I still think its incredible that these companies exist and shops like Petsmart stock these items. I take the point about cigs, alcohol etc but if humans were sold toxic bedding that made them ill, they'd swiftly be taken off the shelves and the companies responsable sued, why isn't it the same for animals. I think animal protection societies and the government should get more involved and kick the butts of these companies and indeed shops for selling them !!!

Sorry folks but I'm on my soap box now but I'll shut up now, I just feel quite strongly about the whole issue !!!

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Originally posted by WolfChan
I boycott all Kaytee products (I got the bag of soft-sorbent I tried for free) because they use dangerous preservatives in their food and they sell toxic beddings. I've written to them before but never recieved a response. :(

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I have written them several times. I was angry as can be about their bedding! It is just horrible, and I don't know how any animal can live in that stuff! :mad:

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I still think its incredible that these companies exist and shops like Petsmart stock these items.

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Personally I won't shop at petsmart, they sell a lot of bad products, including very low quality food.

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Originally posted by WolfChan
I boycott all Kaytee products ... because they use dangerous preservatives in their food

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Really? I didn't know! I just buy whatever kind of pellets are on sale for my pigs. :( I'll have to look into which ones don't use dangerous preservatives for next time I buy their food.

i like aspen..