Monday 2 April 2012

B for Bedding

There are so many types of bedding it can be overwhelming when trying to find a good one for your pet. The cheapest, and usually the best is simple unscented, white toilet paper ripped up. I often use the supermarket's own brand as it is so cheap. 






If you insist on buying hamster specific bedding then there is flaked paper (from Wilkinson's in the UK) or vegetable parchment bedding.



There are other types like the safe bedding from Pets at Home


However, under no circumstances EVER buy you hamsters the cotton type fibre bedding! If it is vegetable fibres which are easily digested, that is ok, but the cotton type is an absolute no no. It can get caught in your hamster's digestive system and kill them, or get tangled around limbs and cause them to be lost. In some cases you might think "it never happened to me before" but why risk it when there is no need?




P.S Sorry this is a bit late, I've been travelling home today.
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7 comments:

  1. Cathy Olliffe-Webster2 April 2012 at 18:42

    I wish I had a bed called "Snug 'n' Cozy!"
    Wow, this is the THIRD blog I've seen today about hamsters! I gotta get me one of these furballs and join the trend!!!!
    Happy A to Z!

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  2. Jeremy Bates2 April 2012 at 21:26

    Hamsters are very cool to watch. My friend's daughter put her hand in a cage once and the hamster bit through her finger...and I mean entirely through.

    Of course, his wife wanted to kill the poor little thing, so I rescued it from certain doom. At night that little fella would be in his wheel going nowhere and I'd fall asleep listening to it.

    The poor little guy eventually passed on and thus I buried him in the back yard.

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    1. Onion3 April 2012 at 08:18

      Rescuing him was a fantastic thing to do! One of the common misconceptions of hamsters is they make a great children's pet. More often than not they don't because of things like you said. Children scare them and cause them to bite, or handle them with yummy smelling food coated hands.

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  3. Tara Tyler3 April 2012 at 04:58

    you are cracking me up! i have to hide this blog from my boys!

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  4. squeeze3 April 2012 at 06:38

    Wait a minute... You mean that natural cotton isn't good for hamsters...??? I've read many serious articles about it's safety in contrary to artificial cotton fibres (cotton-wool, wadding, wad). Did I misunderstand something?

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    Replies
    1. Onion3 April 2012 at 08:15

      I find any fibre bedding to be a risk if I'm honest. Even the vegetable one, but in the case of edible ones then there is less risk because they can be safely digested. For natural cotton it can still get tangled in limbs, which is why I think it is best to stay away from it all.

      That said, natural cotton is indeed a slightly safer option if people insist on "fluffy" bedding. The artificial one is one you should completely avoid at all costs, no matter how "safe" the packaging states it is. I don't think you misunderstood, there are debates all over the place concerning fibre based beddings :)

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  5. squeeze3 April 2012 at 08:55

    :-) Thank's for the explanation. With Kropeczka I don't really have this problem; she started from both - natural cotton and shredded paper - and chose the paper. The whole cotton bedding I placed in her nest ended down the tubes - she got rid of it entirely so I don't give her any anymore ;-)Althouh Lilly loved natural cotton and built amazing structures with it...

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