# hamster bedding



## mrodge (Nov 13, 2004)

i was about to get hamsters again and i was thinkin of gettin sand in the bottom of the cage, is this a bad idea? i mean i was gonna put bedding up the tip but it seems like the bedding would get much more messy


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## odyssey (May 30, 2006)

what type of hamster, syrian, russian, chinese , riborovski?


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## blackmaskelongatus (May 25, 2007)

wow! i though there was only one type of hamster it was a hamster not all kinds!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

isnt their only one type of hamster that all came from a single litter captured in some country 
and scientists have only changed the appearence by selective breeding?

i think the main thing with sand would be if the hamster swallows some

i think iy would be easier to just stick with the bark/wood chip bedding since its like 5$ for a huge bag so it would be cheaper to replace after cleaning so you could clean often


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Sand isn't a good idea for any rodent, really.

You want to go with something they can burrow in and that's as unharmful as possible. My recommendations would be one of two things - aspen bedding or carefresh bedding.

I recommend aspen because it doesn't contain the strong scents and oils that pine and cedar too. Thus it is a lot less harmful to a rodent's lungs. As well it tends to be pretty low in dust, but there is still some there.

The carefresh is almost like mutilated paper towel. It's virtually dust free, soft and easy to manage. It's probably the best that you could use.

I recommend staying away from sand, cedar, pine, etc. simply because it's actually not all that great for your animal. People just like it because it's cheap. But if you're getting an animal and cost is a worry than you shouldn't be getting it in the first place.


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## odyssey (May 30, 2006)

i agree, carefresh bedding is good, but for ease of cleaning woodshavings would be a good choice, this is perfectly safe for hamsters. woodshavings is also a good options as it is better for burrowing than carefresh is. woodshavings and sawdust are both cheaper than carefresh based on how much you get for your money.

and no the isnt only one type, syrian hamsters are the larger species which have to be kept solitary as they are very territorial, the rest are dwarf species which are unrelated. Roborovskis being the smallest and friendliest as in they dont bite at all, russians are largest of the dwarf species but most tempermental and chinese are one of the smallest but can sometimes not get along.

depending on the size of enclosure i think a group of dwarf species is much more fun than a single ,fat lazy syrian hamster haha.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

I just don't like most of the wood shavings because they're detrimental to the hamster's health. If you're going the route of wood shavings go with aspen.

Like I said before - if price is a huge factor in terms of the animal's bedding and you can't afford it then you probably shouldn't be buying the animal in the first place.


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