Birch Shavings :/

[MochiTheHamster]

Hey guys!
So i've been planning out my new hamster enclosure for a bit and then my mom found birch wood shavings on amazon for very cheap! its 300rs or 3 dollars FOR A WHOLE KILOGRAM!! the reviews say its actual birch and their hamsters were ok with it but I don't know! kaytee costs 5000rs or 50 dollars for one full amount of bedding! it's not too bad BUT AS A HAMSTER LOVER AND COMPARING TO THE SHAVINGS I FIND THIS INSANE!!!!!!

so, what should I buy? trusted or cheap?
a mix?
should i buy one bag and see if it is not sharp and is fragrance free and it doesn't have a bunch of oils on it? its cheap to test.

 

[Maz]

Hi there. 1kg is quite a small amount really! For example I get 70kg bags of paper bedding - about 2/3 of that would fill a 100cm cage to about 8" deep. But the rest of the bag would then last a very long time as you'd only really need to spot clean mostly for 2 or 3 months after that, and then do a third substrate clean after that - ie about a third or half the cage and replacing about half the clean bedding you take out

Birch shavings are fine - they are hardwood. They would be best mixed with paper bedding as could be a bit hard on their own and might not hold tunnels well. Kaytee is one of the best trusted options however, as it's paper type bedding. But it does get expensive yes. However, as mentioned above, it's mainly expensive for initial set up - after that you would use less, and not that often. I am not sure if there are other bulk paper beddings you can get. Is Amazon about the only place you can buy hamster things? Or does Zooplus ship to India? I'm not sure.

Rat rations in the Uk sells paper and cardboard bedding - and they used to ship anywhere in the world, but .......... the shipping may be ridiculously expensive. There are a few options on their page here, including a bale of green mile bedding (which is chopped cardboard). The chopped cardboard on its own would again be a bit hard, but mixed with Kaytee it would make the Kaytee go a lot further and could work out cheaper possibly?

They also list a bale of paper bedding for £27 but it doesn't say how big the bale is. It also says the paper bedding is strands rather than pieces and that is not quite as good as paper pieces as the strands can be messier. It's further down the page of the link for the paper bedding that you can see other bedding options. To find out if they ship to India or not, you'd need to put something in the basket and go part way through checkout ............

Paper Bedding - Strands

 

[MochiTheHamster]

Hi there. 1kg is quite a small amount really! For example I get 70kg bags of paper bedding - about 2/3 of that would fill a 100cm cage to about 8" deep. But the rest of the bag would then last a very long time as you'd only really need to spot clean mostly for 2 or 3 months after that, and then do a third substrate clean after that - ie about a third or half the cage and replacing about half the clean bedding you take out

Birch shavings are fine - they are hardwood. They would be best mixed with paper bedding as could be a bit hard on their own and might not hold tunnels well. Kaytee is one of the best trusted options however, as it's paper type bedding. But it does get expensive yes. However, as mentioned above, it's mainly expensive for initial set up - after that you would use less, and not that often. I am not sure if there are other bulk paper beddings you can get. Is Amazon about the only place you can buy hamster things? Or does Zooplus ship to India? I'm not sure.

Rat rations in the Uk sells paper and cardboard bedding - and they used to ship anywhere in the world, but .......... the shipping may be ridiculously expensive. There are a few options on their page here, including a bale of green mile bedding (which is chopped cardboard). The chopped cardboard on its own would again be a bit hard, but mixed with Kaytee it would make the Kaytee go a lot further and could work out cheaper possibly?

They also list a bale of paper bedding for £27 but it doesn't say how big the bale is.

Paper Bedding - Strands

carefresh is expensive as heck and kaytee is also expensive but manageable

 

[MochiTheHamster]

so should i use kaytee or shavings?

 

[Maz]

You could use a bit of both mixed together if it saves money Kaytee is better than Carefresh anyway IMO