I agree that litter does get expensive. I prefer corncob bedding, but I have so many hamsters that I have switched to pine bedding since it is more economical. Sawdust will not work, as others have said. It will make it hard for your pets to breathe. I have used hay, but I was not pleased with the performance. It was not as clean. Shredded newspaper will work, but it does allow more odor to develop, and it does not absorb moisture without becoming ruined. As a result, the cages must be cleaned much more often. You are pretty well going to have to bite the bullet and pay for litter. All us rodent owners sympathize with you! I wish a company would start producing more litter options in bulk quantity for a reasonable price. It's bizarre that most of the litter is made of throw away materials, yet it is so expensive.What kind of free bedding can I use for rodents?
When I had hamsters, I just used to rip up a few sheets of kitchen roll or toilet roll and put it in it's bed. It soon chews it up to make it comfy for itself.
Never use sawdust, as this will cause respitory problems in your pets. It would cause blistering of the lungs, etc and may cause cancer. It's also very bad for you as well. Also, never use pine or cedar chips, as these have a chemical in them that is actually lethal to rodents. A lot of petshops arent even carrying the stuff anymore. If you are worried about prices, I would go ahead and cut up some old fabric and place it in the cage. Or, you can take a trip to walmart and pick up some felt squares (the large ones) for .69 cents and cut those up into strips - resuable litter! When you clean the cage, all you have to do is launder the fabric in your washing machine, hot water with a little (very little) beach and soap.
Shredded paper is fine and you can put it in your compost bin, it actually helps aerate the mixture in there.
Ordinary shredded office-type paper is fine, a lot of businesses would be glad to give it to you for free. Just make sure there's no staples etc. in it. Round here, someone collects a lot of office shredded paper, checks it for any ';nasties'; and passes it on to the local animal shelter, who are glad to have it. (For free, I might add, as a charitable-type thing).
NOT sawdust from a timber yard PET SHOP BOUGHT sawdust is great, but if you get it from a timber yard your (hamster?gerbil?rat?whatever?) may poke his/her eye out and become blind. Leaves? NO WAY. Your-er-rodent might catch a disease but shredded paper? Perfect, I use it for my rats all the time.
All of these ideas are wrong for vaious reasons pointed out by others here. If you cannot afford to pay for decent bedding you cannot afford pets.
Sawdust would be a VERY bad idea. It's dusty, which would lead the animals to get sick - costing you a lot of money. (YOU try being confined in a tiny space that's never vacuumed and has a floor covered in sawdust!) It might also contain parasites (ticks, mites, etc.) or bacteria. The same applies to leaves.
Either get ASPEN (NOT pine or cedar!) shavings, or pony up something like 40 鈧?for polar fleece from either a fabric shop or the flea market - this can be washed and reused countless times, and is NOT expensive to replace. I've been using this stuff for a year and a half now, and still have about half the fleece I started out with.
I just rip up the cheapest plain white Toilet rolls %26amp; kitchen rolls, I can find, it works out economical and all the cheapy ones compost really well, pets like it,
Use carefresh. Carefresh is a lump of little things thats mixed together that hammies LOVE to chew on and roll around in. Try that....also wood shavings is good. DO NOT USE CEDAR!!!!! CEDAR AS FUMES THAT WILL GO UP AND KILL YOUR HAMSTER! Never ever use it. Also never use chinchilla dust (unless you are buying a chinnchilla.) And my hamster loves to dig a hold and basicly buries herself in carefresh. So put enough in for him/her to do that. Good luck!!!!
Paige
Use newspapers, shredded or unshredded. cost is nil %26amp; you can replace when soiled, or anyway every 12 hrs for freshness.
try looking for old free newspapers from your local news agents wish you luck with it
Newspapers are fine.
Use shredded newspaper, the rodents will shred it themselves and make beds from it. As long as its chaged regular it will be fine.
Shredded newspaper is great - they love it. Beware of sawdust from the wood yard though as it tends to be very fine and so very dusty and also can have mites in it - better to stick with actual dust extracted animal-grade sawdust or shavings for that. However instead of buying it from the pet shop get it from a horse feed supplier as you will get a big bale of it for around 拢5 which is far better value for money.
You can not use newspaper as the ink is toxic sawdust can cause respiratory problems and leaves could have bacteria on them so that is a no. What you can do is see if you have a newspaper printing factory near you they may give you some of the paper that was left on the roll after printing. That is where I get mine for craft projects and such. With out the ink it is OK. You only have to clean the cage once a week, a complete change that is. You can use any paper that does not have ink on it unscented toilet paper and tissue. Do not use cloth as they can get tangled in the stings and it can cause nasty wounds.
Shred all you junk mail and other unwanted post and that will be fine. Ask your mates to do the same - free bedding and then you can put it into the compost bin.
Don't use horse straw it causes skin infections as it contains loads of mites and in intended for eating by horses and not bedding for small animals.
I would use straw news paper or wood shavings but if you want it for you're garden i think straw would work =)
Newspaper is going to be your best bet.
Don't take anything from outside because it might have bugs (fleas/mites/ticks) in it.
we use shredded paper (not newspaper) and it goes in our composter.
I don't shred any high gloss magazine. wood shavings take longer to compost than paper.
I use shredded paper for my rabbits, guinea pigs, chicken, and hamster. So we have a lot of paper but it does well in the composter. Do remember to turn your composter esp if it starts to slow down. I moved mine the other day to another part of our garden and it had slowed down. But the heat coming out of it today was crazy and it was really cold today.
ya i always used newspaper on the underneath and then a layer of sawdust on the top.
shredded newspaper works well, as does sawdust, leaves however wont work to well as they wont soak up wee to well....enjoy your pet
Shredded newspaper is excellent. Can be composted after use.
Leaves rot too quickly and some are poisonous, sawdust can cause respiratory disease!
Stick with good old fashioned newspaper. Tear it into strips and if it's not quite right your animals will finish the job themselves. or - My neighbour uses paper from her shredder and her Rats love it! With all the junk mail she gets I don't think she ever runs out!
newspaper is fine, the ink is not toxic enough to kill unless ypur wee beastie eats a mountain of it daily. NOT MAGAZINES THOUGH, they are more toxic. lay a few sheets of paper down and bundle in some shredded stuff. Not sawdust, it isn't very good, gives off volatile oils and can be uncomfortable for them. Definitely not leaves as there are myriad pests and diseases which could cause trouble.
Does depend a bit on which rodent you have though.
I would worry about the saw dust at the timber yard because is has too much dust in it. Its not free, but have you been to a feed store? I get a bale of horse stall shavings for like 5 bucks and it lasts quite a while they even have cedar horse shavings.
I personally would not use shredded newspaper because of the ink. It could cause health problems. Any other shredded paper is fine I shred a lot of documents for privacy and this would be fine. Sometimes doctors surgery's have shredded paper given away, as they need to shred for confidentiality and this paper would not have news print type ink.
The safest bet if you use news paper if you are on a low budget. It isn't the bes thtough and pet dont seem to enjoy it that much in their home. To be on the safe side you should probably try to earn some money and buy some decent bedding so your pets will be happy and healthy.
';CareFreash'; pet bedding is the best in my opinion. I use if for my rats, mice, hamsters and guinea pigs. Never use pine or any pure wood shavings because they almost always lead to resperatory infections that could kill your pets.
I recoment that you stay on the safe side with pet store products because keep in mind that if you dont suply the right bedding for your pets, you could be costing your self more in vet bills and even the loss of your beloved pet.
Good luck.
You should not really have a pet if you cant afford the bedding. newspaper is not a good idea and can kill. What rodent do you have? What do you feed it? Is that free too? If you love your pet, do some research on it so it gets all the things it needs.
shredded papers great. also for softer bedding try the blue dish cloths , they go through the shredder and its just the same as you get at pets at home etc etc, works great for most small rodents
Cats make good bedding for rodents, put the rodents on a nice warm furry cat.
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