Hemp substrate

[Member ID2]

I've just been to a pet shop to buy coloured bendy bridges without gaps and came across this hemp substrate. I use Aspen around wheel areas because the hamsters can't jam them as easily as with Kaytee which i use in the rest of their cages.

At £5.75 for 3kg it is inexpensive but i haven't bought any for two reasons:

1. what is industrial hemp?
2. would it need freezing before use?

Does anybody know the ins and outs of hemp?

I have tried hutch hemp in the past but didn't like the smell. I did freeze it for a week.

 

[elusive]

I’ve never seen that brand before but I did used to use hemp at one time & found it varied quite a lot, Hugro hemp I liked it was quite soft & not too dusty, there was another more economical one I had from zooplus, can’t remember the brand now, that I found quite coarse & even sharp.
Hemp is used for lots of things now so industrial hemp could mean anything but probably nothing ominous.
My hamsters seemed happy enough with it, it held burrows & they enjoyed digging in it, I hadn’t tried fitch or kaytee back then I don’t think but I much prefer kaytee to hemp.
I had to stop using it as I had an asthma attack every time I did a cage clean.

 

[Maz]

I also had allergy problems with hemp bedding when I tried it which is why I also stick to paper based substrates. There are definitely degrees of quality with hemp bedding. The Hugro hemp used to be one of the better ones and some people used to use Aubiose (which is sold by Rat Rations I believe in bulk). It seems to have gone out of fashion a bit with claims it doesn't hold tunnels as well as say, paper mixed with Aspen. If it's not the best quality it can be a bit sharp and wood I think. If you wanted some to use for added enrichment in one area - eg a digging box etc it could be fine. But it would be difficult to check the quality without buying a whole bag.

 

[Maz]

Apparently that brand is actually made by Aubiose - for chickens. So the quality is probably fine. The original aubiose was classed as horse bedding (as Fitch was originally too). Which is why both were available in bulk.

AubiZoo | A perfect soft and cosy bed for your chickens

Aubiose - 100% natural, organically cultivated hemp bedding

www.aubiose.org