Mr Nibbles Diary

[Socks' Mum]

 

[Amy]

So far I have set up Nibbles cage with wood shavings in the main area and Bucatstate paper bedding in and under the house, this is where he has his one and only burrow. He stacks his daily food ration near the ground and sleeps above it.

I wanted to change the wood shavings, through a coincidence I found out, that nearly all shavings are made of spruce and fir. They cleverly write softwood on the package, but when you research you find out that fir is included.
I also noticed that a small layer of dust collects on the wheel every day.

It´s very difficult to get paper bedding here, it seems that not many people use it because of the high price. When I looked on the German main hamster forum (I am not logged in there) most of the people use shavings. They tend to buy the big bulk shavings from Allspan for horses (these also use fir trees).

Kaytee and Bucatstate are the only paper beddings that seem possible and affordable here. So I have orderd a few bags (I got a special offer of Bucatstate in the light lilac colour).
So my new hobby in future will be buying clean white non scented loo rolls and shredding them up whilst watching Youtube
not looking forward to it, but if I mix that with the Bucatstate it should be okay
Last time I mixed a small handful of Timothy hay in the bedding, the burrow seem to hold really well. Nibbles cleverly weaved the hay in the nest.

I havent done that recently but the burrow still held.

 

[Vanessa1]

Lovely Nibbles I'm sure he's going to love his new setup Ness

 

[Maz]

So far I have set up Nibbles cage with wood shavings in the main area and Bucatstate paper bedding in and under the house, this is where he has his one and only burrow. He stacks his daily food ration near the ground and sleeps above it.

I wanted to change the wood shavings, through a coincidence I found out, that nearly all shavings are made of spruce and fir. They cleverly write softwood on the package, but when you research you find out that fir is included.
I also noticed that a small layer of dust collects on the wheel every day.

It´s very difficult to get paper bedding here, it seems that not many people use it because of the high price. When I looked on the German main hamster forum (I am not logged in there) most of the people use shavings. They tend to buy the big bulk shavings from Allspan for horses (these also use fir trees).

Kaytee and Bucatstate are the only paper beddings that seem possible and affordable here. So I have orderd a few bags (I got a special offer of Bucatstate in the light lilac colour).
So my new hobby in future will be buying clean white non scented loo rolls and shredding them up whilst watching Youtube
not looking forward to it, but if I mix that with the Bucatstate it should be okay
Last time I mixed a small handful of Timothy hay in the bedding, the burrow seem to hold really well. Nibbles cleverly weaved the hay in the nest.

I havent done that recently but the burrow still held.

There’s a thread on here about various spruce beddings that contain fir or pine as well. I seem to remember Allspan used to be all spruce - but they changed it - and it has about 10% fir - unfortunately it sounds like the 10% isn’t kiln dried (which removes most of the phenols). I know German owners do use wood shavings predominantly and that German pine shavings have a much higher legal standard of kiln drying - again - ironically the Allspan doesn’t seem to use kiln drying. I’ll see if I can find the thread as there were other spruce beddings.

Regardless of that, if you’re noticing dust then yes paper can be better. It’s partly why I use fitch - no dust - although I did have one batch (in about 10 years) that did have some dust. Kaytee can vary - it’s generally not dusty but can depend on batch - it’s the paper based bedding most people seem to use - if they can’t get fitch or prefer the softness of it.

If using hay it’s best to freeze it first.

 

[Maz]

Here’s the thread about various brands of spruce shavings. Vida sounded to be the safest of them. Allspan could potentially be worse than 100% kiln dried fir.

Spruce beddings

As many of us have known for some time, due to some useful research found many years ago in the USA, Spruce is not the same as Pine or Fir. I came across the article many years ago, which shows the amount of phenols in Spruce compared to Hardwood - it's also in our resources section, but here...

www.thehamsterforum.com

There is also a brand called Great and Small shavings who confirmed theirs are 100% spruce (although the website description said different at the time and they said they would amend it - I’ll check and see if they have amended it.

Great and Small woodshavings

I received an email today from Great and Small, who make the wood shavings sold in Pets Corner. These are 100% spruce and only £16.49 for a massive bag of them. I thought this might be useful to people as they don’t seem to get as much press as Chipsi Classic which aren’t widely available and...

www.thehamsterforum.com

No they haven’t! It still says “primarily spruce shavings “ - so unknown …..

Great & Small Wood Shavings | Pets Corner

Fresh from the forests of Germany, natural shavings are perfect for ensuring your animals have all the fibre they need for a comfy bed to snuggle up in.

www.petscorner.co.uk

 

[Socks' Mum]

Interesting I put some plain serviettes through a shredder once and they turned into a nice soft bedding. The only problem is some shredders have oil on the blades. If you can get clean blades, a shredder could be an option perhaps

 

[Amy]

Lovely Nibbles I'm sure he's going to love his new setup Ness

Thanks Ness, I hope he doesn’t mind the “girlie” bedding

 

[Amy]

There’s a thread on here about various spruce beddings that contain fir or pine as well. I seem to remember Allspan used to be all spruce - but they changed it - and it has about 10% fir - unfortunately it sounds like the 10% isn’t kiln dried (which removes most of the phenols). I know German owners do use wood shavings predominantly and that German pine shavings have a much higher legal standard of kiln drying - again - ironically the Allspan doesn’t seem to use kiln drying. I’ll see if I can find the thread as there were other spruce beddings.

Regardless of that, if you’re noticing dust then yes paper can be better. It’s partly why I use fitch - no dust - although I did have one batch (in about 10 years) that did have some dust. Kaytee can vary - it’s generally not dusty but can depend on batch - it’s the paper based bedding most people seem to use - if they can’t get fitch or prefer the softness of it.

If using hay it’s best to freeze it first.

Thanks Max that’s very kind. I am completely off the shavings, my vet bought me on to this topic. He said get paper bedding, it cost more but your little friend will thank you
I am willing to pay more money if it means he has a better and healthier environment. I have noticed since he has the Bucatstate paper bedding in his nest how much more he prefers it.

 

[Amy]

Interesting I put some plain serviettes through a shredder once and they turned into a nice soft bedding. The only problem is some shredders have oil on the blades. If you can get clean blades, a shredder could be an option perhaps

I got my shredders sharpened I have got Friday off as well as the bank holiday tomorrow for (quote boss) being a good girl and helping him as well as doing my own work
So I will have some time to do the schredding when Nibbles enjoys extra time in the playpen.
I will see how it goes

 

[Amy]

I have shredded toilet paper before when Max explained how dangerous the Kapok woll is (thanks again Maz )
I didn’t have any paper bedding. Nibbles loved it, it’s basically the same as the expensive stuff.
It just takes quite a while if you need more than a handful

 

[Vanessa1]

I think lilac can be considered as gender neutral, so he shouldn't mind at all , I'm sure he won't mind Ness

 

[Maz]

They are colour blind anyway Apart from blue and green apparently sometimes.

 

[Socks' Mum]

I got my shredders sharpened I have got Friday off as well as the bank holiday tomorrow for (quote boss) being a good girl and helping him as well as doing my own work
So I will have some time to do the schredding when Nibbles enjoys extra time in the playpen.
I will see how it goes

A scary movie would be perfect, you won't even know you are doing it. Maybe not long bus rides though

 

[Amy]

A scary movie would be perfect, you won't even know you are doing it. Maybe not long bus rides though

That’s a brilliant idea I did a trial shred, hmm quite rough not as soft as I thought. I may try tissue paper. That’s what I used last time.

 

[Amy]

I have changed Nibbles playpen to the original setup, he didn’t like it being bigger an in front of the cage made it very difficult for me to access the cage when he is in there. He much prefers climbing in my hand or a taxi than the ladder. It was worth a try.
Last night he stayed in until 2 am. He still didn’t want to leave, that is an ongoing saga

 

[Socks' Mum]

I have changed Nibbles playpen to the original setup, he didn’t like it being bigger an in front of the cage made it very difficult for me to access the cage when he is in there. He much prefers climbing in my hand or a taxi than the ladder. It was worth a try.
Last night he stayed in until 2 am. He still didn’t want to leave, that is an ongoing saga

Oh Nibbles...

 

[Amy]

Oh Nibbles...

if he doesn’t like something, you can easily tell his face shows pure disgust

 

[Amy]

I would love be to know why he eagerly climbs into a taxi to get in there, but is horrified if you want to put him back! He will not climb in any taxi. In the end I wait until he goes into something in the playpen, usually the sandbath and take him back in that! Yesterday it was the strawberry hideout, and it takes him aged to climb back out. He literally waits in case it goes back to the playpen! I give up
But at least he used his toilet again it was so full, I had to change nearly all the sand. And no food in there.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Aw, he's a good boy He likes hanging out in his playpen. It might be easier to run around in and probably has more of your scent in it. Perhaps he enjoys the different textures. It is very sweet how they are so keen to come out they forget to be timid and run over, climb on your arm or jump in the taxi

 

[Amy]

Aw, he's a good boy He likes hanging out in his playpen. It might be easier to run around in and probably has more of your scent in it. Perhaps he enjoys the different textures. It is very sweet how they are so keen to come out they forget to be timid and run over, climb on your arm or jump in the taxi

That’s true I think it’s the open top that he likes too, and the hemp mat, although I find it very scratchy