Substrate

I used to use hemp & it never really smelt of anything much, fishy sounds a bit off!
 
elusive said:
I used to use hemp & it never really smelt of anything much, fishy sounds a bit off!
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Hmm, so there is hemp that doesn't smell.

I hadn't used much hemp, only around two wheels, a sandbath and inside a jar.
I've removed all the hemp now and replaced the area around a couple of wheels with woodchips so the wheels won't get jammed with Kaytee.

I obviously wasn't entirely happy with the hemp which is the reason i kept going on about it.

People keep saying how dangerous woodchips are so i was looking for a replacement for the wheel areas.
Personally, i don't believe that woodchips are dangerous in the UK otherwise all my rescue hamsters would have respiratory issues and not one of them ever had.
 
Beech chips are safe. I have some and Orko likes them. Is that what you mean by wood chips?
 
No, woodchips are the ordinary substrate people generally use in small cages. Snowflake and petsathome own brand mainly.
In the UK they are kiln dried and the ones i have for wheel areas are from a Wiltshire sawmill but i don't know what kind of wood they use.
I'm going to a small independent petshop in Devizes after work tomorrow where they sell beech chips and chipsi. Last time they only had big bags. See what they've got.
 
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Petshop stocks 10l bags of different grades of Chipsi. I wonder if Chipsi could be an option for wheel areas. The texture of the middle one is similar to beech chips but it doesn't say which wood Chipsi is made of.

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The texture is hard and edgy which worries me because dwarfs hop in and out of their wheels.
 
Beryl said:
The texture is hard and edgy which worries me because dwarfs hop in and out of their wheels.
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Ah I see. I can understand your concern. Do they have any Komodo substrate? This is a brand I like. I have their sand, beech chips and aspen.
 
They also have 10l bags of Aspen but i don't like the fibre like texture and worry that tiny toes could get caught.

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Beryl said:
I just need a non paperbased substrate to go around some wheels but want it to be soft and smell free.
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I put wheels in sand baths or trays depending on the size of the wheel, could try that?
 
I have one wheel in a sandbath which works very well but sometimes the set up isn't suitable for that.

New girl Lilly is a bulldozer and ploughs through her substrate. Maybe i need to rethink her set up, put her wheel on a platform and velcro the stand to the platform.
 
I put all my wheels on platforms then glue a row of dowel pins in front & back of where the stand sits & that usually keeps it in place.
 
That's also a good idea. I definitely need to look into that. I know someone who makes platforms to the required size.
 
Do you mean wood shavings by woodchips? Wood shavings are usually pine - that's what Snowflake shavings are - but there's been some iffy mention of that brand in terms of what's in them. Wood shavings (usually softwood) should say kiln dried and dust extracted on the bag. If they don't say that, they might not be. They should also say exactly what wood it is. Eg pine wood shavings. If it doesn't say what wood it is don't get it. Some of them could be mixed softwoods if they don't specify - including Cedar and Cedar is a big no no (very high levels of phenols).

Chipsi is a German brand. I only know of their softwood shavings - maybe they do beech chips as well? Some of the Chipsi shavings are very good - they're supposed to be high quality and are part pine and part spruce. Spruce is a softwood but it's equivalent to a hardwood in that it has negligible phenols. So of all the softwood shavings, the Chipsi Class are one of the best ones (if it says pine and spruce on the packet).

However not all their shavings are good - they do some scented ones as well so you need to check the packet carefully in case they're scented.
 
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