Alternative bedding option?

So most of my hedgies do fine with fleece, and then paper towels under the wheels and they go potty there. But 2 of them go everywhere. It is so gross and stinky and I just throw out the fleece rather than wash it. Or I just use tons of ripped up toilet paper or paper towels, but I was wondering if pine or aspen bedding is really that bad? What are their chances of getting mites? Carefresh is too expenisive, so I would really like to use a wood shaving. But I need to know what I am risking, and are mites the only real problem with wood shavings? Thank you!

Wood bedding can get into the penis sheath in males. With mites, they can come in the bag from the store, so you could end up with vet bills from mites even if you change the bedding frequently I would think.

I heard that shredded newsprint will work. No mites & inexpensive! But I don't know all the risks--does anyone else know?

Oh, forgot earlier, got distracted. I don't know what the thoughts are on it, but I have my messy guy's on shop towels, the thick, super absorbant, soft, paper towels mechanics use. Usually 3 thick, I change daily when they have play time. Boxes of 300 at the car stuff stores, 350 box at BJ's for like $11, or sometimes they're on sale, and I buy a lot then, a pack of 2 rolls of 55 for $3 at Walmart.

Try Yesterday's News pellets or Carefresh. They're both fairly inexpensive (cost-wise I would suggest the YN, it can be bought in huge bags at Walmart for very cheap) and will not harbour parasites. YN absorbs odours VERY well (only needs to be changed ~once a week versus shavings are twice a week) and absorbs a large amount of liquid very well.

I'm a huge carefresh fan...no smell (so long as you clean it once a week of course) and you can always use a little hand vac to suck up poop on shelves

Thanks so much, I will try both the strong paper towels or YN, and they are girls who are super messy so I don't have to worry as much about the penis sheath thing.

Chinniechantel said:

...but I was wondering if pine or aspen bedding is really that bad? What are their chances of getting mites?

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From personal experience, I'd say their chances of getting mites are pretty darn good. Tilly, my first hedgie, picked up mites that way. I've heard that if you freeze the wood shaving bedding, that kills the mites. I don't know, though, as I don't have a large enough freezer (or enough freezer space) to freeze the amount of shavings needed to properly line our hedgie home. We just tossed our bag of shavings and switched over to liners when we discovered we gave her mites because we had her on wood shavings.

Of course, now that we've got a boy, IMHO wood shavings are completely out of the question.

I'm still not a fan of wood even for girls. Tilly wound up with a small piece of wood particulate in her eye that we had to take her to the vet to have removed. All in all, I just personally haven't had a good experience with wood shavings. That said, I'm only one person. : )

Good luck!

---Lisa Ann