Bedding The Chinchilla Villa

[Chinchillaville13]

Okay, I almost have enough money for the entire Chinchilla Villa!

For those of you who don't know, the Chinchilla Villa will be a large wooden cage for my little dude Pedro. I'm gonna have tons of cool ledges and huts, a feeding area, and more. I will also have 2 or 3 smaller cages, probably with only 2 stories. One will be one story and built for dust baths. The cages will be connected through a system of tunnels, which I will also be building. The tunnels will have little doors so I can get to my chinchillas any time I need to and so I can clean easier.

Now, with a complex cage like this, fleece is going to suck. Think about how difficult it'll be to attach the fleece to the main cage, the tunnels, and the smaller cages. It's gonna be hell. So I was thinking about using bedding from a pert store.

Now, I know lots of people are in favor of fleece rather than bedding. And there's got to be more to it than the fact that it's easy to take off and chuck in the washer. I also know that certain bedding is bad for chinchillas. But what bedding isn't?

I've heard good things about CareFresh Ultra bedding. I've been thinking about getting it for the Chinchilla Villa. But I'm no expert. If anybody wants confirmation, I don't have time to make a list that long. Just look at other threads I've posted. So, do you guys know what bedding is easy to use for cleaning the cages, safe for my chinchillas, and is nice and comfy for them?

 

[Amethyst]

Carefresh, as well as other paper, are not safe for chins since they are designed to expand when wet so if they chin eats it, it can cause a blockage and kill the chinchilla. Pellet bedding of any kind is also not safe for the same reason. The only bedding (not counting fleece) that is safe to use is aspen shavings or kiln dried pine shavings, and some people are no longer recommending the pine because it can cause respiratory issues. That being said, I used kiln dried pine for my animals for over 20 years without a problem. The main reasons I switched to aspen are it has less of a smell and doesn't bother my allergies like the pine did, I also find it less dusty then pine but it apparently varies between brands. Both aspen and kiln dried pine shavings are digestible and don't expand so it's safe for chins to chew and even eat some of them.

The tunnels I wouldn't think would need bedding, they normally don't pee as they are walking (just poop) so the tunnels might be easier to just leave empty so you can just vacuum out the poops. So really you would just be needing bedding in the cages, I guess it really comes down to how the cages are made but I find fleece liners to be way easier and less of a mess then using shavings for the whole cage (I just have aspen shavings in a litter box).

I don't really feel like going through all the posts right now, but just in case I haven't mentioned it, if your chin ever gets ringworm everything wood will need to be thrown away, that includes the cage if the cage is made of wood. It may never happen, but it is something to keep in mind.