Best bedding in cage

[elevison03]

I am a new member, and a new chin owner. We just rescued two girls from a local shelter. They are awesome, and have made an amazing addition to our family. They came with a Martin Cage with a wire bottom. I will be retro fitting the cage with new wooden shelves etc. as time goes on. For now, what is the best bedding to use to reduce odor? I have heard aspen, carefresh, pine, etc. What works the best. Thanks!

 

[clb]

I just wanted to let you know you aren't suppose to use carefresh bedding with Chins since it can cause impaction if chin eats it.

On here I have seen people use dry-kiln aspen as well as fleece liners. I will let more experienced owners touch on other specifics.

 

[Narcissus]

I use kiln dried pine in some and also fleece in some. just depends on the chin, I like them both

 

[ArmyWife]

I use fleece liners since you can just toss them in the wash!

 

[Lirana]

I use aspen. I'm considering switching to fleece with a small "litter pan" of aspen because I feel like I waste a lot of litter. Most chinchillas tend to have their pee corner that they relieve themselves in.

I just wanted to clear up, chinchillas should not have an odor. Hopefully the ones you rescued don't stink. We have rats that stink within 5 minutes of cleaning their cage (only a slight exaggeration). But as long as the chinchilla's not sick and you're cleaning out the litter at least once a week, they shouldn't smell. I do a quick spot cleaning daily where I sweep up the poop and any uneaten hay/pellets. Then once a week I do a thorough cleaning which includes a litter change.

 

[SmokeyandChilla]

I use kiln dried pine. I find that it reduces odor more than any other, however, my chins don't produce much of an odor. I change Chilla's cage once a week, and Smokey's ferret nation one every two weeks. Fleece, I've tried with my guinea pigs, and i don't prefer it because it does tend to obtain an odor unless you wash it 1-2 times a week. But chinchillas are not guinea pigs so maybe this is just a foolish preference. Good luck

 

[tcraighenry]

I use a combination of fleece and pee dishes. When we got our Chinchilla Mansion the paint on the back corner of the pain was eaten away. Probably by acid from the previous owner's chin peeing in that corner. So we keep fleece down and have a pee dish with Aspen in it to try and preserve the new one for a bit longer.

The other cage has a wire bottom so we use fleece and another pee dish for the above reasons.

As far as the pee dishes go, I found some stainless steel cake pans on Amazon for cheap.

 

[Laluvschins]

Love the teacup kangaroo. Lol!!

 

[lovespekes]

I laid tile on the floor of Andie's cage and like tcraighenry, use a pee dish. I fill the dish with Kaytee Soft Granule Blend (from the previous owner). I was impressed to find that Andie is potty trained...as far as peeing goes...so I change out the blend once a week and wipe down the tile with vinegar and water. Easy and so far no odor problem!