Questions about Bedding [long post, sorry]

[Pandapple]

Currently, I am using White Pine shavings for my chins. I've read the poll on what other people use as bedding, to give me a general idea of what people prefer.

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I drove down to Saco to pick up a cage which we would use as an extra, in case we ever needed. [It was fairly large, and the price was reasonable so we thought we would grab it].

Now, the person we had picked the cage up from talked about how he used Red Cedar for bedding? I was always under the impression that any type of cedar bedding was bad for an animal?

He went on about the pros about using Red Cedar and his experience with his specific pet.

What I want to know is, is Red Cedar harmful to Chins? If it's not, would it be an appropriate bedding to use? Or should I just stick with White Pine shavings? Also, if there is any bedding you prefer, or have had good experiences with, please share, as I will look into it.

White Pine shavings have never given me any problems, the chins seem to like the bedding, as well. It's just that the clean-up can sometimes be annoying, more in the sense as to how they throw it out of the cage. I live in an apartment, so I have them set up in the kitchen. It's tiled, so I figured it would be a lot easier to manage rather than if they were set up on carpet.

Does anyone else have problems with this? Do your chins constantly throw bedding out of their cage?

 

[mishellyshel]

I use fleece liners with litter boxes in all my cages. Out of 7 only 1 exclusively uses the litter and 2 others are "trying".

You can do a search on fleece liners, many of the members use them. It does require you to do laundry more often but it is worth it in terms of mess. You could always try them and if you dont like them switch back to the shavings.

I get my shavings from a feed store, so a HUGE bag is under 10 bux, opposed to the pet store prices. I occasionally will get a pet store bag if I am completely out and dont feel like drivng to the feed store. I always buy kiln dried pine or the feed store sells "heat treated" shavings.

 

[chinclub]

You are correct cedar is dangerous. Any wood shavings that have that nice smell can be harmful to tiny lungs. Pine and Aspen are the way to go if you want wood shavings.

If you are sick of having it tracked all over your house you can go with carefresh. I don't like the smell or the price but it doesn't seem to travel around the house like pine does. With two kids in socks we get pine in the strangest places around our house!

 

[Sesame]

I believe cedar bedding is a no-no for chinchillas (something about the natural cedar oils/fumes/something makes it toxic towards chinchillas).

The vacuum is your best friend when it comes to cleaning up bedding around the cage. My apartment is carpeted, so I just vacuum daily.

I prefer to use Care Fresh due to my allergies and it seems to work fine for me. One of the major arguments against Care Fresh is that if a chin ingests a large piece, it can cause blockage in the GI tract. Also, it's a bit more expensive compared to wood shavings.

Bedding, hay and poo is just bound to make it's way out of the cage. There are metal shelf guards you can buy that might minimize the amount (I saw some on Quality Cage). I just clean daily... meh...

 

[Ash]

Cedar is dangerous because of the toxins/chemicals in it for most animals, not just chins. I'd stick with white pine. I use pine or aspen shavings.

 

[AZChins]

No cedar...stick with the pine.

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

The cedar can lead to upper respiratory problems in chins and other animals, for that matter. And if they get the oils on their paws and then lick them, it can cause mouth sores, internal damage and even death after an extended period if time. ( I know this from experience.) Kiln dried pine shavings or aspen shavings would be best, but those who speak about the fleece liners really know what they are talking about. Those tings are awesome! I use them on my chin's shelves, but I also use aspen pellets instead of the shavings, because Herby will not use the bathroom on the liners or a potty, so I use the aspen pellets on the bottom of her cage.
The aspen pellets also eliminated her habit of throwing the shavings out of the cage and the other pets and my kids tracking it all over the house.

 

[shubbles]

no cedar. I use fleece, but did use bedding and I'm sure other people said this but i'm too lazy to read all 5 posts that their chins throw bedding. It's very annoying to clean on carpet. I would stick with pine, aspen is fine too, but why change bedding when you have no problem with it.

 

[starleomach]

No cedar...Cedar is Bad
I use pine I tried fleece, went back to pine