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Post by animelover10143 on Oct 24, 2012 13:49:20 GMT -8
(fyi I live in South carolina USA so i shop at Petco) So I was at the pet store getting all the gerbil stuff and saw a huge bag of the 'planet petco Aspen wood bedding for small animals' It seemed safe in the store but once I got home and opened the bag to look at it and its got big wood shavings in it Heres a pic: I gave the gerbils a big hand full of it and they immediately grabbed the big pieces and started ripping it up into smaller pieces which im happy about but I just have a couple questions... does it look safe for the pups? Should I mix it with something else so that its not all these huge wood shavings? Im not quite sure what else to ask xD but im just worried that if i use it they wont like it because of the big pieces haha
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Post by animelover10143 on Oct 24, 2012 14:07:48 GMT -8
Right now they're in Carefresh and its just so expensive o.o
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Post by qtoffer on Oct 24, 2012 17:55:52 GMT -8
I used to mix aspen 50/50 with Carefresh. Together they make a bedding that holds tunnels quite well. If you give the adults a piece of plain facial tissue, they'll shred it into a soft cozy nest for the pups.
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Post by animelover10143 on Oct 24, 2012 18:01:21 GMT -8
Anytime I clean out the tank they get a full roll of tp to shred and use for their nest/tunnels etc ;D
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Post by ziggyandgizmo on Oct 24, 2012 18:23:07 GMT -8
I don't know about pups, but it is great for my 5 month old gerbils. Keeps them busy. My really chunky aspen shavings gets broken down quite quickly into softer bedding by my gerbils, so it should be fine as is for older gerbils. Someone more knowledgeable will hopefully answer about the pups because I never had any of those before.
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Post by MoonstoneGerbils on Oct 24, 2012 19:37:58 GMT -8
dust free is always safer for pups. Carefresh is very dusty and I can not recommend it for pups, and I do not use it on my gerbils.
Petco's current store brand is a fairly high quality bedding. They've stocked super dusty aspen in the past.
Eco-bedding and Clean and Cozy are two paper beddings that are mostly dust free. So if you are looking for something softer to mix with the aspen i'd suggest one of those two brands.
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Post by animelover10143 on Oct 25, 2012 0:18:45 GMT -8
Ahh okay See thats the biggest bag of aspen at my local petco and when i stand next to it, its almost as tall as my hip ;D and it was only about $15 so duh id jump at the chance of using it instead of paying more for a bag of carefresh thats 3X smaller and seems to be dustier lol So would using about 6-7 inches of this, the tp i give them and some timothy hay work? or do i have to mix in eco or clean a cozy too?
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Post by MoonstoneGerbils on Oct 25, 2012 7:37:00 GMT -8
aspen, toilet paper, and hay is a good mix. Especially if you add cardboard and/or paper.
I only offered eco bedding and clean and cozy as safer alternatives to carefresh.
I use aspen/hay as bedding. They also get cardboard/paper to add to the mix as they destroy it. I avoid using paper based beddings as they tend to rot faster and smell worse.
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Post by animelover10143 on Oct 25, 2012 9:54:58 GMT -8
okay well my gerbils always have some form of cardboard at all times ;D
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Post by Awaiting Abyss on Oct 25, 2012 19:03:10 GMT -8
I never use Carefresh or any of the paper beddings for my gerbils since they're so expensive. I use a mixture of kiln-dried pine from Petsmart (because Petsmart's brand is completely unscented and dust free) and aspen bedding from Tractor Supply. I don't have Petco in my area.
For nesting material I give my gerbils toilet paper, plain tissues, cardboard and hay.
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Post by thegerbilninja on Oct 26, 2012 12:13:07 GMT -8
Aspen isn't really the best type of flooring/bedding, But it will do. As long as there is no pine, Ever, You will be fine. The pups will be fine.
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Post by Awaiting Abyss on Oct 26, 2012 12:17:21 GMT -8
Pine is fine if it is kiln-dried. There is nothing wrong with keeping gerbils on aspen or on kiln-dried pine.
Cedar bedding is what you should never use.
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Post by RitzieAnn on Oct 26, 2012 23:38:16 GMT -8
I have used that brand before :-) we liked it just fine.
I have Aspen & 2 different brands of pine right now. My litters are on Aspen. When they are weaned, I introduce some pine to the mix. All my non breeding adults are on about 60/40 pine/aspen. And that's really just to get rid of the pine. I don't like these brands one is very tiny flakes, which I dislike. The gerbils like shredding it, so I like the larger flakes. The other brand is really dusty. I line the chinchilla & rat cages with it, but they are larger & have lots of space that isn't "in" the bedding.
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