katy
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Posts: 7 
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Post by katy on Jan 20, 2015 16:06:53 GMT -8
I have got my two guys a 5ftx1.5ft tank, an upgrade from their last 2.5ft. While they are really happy its been costing me a small fortune in bedding to change! I buy carefresh (mixed with hay/tissue paper for their bed) at pets at home and its costing me £20 a tank change as I have to get the largest size to fill the tank to any sort of amount good enough for digging. I have always been warned against wood shavings for gerbils. Although, it is becoming tempting as it would cost me £4.50 rather than £20 per tank change, but clearly I don't want to damage their health for the sake of saving money. Does anyone have any creative solutions for cutting the cost of bedding in large tanks?
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Post by horselover on Jan 20, 2015 19:48:21 GMT -8
Aspen shavings are perfectly safe for most gerbils (some will get a red nose as an allergic reaction). Ecobedding is another great alternative if it's available. It's a bit pricier than aspen, but cheaper than carefresh.
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ella
Member
Posts: 67
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Post by ella on Jan 20, 2015 20:48:04 GMT -8
What about Megazorb? It's a horse bedding that's paper based, safe, and cheap for the amount you get.
Also, your tank sounds awesome!
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kim
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Posts: 399
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Post by kim on Jan 21, 2015 2:47:34 GMT -8
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Post by blanknote on Jan 21, 2015 3:38:35 GMT -8
Wood shavings should be fine, even pine is okay in the UK as it's kiln dried.
I personally prefer to use megazorb as the main bedding, I found carefresh to be a bit more dusty than I was expecting it to be. At the moment I am mixing megazorb, wood shavings, hay, and toilet paper.
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ella
Member
Posts: 67
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Post by ella on Jan 22, 2015 19:13:42 GMT -8
Wood shavings are pretty debatable, as kiln drying doesn't remove very much of the aromatic oils at all.
I'd prefer not to risk it and go with aspen and/or paper based.
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Post by smith on Apr 10, 2015 2:33:12 GMT -8
its totally confusing for me
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Post by the_gerbilpetsworld on Apr 10, 2015 6:02:58 GMT -8
If you live in the UK you could try Argos Children's Playsand. It's non toxic so there are no dangerous chemicals or toxins in it. It's £3 a back and you only need to clean the tank/cage out once every 2 weeks. My gerbils love it because it's natural for them. Also if you live in the UK Fitch bedding is good. It's like Carefresh but you get it in bails and is cheaper than Carefresh I think. I'm not sure how much it is but I will find it and link it for you www.fitchrecycling.co.uk/animal-bedding/fitch-pet-bedding.html it depends what you get In order for it to be cheaper than Carefresh Hope I Helped PetMad15  |
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Post by theia on Apr 10, 2015 6:31:32 GMT -8
I get dust extracted card here (UK) for my girls (one is particularly sensitive to dust and it is the best stuff i've found to reduce her sneezing). The company that sells it is called Finacard and they'll deliver a huge (I mean HUGE) bag of it for I think £13 or £14 which should last you a good few changes at least (if not many more depending how high you fill and how regularly you clean them). They can dig in it and it gives them plenty to chew down after cleaning. Also like some other beddings it is recycled so good for the environment The only real con to it for me is that you will need some space to store the 'bale' of card (it's approximately the size of one of the oblong hay bales you see on farms) and my girls don't really build tunnels so I've no idea if it's any good for holding tunnel structures or not. I don't know if you can get anything similar if you are not UK based. The Finacard company also sells pellets and a few different varieties of paper based beddings, I use the card as the bulk of my gerbils' bedding/substrate, then I use the tissue/paper strips which are much softer on top for them to make a bed out of, I also spread around some Hide'n'seek Nestables to give them something to collect and pad out their beds more (as well as adding some colour to the otherwise boring brown and white). The paper bedding stuff is something like £1.50 per small pack (they don't sell it in huge bales but as it's only for the top layer you don't need anywhere near as much either). In terms of smell, I don't find it to be too bad, My husband and I actually consider Carefresh to come with a 'week old gerbil smell' when it's fresh out of the packet so we much prefer using the card and paper as it doesn't start off with an odour. www.finacard-uk.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=49&zenid=kkm2tj44u8tflrie4ge8k1a1g4 |
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Post by betty on Apr 10, 2015 7:09:20 GMT -8
I buy a massive bale of 'Horse' shavings (kiln-dried pine) for about £10 which I use in all my tanks. In the 3ft tanks I only change them every 3 to 4 weeks for 2 to 3 gerbs as it does a great job of absorbing stuff. It isn't dusty and so far I have been lucky enough to have no allergies to it.
I also throw in a tonne of cardboard, some hay and other bedding - nice a deep for tunneling...
I like the sound of the Megazorb though - might look into that next time.
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