Kapok Pods- suitable for gerbils?

[imogen]

Hello all, I was gifted by a friend some kapok pods from Rosewood.



It does say on the back that they are suitable for hamsters and gerbils, but I have also read a few horror stories about gerbils having a bad time with them and I'm feeling cautious.

Any experienced opinions? I'd really appreciate it. They sure do look interesting a crunchy and fluffy, it would be a shame to waste them if they are safe to use. Cheers!

[Markpd]

Curious, I've not heard of these before, it'll be interesting to see what the more experienced folk here say about it.

From the Ratrations website on Kapok pods:-

Kapok fibers are very short and break easily so they do not twist into long strings like some bedding causing safety issues. It also has natural antibacterial properties and is biodegradable.

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Hmm, I've never heard of these either.
Definitely wise to wait for someone more experienced to respond.

[betty]

I too have only ever heard horror stories about these - and obviously the cotton thread nesting material always says hamster/gerbil safe on it's packaging too - so have never given them to my own gerbils as there are plenty of other things they like that I know are already safe.

I have given them to my harvest mice over the years without any issues though, but of course they might 'use' them in a different way - or move through them in a different way? Who knows - but they never got into trouble with it - and they loved the seeds inside.

[LilyandDaisy]

The two big risks with the cotton or synthetic fluff (which is different to kapok but similar in texture) are
1) the long strands twisting round limbs or toes and cutting off the blood supply - especially a risk with baby rodents but can happen to adults too.
2) intestinal obstruction if swallowed

As mentioned above, kapok has really short strands so the first risk doesn't apply, but the second may do. There was a case published in the journal of the RVC of a hamster suffering from a fatal intestinal obstruction from reported use of kapok bedding. This is the article. It contains graphic post mortem photos of the hamster.

Some people also speculate that the pods may be even more risky than the kapok sold in bags, because they contain edible seeds which the gerbils will eat along with small bits of fluff.

Personally I would never use kapok bedding, but I know some people do without any issues. They use kapok much more often in Germany and other continental European countries and don't consider it as risky as the rodent communities in the UK and US tend to. Unfortunately it's the type of thing of thing that might be completely fine for your pets for years, until the day it isn't. This is in contrast to other debated topics, such as pine bedding, where the supposed danger is cumulative, and therefore the argument, "I've been using it for ages and my animals are fine" carries much more weight.

Of course, nothing is completely safe, and I am sure that wood shavings or paper bedding could equally cause obstructions if a gerbil randomly decided to eat them (extremely unlikely to happen unless the gerbil had pica or something). I am unsure what exactly makes the cotton or synthetic fluff more likely to be swallowed but it does seem to be associated with problems a bit more often that you would expect to occur randomly from freak accidents. Maybe that case from the RVC was a random freak accident but it's the similarity of texture between cotton fluff and kapok that makes people nervous.

These pods are also said to be quite dusty which apparently can cause problems (breathing issues or allergic symptoms) for some gerbils.

[imogen]

Thanks for all the perspectives on this guys, I'm gonna stay safe and not use these, it doesn't seem to be worth the risk really when there are so many other ways to keep them entertained. For those curious, I have seen these for sale in Wilkos (UK).

I have instead taken to stuffing loo rolls with paper bedding a meadow hay, which probably amounts to the same kind of experience