Another hamster question

[hennipenni]

DD2 is researching hamsters at the mo' in a bid to let us let her have one. As her sister has a dust allergy we wondered what bedding can be used in the bottom of the cage apart from sawdust/wood shavings. Has anybody used shredded paper? would that be o.k?

We use sawdust and then some nesting stuff you can buy in pet shops which they sleep in. I think the idea of the sawdust is to soak up wee! You need to be careful about what you use as they may eat it and it can make them ill. I used shredded kitchen roll for a while then realised it was cheaper to buy the pet shop stuff. You could go to Pets at Home or somewhere and have a look. I don't know if sawdust or similar is essential to mop up wee or if just paper would be ok.

We used sawdust shavings for the floor and shredded packing paper for bedding. Also trained our hamsters to wee in a jamjar rested on its side.

I thought the shaving you buy packed for pet bedding was dust extracted - that sort of dust isn't any good for the hamsters either I don't think.
Course - I could be sadly misinformed!

I use sawdust, I have a dust allergy and there is no dust, all of the bits of sawdust are quite large, I also give him shredded paper and wool like bedding.

I love the idea of training it to wee in a jam jar, how did you do that? The little monkey wees in his house, he sleeps there and hides food. Gross!

Thankyou for your replies. Bamzooki/avenanap I think that the sawdust/shavings that we used a few years ago with our last hammy were supposed to be dust free but it did still set DD3 off, I wonder whether a thin layer of shaving with shredded paper on the top would be sufficient?

Well it might - but your problem might be maintaining that arrangement. If it is anything like ours after cleaning the cage it will immediately set about arranging the 'furniture' into what must be her preferred style. But her preference seem to change. Currently she is favouring piling ALL the bedding into a corner, fluffing shredded paper on top and burrowing down into that. You might think she is cold, but when the really cold weather was here she was perched in the centre of the cage with a very minimalistic bed indeed.

So what I am saying is don't bank on being able to set up a cage 'just so' and expect it to stay that way.

I have heard of a way of keeping hamsters in a fish tank type arrangement, with deep compost type bedding that they can dig their own tunnels and chambers in. DH saw it in a shop somewhere, but I have never been able to find much out about it, but it sounds interesting. Would that be any better for your DD?

Oh yes bamzooki, we had the 'fish tank & tunnel' arrangement, its called ROTASTAK and available at most large pet stores - great fun but it's a PITA to clean out if the wee is in a tunnel turn

I'm not sure about shredded paper, I think I read somewhere that shredded newspaper was certainly harmful to hamsters (the ink)

No - not Rotastack - we used to have one of those but very quickly got fed up of the business of cleaning it.

More like a proper fish tank - about half full of some kind of natural material - like compost, but probably not just your ordinary stuff, and the hamsters dug down into it.
Of course my dh could have been on a wind up mission at the time and actually its complete fantasy!

Oh I see what you mean ... like this?

Bamzooki, I see what you mean, I wouldn't use newspaper etc but a prep brand that can be used for animal bedding. I think that a trip to pets at home or what ever is needed to discuss all this. the fish tank thing would work well,(alreay have one with fish in an one with Giant African Landsnails) but worry whether DD2 woould be able to clean it out properly as it would be heavy and also whether she would be able to get the hamster out of it.

PrimulaV - - yes that looks exactly like what dh described. Never been able to find any info about it tho - what did you search under?

Bamzooki - I remember seeing it in a Dorling Kindersley hamster book (which I no longer have - think it must have been a library book). When I saw your post it brought back memoeries because the dc's imagination got rather carried away with the pics of these in the book - they wanted to fill our already cramped study .... so I steered them in the direction of Rotastak instead!

Looks like a sort of fish tank - not sure what use as lid though.

I think newspaper would be a bad idea as they would be sure to eat it and the newsprint wouldn't do them any good.

From my hamster book -

The floor of the hamster's home needs to be covered in a deep layer of bedding. The best type of bedding is shavings, but you must only buy shavings that are specifically designed for hamsters.

You will also need to buy nesting material.

If you are keeping a longhaired hamster, you will need to use sawdust bedding as shavings will become tangled up in the coat.

HTH.

Make sure it has secure lid too!!

I have 2 hamsters ans they don't like sawdust (neither do I!)
They have a couple of sheets of newspaper on the floor unshredded and then the fluffy cottton wool type bedding from the pet shop. Sometimes they shred some of the newspaper and add it to their bedding (when I have been a cheapskate mummy and deprived them!).
The newspaper is to soak up the wee. HTH