Bedding Question

[Viper Tesla]

Sorry I didn't have time to pick more earlier! I do have a quick question, though - how do you set up your Chin's bedding? The manager of my friendly local mom and pop pet store suggestion 2/3 carefree paper bedding and 1/3 gem white wood shavings. I've got one of the smaller bags of carefree and am going through it pretty quickly - I've had Gizmo home for about 5 days and have used about half the bag. Part of my concern is making sure his cage floor is covered (it's a wire floor with a pullout tray) but also with how frequently I need to clean it. The first few days I think it got messy just because there was too much timothy hay, but even when looking for examples/photos of setting up the cage on google i couldn't find much... so I may not even be doing it right. My biggest gripe about the wood shavings is they're so small they basically go through the bars....

 

[CRG7]

Sorry I didn't have time to pick more earlier! I do have a quick question, though - how do you set up your Chin's bedding? The manager of my friendly local mom and pop pet store suggestion 2/3 carefree paper bedding and 1/3 gem white wood shavings. I've got one of the smaller bags of carefree and am going through it pretty quickly - I've had Gizmo home for about 5 days and have used about half the bag. Part of my concern is making sure his cage floor is covered (it's a wire floor with a pullout tray) but also with how frequently I need to clean it. The first few days I think it got messy just because there was too much timothy hay, but even when looking for examples/photos of setting up the cage on google i couldn't find much... so I may not even be doing it right. My biggest gripe about the wood shavings is they're so small they basically go through the bars....

I started off with CareFresh in my starter cage, as that's what it came with. After a few changes, I switched to a prepackaged mix of CareFresh and shavings. I then switched to a package of other-brand CareFresh and kiln dried pine shavings, as I could pick this up at Walmart. Both bags cost what 1 bag of CF cost, and I could get at least double the changes from mixing it together myself.

My starter cage had a mesh wire floor, about 1/2" x 1/2" or slightly smaller. Each night after the house was cleaned, my boy would run around the bottom like a maniac, pushing all of the bedding underneath the wire floor. He would also kick some of the bedding out of the cage altogether. Any time I would put extra bedding down after this, he would repeat the same process. I would clean the bedding out once every 5-7 day, depending on when it was necessary. I cleaned the poo off of his shelves and toys every night at playtime; also any urine if present.

I used the same bedding combination on my CN, but switched to fleece after a couple of weeks. I don't think my boy cared for the bedding, but he certainly loves the fleece.

 

[halfstache]

I'd just use kiln dried pine shavings or fleece. Since you have a wire floor though, using the shavings is the way to go IMO. Pretty much though no matter what you do your going to find yourself cleaning up around the cage everyday so long as you have any chinchillas. Destroying things and making messes is all part of their charm. :wacko:

 

[akane]

Even in my wire bottom cage I just throw down fleece. Dump the shelves with separate pans every night and throw down some fresh hay, wipe off the shelves that can't be removed, sweep around the cages twice a week, and change the fleece once or twice a week.

 

[TaylorMadeChinchillas]

I've used everything from Carefresh, to bedding that looks like little paper ribbons, and I have to say honestly the pine shavings are the best. It helps keep the urine odor down and easy to clean. I generally buy huge 3.25 cuft for around $6 at a local feed supply place. Try to put down the fleece cover if you're worried about little feet or the bedding falling through.

 

[Dreamlite]

The point of having a mesh floor is to help contain the mess. Lots of owners use them. They don't hurt their feet as long as they have a shelf or something to get off of the mesh if they choose. So covering the bars isn't needed. I use newspaper and pine chips and clean my cages every 5-7 days depending on my sched. Do not use carefresh. It expands when wet or eaten and can lead to bloat or blockages.

 

[TessVH92]

I do not have a mesh or wire bottom to my cage, sometimes I wish I did to more easily clean up her droppings. I ONLY have bedding in her litter pan, otherwise she does not use it, she will go where she pleases. The bottom of my cage is what looks exactly like the plastic drop/pull out pans with nice tall edges to help eliminate her making messes, although that does not stop her from managing to get poop all over the floor, and is made from the same plastic as her shelves. This works well for me and my chin, as I clean the litter pan out roughly every other day and then I use my little hand vacuum to collect most of her droppings and then rinse the bottom clean weekly.