What types of bedding have you tried?

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I started with KD pine shavings which was messy but worked well as far as absorption and odor. Then once I got my Critter Nation I switched to fleece which a Pyrex dish filled with KD pine shavings. My chin took no time to learn to use his litter box and has had very minimal accidents on the fleece and that was only at the beginning. So far as long as the fleece tucks under the pan, he doesn't try to pull it up.
 
I started out with KD pine, the switched to fleece liners. I realized that they ended up being more work to clean than just switching out bedding so I changed back to KD pine and have been using it ever since.
 
I started with Carefresh Natural but that was too expensive so I tried Carefresh Basic. I hated that stuff so I sucked it up and went back to the Carefresh Natural again. Then I gave fleece liners a shot with a litter pan with the Carefresh Natural in it. Clark never ate it when it was his bedding but would chew it when it was in his litter pan so now he has KD pine in his litter box and Koopa has the Carefresh Natural in his. I like the fleece because it's easier for me to clean - I would always get the bedding everywhere before.
 
We use pine shavings. It is much more cost effective and easy to use, although I wish they were a little less yellow (I dont care for they way they sometimes stain the bellies on the chins). We go through about 6-7 bales of shavings. They are large compressed bales that come from North Carolina.
 
I have about 85 cages that are 36" x 24" and about 7 cages that are 48" x 24". It takes about 10 to 12 large bags from TSC Fine shavings once a week. I used to use Shoots shavings or Ryersons because I liked how fine (small) they were and they came in paper bags instead of plastic, but it's quite a drive for me. Now my TSC gets their shavings from a place in North Carolina and they gave me the phone number to the place so I could ask them about the shavings. Anyways they are blown, kiln dried, and fine; so more absorbent and softer than the big chunky shavings they used to carry that I hated. Plus they are cheaper and only 5 minutes away.
 
When I had one chin, I used CareFresh but its expensive. I'm now using pine for everyone and fleece for one chin right now. Fleece is nice to have and it looks nice, but I think its more time consuming with cleaning up. I hate that the pine from the litter box gets transferred and sticks to the fleece...annoying!
 
We use the compress bales of KD pine. It usually costs us about $5-6/bale and we go through a bale and a half a week.

Wanted to add. KD pine does not cause respiratory problems. Cedar shavings can cause respiratory and liver failure due to the phenol oils in it.
 
I am using Pine Wood Shavings for bedding. The boy likes to chew on it . I am wondering will he eat it? He is only 3 month old. Shall I give him bedding?
 
When I brought the girls home, I tried them on carefresh while they were in the cage they came with. Cissy kept eating it, so I pulled it all out and put it in the slide out pan under the cage. (Their old cage had a wire bottom.) Once they moved into the FN, I switched them to fleece liners. I don't use a pan of shavings, but they've potty trained themselves to pee in their lovely castle bed, so I use a folded fleece liner in there so it's super thick and change it out every few days. (Brats) I like the fleece. It's easy to clean, doesn't smell, and doesn't make a mess of my floor.
 
I am using KD pine, super big bag which is about waist high, last about 2 months.
I have a cage similar to ferret nation with 2 floors, I am currently using a bare stainless steel pan with a toilet, tried putting fleece on the pan, but they just loved to pee on it, and it stank after the 2nd day. Without the fleece, they were good girls and peed in the dish.
I spot clean the 2 cages everyday and clear the whole cage every week.

As for pine causing respiratory problems, could it be pine, not KD pine, my vet wasn't happy with me using pine as bedding for the above reason, and urged me to change to pellets or plain paper.
Can anyone explain why KD pine is safe for chins?
 
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Regular pine has resins and oils that are harmful to the animals. That's what gives you that really strong "pine fresh" scent. When pine is put into a kiln and dried it is at extremely high temperatures drying out the resins and oils and killing off anything that could possibly be in the wood.

Some vets may not like KD pine since for most small rodents, even KD pine is not safe. Chinchillas, however, do not have as sensitive of respiratory systems as some of our pocket pets so pine works fine with them. I've known 18 year old chinchillas that have spent their entire lives on pine shavings and they were just fine.
 
You know, the fact that vets (mine too) don't like the kiln dried or any pine bedding and are reticent to recommend it, that says volumes. You can say that this animal or that animal was fine with it, but it doesn't mean that there won't be an animal down the road that doesn't have problems with it. The vets take the high road, let's not risk any animal. I'll take that road as well. It doesn't pay to save a few bucks and lose an animal for something that could be preventable.
 
I can rattle off a huge list of veterinarians that say to feed your chinchilla fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Does that mean we should all pay attention to that and start feeding those?

Unfortunately, though a veterinarian means well, they are not well versed on the best care for each and every animal. Most will form opinions based off of common knowledge of common household pets, not based off of information on that particular animal.

If it were truly harmful to chinchillas, we would see a higher mortality rate in kits raised on pine bedding. A kit has a much more sensitive respiratory system than an adult with their newly formed, highly susceptible little lungs. I have talked to many breeders and ranchers over the years and those on pine do not have a higher mortality rate than those not on pine.

Respiratory problems arise from lack of cleanliness. If you don't clean your cages on a regular basis, it's best not to use a wood bedding that will degrade and hold bacteria over time as it is moistened. I clean twice a week in the summer and once a week in the winter. I have never had a URI in my herd.
 
Thank you for the reply, this is the bedding I use, Sry for the pic being upside down, I opened it the wrong way..

Actually, as much as I trust my vet, she's very experienced, but sometimes, like
RDZCRanch said, they are just talking about small animals as a whole.
Another thing I disagree with my vet is that she keeps saying my chins are too fat. And my fattest is my 7 yr old boy, 644g.
 

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The exotics information that vets are given as students is not very in depth and often outdated.
My exotics medicine professor hasn't actually practiced in a private practice in years, and we don't handle exotics at the vet school. He had never even heard of KD pine, so all he's been teaching his students for the last so many years is DON'T USE PINE EVER. When I spoke with him about KD pine, he kindly thanked me for enlightening him. It makes sense that KD pine has less of the harmful aromatic oils than regular pine shavings.

That NEPCO bedding in the picture above is what we use - love it!
 
I like the Pets Pick KD pine bedding, I can get it here at Walmart, it's soft and fluffy, not like sawdust and not big chunks. The chins seem to love it and for $0.50 more a bag... so worth it.
 
While we're on this topic of bedding, I would like to ask about the reddish brownish bark bits I find in the shavings, are they safe if ingested?
Gumby loves treasure hunting when I put new shavings in. Human eyes cannot win chin eyes, no matter how I pick at it, he's bound to find one or two...
Sometimes I get none in the whole bag, but sometimes, like this bag, I get quite a few bark pieces.

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I tried carefresh at first because my chin came with a bag. It took the entire bag to cover the bottom of the cage and it wasn't even covered that well, then he ate it. I personally like Fleece because it is inexpensive and easier to clean up
 
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