>I agree with DebR and others that the normal shredded material is not
>good for gerbils....having dealt with stinging, bleeding paper cuts on my
>hands, I'd hate to see a gerbil in a similar situation. But I've used my
>shredder to chop up construction paper, unprinted newsprint etc, and
>given that to my gerils, with no ill effects. There are no sharp edges for
>them to injure themselves on.
>
>They've loved it and babies have even been born in it, and done well. The
>only downside is that is gets smelly faster than commercial bedding.
>
>Ronni
Yes. I use the recycled soft-rip paper bedding because my
hubby developed an allergic reaction to the pine bedding I
was using...and it does not do odor control. That is why I must
do weekly hamster cage cleans and two weeks for gerbils.
A mother hamster can't be changed until the babies are two
weeks old, as to touch her or the babies before then will cause
her to destroy the babies....gerbils are more forgiving that way.
So any hamsters I have with litters down can get pretty smelly
before I can change them.
Carefresh works better, but for the cost I can't afford it. Pine
is nice, and it is a lot more forgiving on cleaning (nice odor
control) but.
Soft ripped paper edges are the only way to go, if one must use
paper for small animal bedding.
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
