Aspen Bedding

[Chicklette]

I have six chinchillas and was wondering if aspen bedding is safe to use on the bottom of the cage? Is it safe if they ingest it? It covers up the poo better and looks neater as we all know when they eat and poop there is always a mess like 5 seconds after you clean the cage.

 

[JLcribber]

It also harbors bacteria much better because we don't see the mess and effectively leave it in there much longer.

 

[Chicklette]

I change the bedding and paper every other day but was just wondering if it was safe if they ingest it? Maybe I better stick to newspaper.

 

[Sharpie]

I always recommend sticking with newspaper. The fact that aspen DOES hide the mess better is actually a problem IMO. The birds could come down with diarrhea or otoh stop pooping all together and it wound be hard to tell. You wouldn't know they were sick until they were nearly dead.

 

[Kristy]

Stay away from that type of bedding if possible, Aspergillious loves that stuff. Birds have fragile respiratory systems.

 

[Chicklette]

Wow, THANK YOU so so much. Im so glad I posted this. Right now Im using newspaper but just thought of switching to bedding since I already have it. But thanks. newspaper it is.

 

[Kristy]

Courtney it does seem like it would be a great substrate for a cage and I used it way back when till somebody told me how bad it can be.

Great question!

 

[Chicklette]

Yes, it would be excellent but if it's bad Im just using news paper. I don't want to make Boomer sick over it. I have a bunch of bedding for my chins and just thought it would be good to use but Im glad I asked before I used it.