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As someone who's owned hams for a long, long time, I have never looked back after switching to carefresh. Shavings are much messier and less absorbent in my experience. Also, carefresh absorbs the smells better.
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Jan 20, 2016 08:53
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I'd stick to the carefresh too, I've not used aspen myself but compared to the shavings I am using for the new ham atm it's a million times better. If cost is a problem (carefresh dear as gently caress) you can look into other bulk bedding that's paper based, is boxo an American brand? I use hemp which I like and save the carefresh for nesting. Runty is a v pretty little baby, how could you give that face away to anyone else??? 
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Jan 20, 2016 11:10
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So cute! Another vote for sticking to Carefresh, here.
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Jan 20, 2016 13:22
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SmellsOfFriendship posted:Vincenza says not enough chinchillas Well then Vincenza should work to be the change they want to see in the thread and not spend all day running around on wheels or sleeping.  Vincenza is a very cute ball of fuzz. 
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Jan 20, 2016 14:44
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Captain Invictus posted:As someone who's owned hams for a long, long time, I have never looked back after switching to carefresh. teenytinymouse posted:I'd stick to the carefresh too, I've not used aspen myself but compared to the shavings I am using for the new ham atm it's a million times better. If cost is a problem (carefresh dear as gently caress) you can look into other bulk bedding that's paper based, is boxo an American brand? I use hemp which I like and save the carefresh for nesting. Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, cost has been a big issue with carefresh. It feels like the cost goes up every time I go to buy another package. If Aspen shavings are really not worth it I will stick with carefresh. I haven't seen Boxo anywhere in my area. In that case I'm going to look into signing up for the rewards cards at both petco and petsmart and keep a close eye on the card deals. Hopefully if there is a good deal at some point I can just stockpile and be set for a long while.
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Jan 20, 2016 15:19
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Question, how much are you using, for how many hams? A single large package of normal brown-grey carefresh is 22 bucks with free prime shipping if you've got amazon prime(which is worth its weight in gold due to the free shipping for mundane everyday items, among other benefits, seriously) assuming you're in the US, and for 4 hamsters, using a GENEROUS amount of it, I am able to fill 5 tanks(I use aquarium tanks as hamster cages since I have a surplus of them) before running out. If I use less and clean it more often, it will last even longer, maybe 8 tanks worth. It's also totally possible to just remove the pee spot carefresh instead of cleaning the entire cage all the time, as most hamsters eventually start using a single place to pee/poop in. All but one of mine do so and I'm able to scoop out that corner, use a wet paper towel to wipe it down and then a dry one to dry it off, and then put a handful of clean bedding in place of the stuff I removed, which allows me to stretch the bedding out quite a bit longer. This is of course not the case for the remaining male hamster who just pisses and shits wherever he drat well pleases and encrusts the walls of his tank in hamster gunk, the (adorable) little filth creature
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Jan 20, 2016 15:34
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Yeah spot cleans are the best way to do it, I literally never clean out a cage completely and bedding lasts me ages. If you get a little dish of chinchilla sand most hams will pee in it and that cuts down on bedding use too. You can just use normal kids playsand too and that's cheap enough if you go to the right place. If you google for local equine bedding suppliers you could find something cheap and paper based if you're lucky, megazorb is another brand name I think? Sorry I don't know much about American ham stuff. I dunno where that pet place is, is it a chain? Anyway, Boxo
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Jan 20, 2016 16:14
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You should still do a full clean/scrub every 3-4 months even when doing pee spot cleaning though, just to get rid of any buildup of bacteria, fur, or stray poop/pee/misc bodily fluids in the majority of the bedding. But yeah, pee spot cleaning is definitely the way to go if you're on a budget, since otherwise you're going to be using up 4-6 packs of carefresh a year instead of like 1-2(depending on number of hams)
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Jan 20, 2016 16:20
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I'm going to have two hams each in their own 105qt bin with about 2" of bedding in the bottom as soon as the babies leave this weekend. One large pack of carefresh should be enough to take care of that with enough left over to hopefully spot clean. I know that clover is very good at keeping messes to localized areas, runty i am hoping is going to be the same way. Carefresh from my local pet store is only $25 a large pack. Not a horrible price, but an equal amount of aspen shavings is only $17. I figured it was worth looking into just for saving money. Edit: just saw that petco has a house brand bedding thats pretty much carefresh for $20 a 60L. Im going to look into giving that a try and see how well it works. -CHA fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Jan 20, 2016 |
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Jan 20, 2016 16:52
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I was super bored today and decided the world needed to see my guinea pigs eating parsley in slow motion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMuIHxFl-Ik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjNzoa2X86A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzeYyC31hHc Ike refused to come out and indulge my madness but everyone else was easily bribed.
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Jan 20, 2016 22:00
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Am I the only weirdo around here who uses towels and blankets as bedding? I tried Carefresh but it was difficult to keep clean and I could tell it was going to get really expensive to keep the cage as clean as I wanted it, so my guinea pig's cage is lined with layers of towels, I remove the top layers as they get soiled and put them in a laundry bag, do laundry when the bag fills up, and restock the cage with clean towels as needed. Although I do happen to have access to a large amount of towels so that may be a special case. And I am trying to gradually replace the towels with designated guinea pig-only fleece blankets and bedding.
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Jan 20, 2016 22:55
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republicant posted:Although I do happen to have access to a large amount of towels so that may be a special case. Is that code for "I frequent IKEA"?
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Jan 20, 2016 23:05
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guinea pigs are not hamsters
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Jan 20, 2016 23:24
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I used to do towels with fleece on top but I have fleece with an absorbent layer sewn into the middle now and I find it easier to spot clean and wrestle into the wash. When I had hamsters I definitely used carefresh though. Hams do a lot more burrowing and nesting and chewing than guinea pigs so fleece probably wouldn't work for them.
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Jan 20, 2016 23:29
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Yeah burrowing is like no 1 "natural behaviour" for hams and they can't do that in fleece
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Jan 20, 2016 23:31
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Xoidanor posted:Is that code for "I frequent IKEA"? I wish! We don't even have one in my hellhole state (Alabama). We're finally getting a Trader Joe's here though so that's pretty exciting. I just live with people who have somehow managed to collect an impressive amount of towels over the years. I bought my pig a new jumbo sized pigloo and it's HUGE. Big enough to fit a small cat bed entirely inside it with plenty of room for the pig to move around. He seems happy.   
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Jan 20, 2016 23:31
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One large bag of Carefresh lasts me two cage cleanings  I am envious of you and your little critters with their tiny cages. I have two chinchilla mansions and do a full clean-out weekly, I tried the fleece thing for a while but they started smelling pretty bad.
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Jan 21, 2016 01:35
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I got some puppy training pads that are supposed to be very absorbent and should hopefully replace some of the towels in my pig's cage. I don't know how a puppy's urine output compares to that of a guinea pig. I'm nearing the point where I'll have bought everything I could possibly buy for a guinea pig. This is how he was living when I adopted him almost two months ago:  And this is his setup now:  He's a really sweet little guinea pig and I'm just happy to have gotten the chance to give him a good life. republicant fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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Jan 21, 2016 03:15
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That is one spoiled little pig This thread is making me miss having pigs, even if they can be endless wheeking machines.
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Jan 21, 2016 05:02
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One bag of Carefresh lasts one change for me  Though she does like it fluffy. It gets stamped down flat relatively quickly. SPEAKING OF WHICH with winter actually being a thing in the DC area, the power might go out. What's the best way to keep the pig warm if this happens? Extra bedding and she will nest?
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Jan 21, 2016 05:52
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-CHA posted:That is one spoiled little pig Me too. It feels like it'll be a lifetime before I find housing where I'm allowed to have pets again. 
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Jan 21, 2016 08:16
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Captain Invictus posted:This is of course not the case for the remaining male hamster who just pisses and shits wherever he drat well pleases
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Jan 21, 2016 10:11
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I've had female hamsters who were messy like that, as well as males, but the males tend to be the messy ones most of the time. Probably territorial-related.
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Jan 21, 2016 10:15
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Me and my partner rescued a hamster this week and named him Ratatoskr. He's not really been handled but seems friendly enough, also a bit confused by going from a tiny little cage to a massive metre long palace. His big dumb face:   His cage. He ignores h-squat in favour of living in the sputnik.  
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Jan 22, 2016 20:41
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Hello new friend!!  I think if he's willing to sit on your lap already he's gonna be a lovely friendly boy The cage is super, is it a barney? I regret getting an 80cm cage, you can fit so much more into 100cm! I like the Sputnik and the tube, I would nest in there too!
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Jan 22, 2016 21:24
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Yeah its a barney with the woodwork painted. The sputnik is pretty cool, I reckon he likes it because the tube makes it feel like a burrow. Also he can poke his head out and spy on us without getting out of bed.
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Jan 22, 2016 22:39
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My girl looooves her tube, when she's gets out of bed she goes and sits in the entrance to gather herself and have a wash. He must love the Sputnik if he's ignoring that lovely wooden house, I wish they sold those separately because it's such a good size.
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Jan 22, 2016 22:46
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He's decided that the bottom of his tube serves as a food store, a urinal and and safe place. The same bit of the tube. Gross. Lucky he's so cute.
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Jan 22, 2016 23:57
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Oh my goooood!!!  Edit: gently caress it I'm gonna post more pics too    
teenytinymouse fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Jan 23, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 00:00
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Your hamster looks like a shopkeeper. He had carrots. 
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Jan 23, 2016 00:21
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I have no free loaders in my house, she provides whisker tickles and soft pets in return for food (Just a note, celery is onion family so if that's celery he shouldn't have it)
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Jan 23, 2016 00:24
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Thanks for the heads up. Lists online said it was ok but I guess they probably aren't 100% accurate. Never tried giving it to one before because I think it's proper grim. Ratta agreed and wouldn't touch the stuff either.
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Jan 23, 2016 00:30
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You know you're right, I generally go by the hamsterhideout list and it says celery is fine. Maybe I'm confusing that with something else? Sorry!!!  It might be because it's so watery you're only supposed to give it in small amounts or something. I guess if he doesn't like it it's a moot point anyway.
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Jan 23, 2016 00:36
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Blacknose posted:He's decided that the bottom of his tube serves as a food store, a urinal and and safe place. The same bit of the tube. Gross. Lucky he's so cute. Oh my gosh he is a cutey. I posted here a little while back about my dwarf hamster Jack who had to go to the vets with an infected scent gland. He's been on a course of antibiotics but due to the way his belly button and scent gland is we are going to have to keep an eye on it for the rest of his life. This isn't a big problem, the vet gave me a good load of antibacterial scrub and antibiotics with a syringe. She told me what to watch out for in terms of infection and how to treat it if it reoccurs. She said the only other option was surgery to flatten everything down but she would never reccomend it. The vet was really lovely and taught me a better way to handle Jack for antibiotics and cleaning. Since then he's managed to put on weight again and is looking generally healthier which is a huge relief. I feel like absolute poo poo when I had to give him his antibiotics though as he really hated it. It sounds silly I suppose but I always made sure to give him loads of snuggles and treats afterwards. When he's up and about and feeling more sociable I will take some photos.
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Jan 23, 2016 01:04
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Awww good job Jack stay fat and happy!!!
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Jan 23, 2016 01:09
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Blacknose posted:He's decided that the bottom of his tube serves as a food store, a urinal and and safe place. The same bit of the tube. Gross. Lucky he's so cute. He's so fuckin' adorbs
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Jan 23, 2016 02:24
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Blacknose posted:He's decided that the bottom of his tube serves as a food store, a urinal and and safe place. The same bit of the tube. Gross. Lucky he's so cute. I never knew hamsters could grow to be the size of a large dog  .
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Jan 23, 2016 02:43
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Yeh looking at those pictures that is an enormous ham
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Jan 23, 2016 04:44
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UK hams are usually way bigger than US hams, just the way they're bred. I say my girl is 210g and Americans freak out she's obese when she's actually a v athletic little creature. If you guys don't follow Strong Brew hamstery on tumblr or FB or whatever I would, they're great for large healthy hams in Canada/ northern US.
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Jan 23, 2016 04:50
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teenytinymouse posted:UK hams are usually way bigger than US hams, just the way they're bred. I say my girl is 210g and Americans freak out she's obese when she's actually a v athletic little creature. Look at the guy behind the hamster  .
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Jan 23, 2016 04:57
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