Bedding advice. What have you tried?

I've used kiln dried pine and Aspen pellets. Both of which are very dusty. The pellets are great at odor control but it's very heavy and crumbles apart fast. The pine is simply not absorbent, doesn't control odor, and the dust is killing me.

I've been looking into the softer beddings. Reading reviews online. Such as Sunseed Fresh World Bedding, Yesterdays News softer formula, and Kaytee softsorb.

I did try Carefresh but it didn't help odors and is way too expensive for multiple tubs.

I'd like some advice on beddings that are affordable, absorbent, odor controlling, and not dusty.

I change the tubs weekly but within a few days I can't stand the smell and I can dust everyday but still have piles of dust all over everything.

Thanks!

It sounds like you are very sensitive to the air, really. Pine might be a bit dusty, but it and aspen chips do a good job of keeping things dry and smellless for the most part.

Try Petco aspen chips (13 bucks for a BIG bag) and softwood (pine, fir, and spruce mixed together, 11 bucks for a similarly sized bag). Also sprinkle baking soda and some clay cat litter in there and see what that does.

What's been working for me is regular pine bedding packed tightly in these bags at Petsmart. They're only like $3 or $4 which is a great deal, plus I even use the bedding sometimes for the snakes and it works out just fine.

It works better than the aspen, and needs to be changed out maybe every other week.

I use Equine Pine Pellets. Pine is only thing that keeps the smell under control.

Aspen will make the area smell faster than pine will. You will have to keep up on it more often due to ammonia build up.


I started using aspen and havent touched it in 3 years

I'm currently using the compressed pine in the big bale bag from petsmart. I have used the pellets from a feed store and they did work great but it's incredibly heavy bedding and the most dusty of all. I can only empty a few tubs into 1 garbage bag when I use that stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

I use Equine Pine Pellets. Pine is only thing that keeps the smell under control.

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x2 but i do a mix. I normally put pellets below and top it off with some pine on top to kinda cut down on the dust

I buy pine from the feed store, way cheaper than the idiots at PetXXX...
Do your community a favor, buy from the little guys.... :gj:

I find the best odor control is the pine that's real small cut. Not the big shavings. That doesn't help your dust though...
I change my mice on Monday and Thursday, just because of the odor...

I use kiln dried pine shavings as well and it does a nice job.

I have a source for oak shavings. I have tried them and found they are more absorbent and keep the smell down better. However I currently do not use it because my source does not eliminate the dust. I am planning on building a cyclone separator to eliminate the dust. Until then we will continue to use pine. Also go to the sticky I think is located in the DIY section and find the plans for a odor absorbing air cleaner using phosphorous activated charcoal. That helps remove the ammonia from the air which is 60 to 70% of the smell.

I've used aspen for years and recently switched to kiln dried pine in huge bags from the local mom n pop feed store.
10cubic feet for $8 and way better than the crap at petsmart/petco IMO

Buy local think global ;)