so... we all know the great risk that comes with woodshavings and hammies respiritory systems... luckily if its the only thing available, kin dried stuff in the uk isn't *quite* as bad , but generally speaking, wood shavings are a nono.
Soooo what do you all use?
Personally i use a mix of carefresh and 'herbage' (timothy hay with petals and herbs in it )
these are both dust free and although there is some debate over hay and hammies, the timothy hay with petals isn't sharp, and is great for munching and burrowing alike.
Paper based cat litter is also an option some people use, but round here, its like gold dust , so i haven't got that on my side.
Carefresh is pretty good though.
It doesn't smell, is very absorbant, is completely biodegradable and looks /feels very cosy.... i'm sure if there was enough of it, i'd sure make a bed out of it myself .
Also with the winter looming, its insulating too ...

whats your favoured bedding and why ?

As you may know from a read on the website, Trouble our Syrian hamster came from a friend of mine after she had to move to another country. Unfortunatly she was not aware that the bedding she was using for him, cotton wool, wwas very VERY dangerous for any hamster. We soon removed the wool bedding and replaced it with a safer option. I would like to highlight for new owners that wool bedding is very dangerous for hamsters and they can get tangled in it, sometimes loosing limbs, getting trapped or even suffocating - this does happen and is obviously awful. We now use a biodegradable bedding made which I imagin Trouble, Elly, Sunny and the pups find lovley as it is very soft and warm!

I get e really fine grade of pine shavings. I suspect it is different from what you have available. It is not kiln dried it is fresh, but it is a very mild pine. It is a local Canadian product and the Toronto Zoo is using the same stuff for all there animals. Cedar is a different story, its oils are toxic to hamsters. The odd bag is a bit coarse and chippy, but usually it is soft. I have to keep my bedding levels lower than you do because it is hotter in the summer and our homes are heated more in the winter to keep the plumbing from freezing. Big bales of pine only cost $10.00 so it is economical and biodegradable. You are right about cotton. They sell it here as nesting material. Half my first litter died because they were caught in the fibers. I have had hamsters nearly lose feet because a fiber rapped around a leg and cut off circulation. I use paper towels for nesting material. I tear them up and the hamsters then separate the fibers and create a paper fluff. They are cheap and clean and redily available. If I run out I can borrow a roll from a neighbour. The hamsters love it. I cut up old cotton T-shirts into blankets and these are popular. I have to be careful to remove any actual thread that a hamster could get caught on. These wash in the washing machine/dryer so they are reusable.The guinea pig lives on a nest of soft cotton T-shirts as he falls easily and could not manage any nesting material. I think the pine you are talking about is so different that it is not good for the dwarfies.They make a pelit cat litter out of corn that would probably work as long as it is chemical free. It sounds like you have many more good choices. I wish.

pine also has toxic oils... especially fresh ... might be something to look into changing.
if you must go for woodshavings , only aspen is suitable
Its so sad to see so many places still using the stuff. Its fine for chinchillas , and at a push , bunnies ,but hammies have nothing protecting them, its full of toxic oils and wood dust... eep
I use unscented toilet paper, shreaded for nesting. Herbal doesn't have a nest as such - he has a bedroom!!
He's a bit spoilt, but basically i fill it 3/4 with shreaded recycled unscented toilet paper, and its so soft and there is nothing to get  caught up in at all- also, its digestable and super cheap for example wilkos sell a 6 pack for 60p... if you want to go a little more up market thats nice, currently herbal has unscented quitled toilet paper - but you have to make sure its unscented and doesn't have and balm/oil like kleenex does or some andrex does.

Becci, I think our pine is different or else we are getting milder parts of the tree. In seven years I have had no trouble with the shavings. What I get is not dusty, it is a very soft texture and very clean. Aspen is not so available. The Toronto Zoo is using the same stuff in much bigger amounts. They use it for the Naked Mole Rats. They are similar to hamsters in some ways, but they have no fur. They raised babies on the pine shavings. I empty the bail into an open bin so I do air it out, but but there is little smell. We do have a red cedar that is very aromatic and is really bad for dwarfies. Some of the suppliers sell it for hamster use. It is a sign of a good pet store that they do not carry it. It is a sign of a responsible pet store that they will stop selling it if you explain it to them. My dwarf babies only go to one store. It is a family owned(three generations) store that really cares. And it is in a nice area. I got the handicapped Guinea Pig from them. He came to them like that and they were told to put him down. They could not do it, but a store is no place for a baby that needs special care. I brought him home bacause he belongs here. I use the really cheap paper towels. They are so bad that they are no use as paper towels, but they shred beautifully and mt girls love them. Again it is a matter of amounts. I use so much that I need big packages of twelve rolls. Whatever works. I am like a family with 12 children, I think in terms of case loads. It is a lot of work, but I know that I am providing special pets for people. Home raised hamsters are the best, the big rodent supply houses are really more into feeder animals and lab specimens. I do not like to think about that. my dwarfies are companion animals. They are family members. I just have to have a lot of them if others are going to have the same experience. Pine is cheap and what i get is safe.  

Hey, you two really know your're stuff. Who would have thought there could be so much to hamster bedding and particularly wood shavings. We will need to look into our supplier in light of all of the helpful information here and make sure it is hamster safe.
As our hamsters seem to be having a ball in the wood shavings, they are constantly digging and burrowing, which seems a lot more fun than before we used the shavings.

in which case you might be best using a basic paper based cat litter. this is hamster safe , dust free and very cheap. most stores have their own brand.. i know i just got a 10ltr bag for 1.98
its small like wood shavings , but much much safer.
I'm glad the woodshavings you use in canada are a bit safer, but the only woodshavings that are safe in the uk are aspen...even then the shreaded aspen is better than the other stuff. Safest bet in the UK is to go for carefresh or paper based cat litter.... the cat litter is cheap and highly absorbant as well as soft, etc might be worth looking into.

It is amazing how much variation there is from country to country. I can't give my hamsters the deep level of bedding you use because the house is too hot. If we don't keep it warmer the plumbing can freeze. In the summer it is +30oc or hotter so again keeping hamsters cool is the issue. They like to sleep on the bare plastic. They pile all the shavings in one corner and sleep on their backs or stretched out. It is a way to lose heat. If it gets too hot I put cages on the floor where the air is cooler. We all have things to consider  when we chose how to house our hamsters. There is no one right way. There is what works under which circumstances. My main hamster helper does things differently when I am away, but the hamsters are always fine and happy. Some of the products you mention sound very good.

have you ever tried getting a 'chillipad'.
they're meant for chinchillas and are basically a small slab of granite, sustaining the cold

also , put a canning jar in the freezer over night, fill with a little unscented toilet paper, and hey presto, hamster sized cool room

as for bear plastic , i try to leave herbal with may different surfaces.
currently he can stay on a plain plastic floor,
a nest box
normal bedding
cardboard level
lava level
wood block
i'm fairly into the variety and stimulation thing, which seems to have worked cos he's one clever little man

My floor is actually quite cool so it has a chilling effect. It is more the extreme humidity that bothers the hamsters. I have a dehumidifier that helps us all. When they measure the humidity and factor it in our temperature in the summer gets into the plus 40oc range. My gang rearange their cages to suite how they want them. The only thing they can't move is the wheel and the water. They will build big nests right under the water bottle and shift the food dish over so that they have every thing handy while they sleep. I just put stuff in their cages, what they do with it afterwards is out of my hands. I have seen some very interesting nest building. Puting something in the freezer for them bears thinking about. I know a friend used to give her spiney mice frozen peas and blueberries. I wonder if I put their houses in the freezer if it would help. Food for thought and I have a big freezer. Thanks.

I am thinking that coconut shells would get cold and stay cold for awhile. I could put containers of ice on top of the purple igloos. Then there is the thought of raising the whole cage up on ice. Not the whole cage, but maybe ice under one corner. They do have a big fan and that helps cool the area. If the summers continue to get hotter I will have to find more and more ways to cool my hamsters. Suggestions are welcomed.

glass keeps the cold well, hence the jar idea, but you could get some of those lunchbox coolers and put them into a sock and then into the cage ( the sock is to stop ice burns if they decide to lay on it while its fresh out of the freezer - like a cold compress)
unfortunately with global warming it looks like summers are set to become more and more hot , causing more and more problems ..
the coconut thing might work but i'm not sure how well the shell would hold the cold for

Freezer packs under a corner of the cage would probably would probably work too. I have a cold room with a window under the front veranda. It is unfinished right now and unsuitable, but I worked on it this summer and maybe I can get it ready this summer. Some hamsters could go in there during the worst of the heat. If I get the room finished I might sleep in there. It in unheated so I only use it for storage right now, but it is big and has a window. If it has a window it is a room not a closet. I am wintering potted Mums in there right now. Global warming is going to challenge all of us with regards to our pets. The Zoo has had to use airconditioners in more and more areas. Can't totally depend on that what with 'blackouts' and all. Still I don't want a hammie to get frostbite. So any strategy I come up with has got to be safe. The sock idea has merit. It would let cold through but prevent direct contact. Glass makes me nervous, but it would work. Any other ideas?

i know one thing that herbal likes is frozen spinach blocks... its a bit like an ice cream would be for us i guess , and its a healthy snack too

Nice, a lovely chill out pad that you can eat, and it's even good for you!
It's a pity us humans can't say the same about ice cream.
You'd think it was summer or something with all this talk of cooling down.......as Diane turns the heating up again
It's 5oC here at the moment, what is it in Canada Catherine probably -10, with a foot of snow?
Laura is jealous, we've not had a white xmas in UK for about 20 years!
Sorry, wandered a bit off topic here haven't I, must be that thread mentioning climate change distracting me  

lol, this started off as talk of bedding
its -2 here and i'm not even in the country side really so goodness only knows how cold its going to get .
we've had sleet but no settling snow as of yet

anyhow ... bedding bedding bedding - i'm just about to change herbals cages again and i think i'm going to use some of the paper based cat litter as well as carefresh in a mix to make it go further

They might like frozen squash as well and I can make that myself cheaply. Frozen cranberries are probably a good treat as well.

herbal loves frozen grapes

I forgot about grapes and this is a grape growing region. Every second house has grape vines. I bet they would eat frozen peas. That is what the Bearded Dragon eats(thawed in her case). Froozen corn might be a treat as well. Corn on the cob freezes really well, I just never thought of sharing it with the hamsters.  

herbal eats frozen peas - his favourite is when they are in the pod and he can pick them out himself
also - re: the pen, i can send it if you want it - not sure how long it will take on the slow shipping but the offer still stands

Becci that would be very kind. It would not matter how long it took to arrive. I could use a flexible pen when I have babies that I want to have out, but can't let them free roam. The breeders would enjoy a special playground as well. Because it folds I could take it to whatever room I am in. If you can send it I would love it. So, thank-you so much.  

my pleasure - i'll send it in jan after the xmas rush

Perfect! I guess I will have to get my adress to you somehow. I forget that when you contact over the computer you don't know where the other person is. I will tell the Dwarfies that a surpize is coming.  

Quoted from catherine

Perfect! I guess I will have to get my adress to you somehow. I forget that when you contact over the computer you don't know where the other person is. I will tell the Dwarfies that a surpize is coming.  

Catherine, you'll notice the abbreviation "pm" at the bottom of each of your forum entries.  This means private message and if you click on that you can forward information to someone privately without the whole of the forum members knowing.