Can I use peat or substitute peat as bedding for rodents?

The substitute peat is coconut fibre. I need lots of cheap bedding and the garden centre is near me. I can also use the dirty bedding on the garden.


Sadly my hamsters and mice died a few days after using shreaded newspaper. I suspect the paper killed them despite many people saying it was OK to use. The pet shop bedding works out very expensive.

Can I use peat or substitute peat as bedding for rodents?
I use a bedding called aubiose. It is for made for horses but is great for small animals. You can buy it in bales from most farm shops.
Reply:Shredded kitchen paper would be best. Peat can be moist and create humidity and that will not be good for a small rodent. Also, if you have any documents like bank statements that you can put through a shredder they'd be good to use too. Dirty bedding in the garden may attract unwanted pests like rats if there's any food in it, so be careful with that idea. Shredded paper can be put in a compost bin, but make sure there's no seeds or grains in it, unless you don't mind if they grow.
Reply:see does your local builders merchents sell bales of wood chip (saw dust) its cheap and lasts for months i by for 8 euro a bale 100 lts
Reply:Newspapers can contain toxins in the print, which can be dangerous to rodents. I keep chinchillas and hamsters, and will only use newspaper if it is well out of reach of my guys. This means that my chins only have newspaper that lines the tray of the cage, well out of their reach and my hamster has only paper bedding and sawdust from a petstore that is dust extracted.





I think that soil additives, such as peat, will need more regular cleaning and also may soil your rodents' coats if you are not careful. Even petshop bedding is not guaranteed to be safe, sometimes it an choke small rodents or cause allergic reactions in susceptible animals. As a bedding then I can recommend white toilet paper, which doesn't contain any chemicals that can cause problems. Other bedding that is safe, will cost you money but comes from reputable petstores. Try doing some online research and seeing what the expert sites have to say. They have many years experience of keeping these animals and will have recommendations for many eventuality. Your vet will also be able to advise.





Finally, I cannot stress how much importance it is to research on any type of animal you intend to get. There are lots of pros and cons to every animal, and it is imptortant to budget for your eventual choice - no matter what.
Reply:Peat or coconut fibre is no use, both contain fine dust particles and will become for the most part extremely dry in a cage or hutch.





You would cause eyes, ears and breathing problems.





If you need lots of bedding you need to think about bulk buying to reduce your costs.