Best cheap bedding

by nenna87 Sat 18 Nov 2017, 7:49 pm

I am curious on whst some cheaper substrate options are. I have used carefresh, kaytee clean and cozy, knock-off brands of both those (made by the same companies) available at my local walmart. I also tried aspen, but I believe my one girl is allergic.
I live in canada, and while I buy the largest options available, I am finding substrate extremely expensive.

I am just curious on what options there may be for cheaper substrate - either a cheaper brand or place to buy or if I can mix it with something cheap to stretch it out.

Thanks in advance guys

by CucumberMouse Sun 19 Nov 2017, 12:30 am

There are several youtube videos and websites detailing how to make Diy small animal bedding. Most of the bedding types in the videos are made from toilet paper or printer paper, which can be either more expensive or cheaper depending on how you get the supplies to make the bedding, and how much they cost. You can also just tear up or shred printer paper, although it doesn't offer as good of burrowing material, but it's still okay. I wouldn't recommend shredding news paper though, while most papers use ink that safe for mice to digest today, you can't ever really be 100% sure. I've also heard some people lay down a few paper towels as bedding, but paper towel's job is to absorb liquid, which also makes them a bit harder to digest (they don't just deteriorate in the mouse's stomach), or you could go with the cheaper paper towels that don't absorb as much, but are easier to digest, but that kind of makes the whole point of using paper towels as bedding useless, because the point of bedding is to absorb urine and such. Plus, they don't really offer much odor control, and mice (especially males) can have quite the odor. But you can still use the paper towels as bedding, it just really isn't what I would say is the best option for cheap bedding. Hope this helped Smile

by CallaLily Sun 19 Nov 2017, 11:46 am

Newspaper in the U.S. uses soy based inks for a while now and is completely safe. Not sure about Canada though. You could probably look into it. But you definitely have to avoid the shiny magazine-type paper. Or you should be able to purchase a bunch of blank newspaper for packaging....but not sure how the cost balances out. Back when the Fun Mouse was still up and running there seemed to be quite a few people who used newspaper either alone or to fluff up commercial bedding. Usually putting down a few layers and then topping with a bunch of shredded.

by elmtree Sun 19 Nov 2017, 12:20 pm

In England, lots of people are now buying certain horse bedding brands for their pets as they're sold in larger quantities and are much cheaper. The bedding I use is about 80% cheaper than Carefresh, for example.

I don't know what brands are available over there, and you'd need to make sure they were safe for small furries, but it might be something worth looking into.

by Rodents rock! Sun 19 Nov 2017, 2:08 pm

I use Carefresh and I do think it's a great product, but I don't understand why it's so darn expensive.

by CanadianExport Sun 19 Nov 2017, 2:38 pm

Not sure where you are located but another option is to watch for online or in store sales on Amazon, Petsmart, Petco, etc. and stock up when sales are happening. I also know that the natural Kaytee clean and cozy is about 3 to 5 dollars cheaper a bag than the white. Bulk buying can save a ton as well so if you can find the big bags of bedding those are often cheaper per cubic inch than the smaller bags. My mum was allergic to wood based bedding so when she had her mice she would stock up on paper bedding when it was on sale to try to keep the cost down.

Good luck!

by nenna87 Sun 19 Nov 2017, 6:56 pm

CallaLily wrote:Newspaper in the U.S. uses soy based inks for a while now and is completely safe. Not sure about Canada though. You could probably look into it. But you definitely have to avoid the shiny magazine-type paper. Or you should be able to purchase a bunch of blank newspaper for packaging....but not sure how the cost balances out. Back when the Fun Mouse was still up and running there seemed to be quite a few people who used newspaper either alone or to fluff up commercial bedding. Usually putting down a few layers and then topping with a bunch of shredded.

Hmmmm. I believe that we use soy-based as well, but I can contact local companies. I think i would maybe do a mix for the odor control, but this may work, since i xan get TONS of newspapers for free.

elmtree wrote:In England, lots of people are now buying certain horse bedding brands for their pets as they're sold in larger quantities and are much cheaper. The bedding I use is about 80% cheaper than Carefresh, for example.

I don't know what brands are available over there, and you'd need to make sure they were safe for small furries, but it might be something worth looking into.

I did look to see what I could find locall (Alberta), and unfortunately I only found wood based options.

Rodents rock! wrote:I use Carefresh and I do think it's a great product, but I don't understand why it's so darn expensive.

I agree, I think the carefresh is great, just expensive. The mice seem to prefer the kaytee, but seem okay with this too.

CanadianExport wrote:Not sure where you are located but another option is to watch for online or in store sales on Amazon, Petsmart, Petco, etc. and stock up when sales are happening. I also know that the natural Kaytee clean and cozy is about 3 to 5 dollars cheaper a bag than the white. Bulk buying can save a ton as well so if you can find the big bags of bedding those are often cheaper per cubic inch than the smaller bags. My mum was allergic to wood based bedding so when she had her mice she would stock up on paper bedding when it was on sale to try to keep the cost down.

This is what I currently do. It does makeva difference, especially the 50% off sales!

Thanks everyone for ideas. I will look into them.

by CanadianExport Sun 19 Nov 2017, 9:04 pm

Good luck! I hope you find a solution that works out well for you.

by MerciToujoursMaPetiteBoop Mon 20 Nov 2017, 1:51 pm

I used to shred Scott brand "Shop" paper towels -- the kind for cleaning glass -- for bedding. Just cut a sheet in half, run it through a strip shredder, and crumple the strips up in your hands. It is very absorbent, dries quickly, and has low lint.

I worried about paper dust from the shredder getting into my lovely homemade mouse bedding, so I took to just cutting the paper towels with scissors, or tearing pieces by hand. Time consuming, yes, but you can hand the bedding pieces in to your little mouse friends and turn it into some quality nest-building time.

The main problem I had was that Miss April loved to drag the soiled strips and pieces into her sleepie spot, even as they were just newly wet. But, despite starting her life in a feeder mouse mill, she never had any sign of a respiratory infection the entire 22½ months we spent as each other's "bestest friend in the whole world".

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