Zoo Med Aspen Snake Bedding

by dean8742 Mon 22 Jul 2019, 12:27 am

I am hoping to adopt mice and am having a tough time finding a safe & budget friendly bedding available to me in Australia. Does anybody have any knowledge or experience with Zoo Med Aspen Snake Bedding and whether it is safe to use for mice? Or perhaps you know if there's any other good quality bedding available in Australia?
Thank you!

by AnonymousMouseOwner Mon 22 Jul 2019, 1:11 am

This was actually the first bedding I used after researching proper mouse care, I used it for the first few months I owned mice. However, I found later that I like paper bedding a lot better, it's softer and better on their respiratory systems. If aspen is your only option, I remember that as being a fairly nice aspen bedding, a lot softer than other brands due to the way it's shredded finely.

by dean8742 Mon 22 Jul 2019, 2:46 am

AnonymousMouseOwner wrote:This was actually the first bedding I used after researching proper mouse care, I used it for the first few months I owned mice. However, I found later that I like paper bedding a lot better, it's softer and better on their respiratory systems. If aspen is your only option, I remember that as being a fairly nice aspen bedding, a lot softer than other brands due to the way it's shredded finely.

Thank you for the reply! I was also considering paper bedding, as in shredding paper and either leaving it like that or soaking it in water and drying it out. Is that what you mean by paper bedding? My only concern with it is the smell. I won't be able to keep any mice here if the enclosure smells badly so I am hoping to avoid that. If this is what you're talking about, does yours ever smell bad? Does spot cleaning everyday help reduce any smell?

by Robin~ Mon 22 Jul 2019, 5:46 am

Shredding regular newspaper/printer paper isn't the best for odor control, so if that's an issue I'd steer clear. However, you can mix some in with the aspen if you want to save a few bucks Smile

Just as a note, your mouse cage will smell regardless. It mostly comes from the wheel from what I can tell, but your room will smell like mice either way. It's not terrible to me, but it's a ammonia-like, slightly musky smell. It's definitely noticeable but you kinda become used to it. Daily spot cleaning (especially that wheel) can help, but you can't really get everything. Even with spot cleaning the smell persists for me.

by chiroptera Fri 26 Jul 2019, 1:51 am

@dean8742 I gotta say, I use shredded paper towels for all my bins, and I love it. Way cheaper than CareFresh or Clean & Cozy bedding, and it keeps the smell down well enough for me.

That said... I don't really mind the mousey smell (it's honestly almost a comforting smell to me Laughing