# APH Substrates



## Miranda (Dec 25, 2006)

Sue has a lovely habit of burrowing unde her vet bed, and so i wanted a more burrowable substrate. We have a wood chip thats kind of like shredded straw, but the hard bit. Its not splintery or dusty, can you use that? Also can you use teh kind of, shredded fabric stuff you get for indoor animal hutches?

Or ofcourse any other suggestions!


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## Fraggle (Feb 24, 2008)

Miranda said:


> Sue has a lovely habit of burrowing unde her vet bed, and so i wanted a more burrowable substrate. We have a wood chip thats kind of like shredded straw, but the hard bit. Its not splintery or dusty, can you use that? Also can you use teh kind of, shredded fabric stuff you get for indoor animal hutches?
> 
> Or ofcourse any other suggestions!


ours loves woodshavings (make sure you get dust extracted).
a few ppl on the aph forum have been trying some stuff thats like shredded cardboard- i keep meaning to try it as they've given some really positive feedback on it for burrowing and for lowering smells. 

www.finacard.co.uk


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## Miranda (Dec 25, 2006)

fraggle said:


> ours loves woodshavings (make sure you get dust extracted).
> a few ppl on the aph forum have been trying some stuff thats like shredded cardboard- i keep meaning to try it as they've given some really positive feedback on it for burrowing and for lowering smells.
> 
> www.finacard.co.uk


ok cool. At the moment shes got an indoorsy setup (igloo all the rest etc) But i think i might switch to the woodchip (thats the best word for it) And put a few plants and log tunnels in. But keeping the wheel obviously.


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## quilson_mc_spike (Dec 27, 2008)

tbh i would say if you want burrowing stick to finacard or of corse (my chioice) the woodshavings make sure you get shavings and not sawdust and make sure it is dust extracted 

on the other hand there are other options:
fleece liners
yesterdays news (actual brand name)
newspaper
sreded tissue 
carefresh (expensive IMO)
and i tried a combination that worked well:

newspaper based
then on top shavings
then bedding cut up loo roll
and then the accories 
wheel
cat balls
bed
food 
water bowls 
ect,, 

worked kinda well but i must say alot of hassle if you think of it when you can just put fleece, shavings. down  x


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## Nodders (May 11, 2009)

We have used nothing but dust extracted wood shavings in the zoozone , and she loves snuffling around . We hide titbits for her every now and then , gets her to act like a hoggie , finding hidden food


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## Fraggle (Feb 24, 2008)

Nodders said:


> We have used nothing but dust extracted wood shavings in the zoozone , and she loves snuffling around . We hide titbits for her every now and then , gets her to act like a hoggie , finding hidden food


i LOVE your little yellow hoggie toy!!!! and if only they would keep their houses so tidy, eh? :lol2:


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## LauraandLee (Nov 11, 2008)

I was told wood base cat litter is this a good idea????


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## rainbowbrite (Apr 10, 2009)

i wounldnt due to the dust it creates................


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## Miranda (Dec 25, 2006)

Nodders said:


> We have used nothing but dust extracted wood shavings in the zoozone , and she loves snuffling around . We hide titbits for her every now and then , gets her to act like a hoggie , finding hidden food


That is the msot amazing hoggiehizzle (my new word) ive ever seen!


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## Amyboo (Nov 11, 2007)

LauraandLee said:


> I was told wood base cat litter is this a good idea????


I use wood based cat litter in all of my hogs litter trays and barely get any dust off it. I also use fleece liners on the bottom of their vivs as these are easy to wash.


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## LauraandLee (Nov 11, 2008)

i LOVE your little yellow hoggie toy!!!! - just to let you know I purchased one of these today in wilkinsons for 75p (aint even got my hoglet yet but saw it and couldnt resist lol)

I was told wood base cat litter for whole cage. Wot is the best substrate?
Also what sort of housing do u all use?


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## Miranda (Dec 25, 2006)

LauraandLee said:


> i LOVE your little yellow hoggie toy!!!! - just to let you know I purchased one of these today in wilkinsons for 75p (aint even got my hoglet yet but saw it and couldnt resist lol)
> 
> I was told wood base cat litter for whole cage. Wot is the best substrate?
> Also what sort of housing do u all use?


I would say the indoor rabbit cages like this (roughly) :
http://www.petplanet.co.uk/shop_dev/assets/new_product_images/marchioro/tommy120.jpg

I use zoozone but fitting a wheel is hell in the end we melted holes and put a rod in to put the wheel on, which works but with that cage you can just clip it on.


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## dexnos (Mar 10, 2008)

I use the finacard its excellent. Brilliant for keeping smells down and excellent for hiding meal worms and wax worms in. My 3 love it plus it made excellent nesting material for my 5 little babies :2thumb:

I dont know how to post photos on this site otherwise I would show it to u.

By the way the big bag cost about £13 inc P+P. Its vacume packed and is going to last my 3 hedgies months. Worth every penny


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## Nodders (May 11, 2009)

LauraandLee said:


> i LOVE your little yellow hoggie toy!!!! - just to let you know I purchased one of these today in wilkinsons for 75p (aint even got my hoglet yet but saw it and couldnt resist lol)
> 
> I was told wood base cat litter for whole cage. Wot is the best substrate?
> Also what sort of housing do u all use?


Yay on the toy 

I use Bio-Catolet in the litter tray , its brill wont use anything else now .
Dust extracted wood shavings for the main substrate .
Carefresh for the bedding . 

The housing is a large zoozone , the silent spinner wheel is too high for these but it's easy enough sawing it down to fit , now its perfect .

They all seem to work well together .


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## Talk To The Animals (Jan 10, 2008)

We tend to use shredded newspaper, which we switched to when we couldn't get aspen in the quantities we needed at the price we wanted! It does my mum a favour as her work has to pay to have their shredded paper taken away but we have it for free, and we can have as much as we want!

We find that it clumps a bit when they poo and this makes it easier to pick when we're not doing a whole clean out. They've never tried to eat it or had any problems with it at all.


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## Nodders (May 11, 2009)

Miranda said:


> That is the msot amazing hoggiehizzle (my new word) ive ever seen!


Hoggiehizzle , great word , just wish I knew what it meant :lol2:


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## dexnos (Mar 10, 2008)

I use zoozones, they can't climb or fall and hurt themselves.

I use Silent Spinners they are very easy to adjust to fit inside the below link will show u how to do it 

Fitting a silent spinner into a zoozone

I'm currently going to be converting to adapted vivs using flymesh screening instead of glass


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## Miranda (Dec 25, 2006)

Nodders said:


> Hoggiehizzle , great word , just wish I knew what it meant :lol2:


hizzle as in house
hoggie as in hedgehog
I know very cool!
lol


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## elle.bee (May 26, 2009)

A Few people have mentioned finacard... it really is great lol
here's a pic of what it looks like in a viv..(sorry if the pic is huge!) :


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