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Home » Hamster Care » What is the Best Hamster Bedding?

What is the Best Hamster Bedding?

June 26, 2013 By Sarah Yee 37 Comments

This article discusses the best hamster bedding you can get for your pet.

Traditionally, wood shavings are a popular option for hamster bedding. However, some types of shavings sold in pet stores are actually harmful to hamsters. For example, bedding made from pine or cedar contain chemicals that can damage your hamster’s lungs in the long run.

Unlabeled wood shavings are also frequently made from these two materials and should be avoided. Always check the labels on the product to make sure that there isn’t any pine or cedar in it.

Other than pine and cedar shavings, scented bedding may contain harmful chemicals and are not that great for your pet hamster’s sensitive nose even if they smell great to you.

Your hamster spends literally all the time in their bedding so it’s important to get something safe and healthy for it. Here are some of the best bedding you can use for your hamsters and other small pets.

Carefresh Ultra and Carefresh Colors

best hamster beddingCarefresh Ultra is the first bedding I got for my hamsters and the one I like best. If you look at some of our earlier hamster pictures, they all have Carefresh Ultra bedding in them! This bedding is also pretty popular among other hamster owners.

Carefresh Ultra is made with white cellulose fiber and free from dyes, ink, and other chemicals. Because it’s white, it’s also easy to spot any soiled bedding which you can then remove (a.k.a spot-cleaning). By spot-cleaning, you can go longer between bedding changes/cage cleaning before the cage starts smelling bad or looking dirty.

In my opinion, this bedding absorbs odor very well. And according to the manufacturer, it’s absorbs odor three times more than traditional bedding.

The only downside to this is probably the cost since Carefresh Ultra is quite expensive compared to other types of bedding like Aspen. Some hamster owners get around this by mixing the more expensive Carefresh with other cheaper (but still safe) alternatives.

carefresh colors beddingCarefresh Colors is another bedding that I like a lot and my robo dwarf hamsters are using this at the moment. It comes in many colors and looks really attractive in a hamster cage or tank, especially if you get matching colors with your cage or accessories. Although Carefresh Colors has dyes in them, the dyes are pet-safe and the bedding absorbs odors just as well as the Ultra.

However, with Carefresh Colors, you won’t be able to see soiled bedding as easily as the white Ultra so it’s not as easy to spot-clean the cage. Similarly, it’s a little pricier compared to other beddings.

Some owners have mentioned that both Carefresh bedding can be quite dusty but I haven’t really observed the same thing. If this is a problem for you, the next bedding (below) might be a better choice.

Kaytee Clean and Cozy

kaytee clean and cozyKaytee Clean and Cozy is another bedding that’s popular with hamster owners. This is supposedly fluffier and softer than Carefresh but I haven’t actually used it myself.

According to other owners, this is highly absorbent and less dusty than Carefresh. It’s also cheaper if you compare the amount of bedding you get for the price.

If you decide to get Kaytee Clean and Cozy, make sure it’s the unscented version because they also sell scented ones under a similar name.

Although I’m not using this right now, it’s one of the bedding I’m going to try next when my existing stock runs out.

Update 20 September 2013: I’ve just switched to Kaytee Clean and Cozy and it really is as soft and fluffy as everyone says. It looks like shredded tissue and feels like it too except it controls odour (although not as well as Carefresh). It’s also completely dust-free and expands a lot from it’s original compressed packaging. I’ll probably be using a combination of this and Aspen from now on!

Aspen Bedding

If price is a concern, aspen bedding would probably be your best option. Aspen is one of the few wood shavings that are not harmful for hamsters. Compared to the other bedding, this is much cheaper for the amount of bedding you can get.

However, Aspen bedding is not as soft or absorbant as Carefresh or Kaytee Clean and Cozy.

There are many brands of Aspen bedding and Kaytee has it as well.  Because it looks very similar to Pine, Cedar, and other wood shavings, be sure to check the label if you’re getting it from a pet store.

PS: I found a great video that reviews and compares Carefresh Ultra, Aspen bedding and Kaytee Clean and Cozy. (Note: Prices mentioned in the video may not be accurate because of differences in location)

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Filed Under: Hamster Care, Hamster Help

  • Trisha

    I used carefresh colors for my hamster’s first year and a half, then switch to the Kaytee Clean and Cozy which is definitely my favorite of the two. His fur has gotten softer and it holds together better when he makes tunnels in it compared to the carefresh

    • Sarah Yee

      Hi Trisha

      Thanks for leaving a comment! I’m glad to hear that Kaytee Clean and Cozy works well for your hamster. I just bought a pack a few days ago and will be using it for the hamsters’ next bedding change! 😀

  • Carmen

    Just bought kaytee bedding and I was not sure which to use. This blog definitely helped!

    • Sarah

      I’m glad it did! 🙂

  • Liz

    I have a syrian hamster named Sparky. I use both Carefresh Ultra and Kaytee Clean and Cozy to clean his cage. I like Carefresh as a bedding on the bottom Kaytee is soft and cheeper than care fresh. I highly recommend both, Thanks for the blog!

  • Lilliana Taylor

    im lily and i just got a new hamster yesterday. she is a russian winter white dwarf hamster that i named “sugar”, since she was so sweet. my mom bought pine bedding. after i read this, i was flipping out…. so i texted her, and she said that she will try one of these brands. thank you.

  • Hamster

    How is the Cat’s Best Universal Litter Strawberry bedding?

    • Dwarf Hamster Blog

      Not recommended as it’s scented — scented bedding should be avoided because they can irritate your hamster’s respiratory system

  • Hamster

    Is corn cob bedding good for hamsters?

    • Dwarf Hamster Blog

      Nope! They grow mold easily and if your hamster eats it, it won’t be able to digest it properly.

  • Mocha

    what have you heard about mites found in bedding and what do you do to prevent it if anything?

    • Dwarf Hamster Blog

      Kaytee Clean and Cozy doesn’t have mites in it as far as I know. I’ve heard of one guy who said his pets got mites from Carefresh, but I’ve used it and didn’t have a problem. If you find mites in your hamster’s bedding, I would change/throw out the bedding immediately. As for how to prevent them, I would just use a type of bedding that wouldn’t get mites in the first place, like those that are not too dusty or are prone to mites. Hay would not be a good bedding in this case.

      • Michi

        I have heard you can put the bedding in the freezer ahead of time to kill mites. Was long time ago. I always used kaytee or care fresh and my rats got mites. But I do not think it was from the bedding, I think it was honestly from the hospital the one rat went to.

  • Kaylin

    I had a hamster about 1-2 years ago and I remeber getting the carefresh blue bedding because blue was my favroite color right. Well after that my hamster go some sort of WERID dry skin patch or something and then it died soon after that. But when she had the skin disease thing, I couldn’t pick her up at all because she would just bite or scratch. She had never bitten anyone before but when I first got her she did because i think all hamsters do. But anyway moral of the story is please don’t buy the carefresh colors because they just give your hamster a dry hairless itching patch of skin and then die! 🙁

    • May

      but my hamsters are fine with it i use the pink one

    • aliva

      that souds sad my sister fed hers celery leaves and they poisined it to death dont worry, she did get a new one but still its a very sad topic.

    • Adam Samson

      This is good info on the bedding. The hamsters condition could be easily cured if you take your PET to a veterinarian. That way it won’t have to suffer when it gets a disease. 🙂

  • Nur Raiisyah Binte Rapee

    I wanna buy Boxo bedding and aspen probably because they are a cheaper alternative

  • Monica

    I read online that “fluffy bedding” can be bad for your hamster and cause infections and digestion problems. Is this true? Would a mix of aspen and fluffy Carefresh be a good idea?

    • Dwarf Hamster Blog

      Hi, when people talk about fluffy bedding that’s bad, they’re usually referring to cotton bedding. Like the one in the photo I’ve attached. It’s okay if it’s paper-based, like Carefresh Ultra/Colors.

  • Bri

    I bought the Carefresh bedding for my poor ham and shes been sneezing and sleeping ever since so I checked the reviews on it on petco and it was horrible! Apparently they changed their recipe and lots of people are having problems with their hamsters!

  • rachel

    how about the CHIPSI NITRUS? Isit safe?

  • Dwarf Hamsters of NYC

    I use Kaytee soft granule blend both non scented and lavender. My hamsters never had a bad reaction. It’s not dusty in my opinion. I also started to add Oxbow Pure Comfort Bedding just to add a bit of softer bedding and the hamsters love it.

  • Christine

    I was using aspen, then I saw Carefresh and switched. My hamsters personality completely changed and I thought something was wrong with her because she was barley waking up at all. I’m not sure what happened, but I switched back to the aspen and now she is back to her old self. When I went to Pet Smart I saw that all the hamsters cages had aspen and only the rats had the comfort bedding. I am thinking it’s not good for the hamsters.

  • alivia

    i have been using carefresh natural but it gets to expencive with two little puff-balls any cheaper ideas out there?

  • Ayana

    i’m 15, and my family has always had hamsters. We got a new one (3 days ago), and they bought me the cheapest wood chips they could find and told me to use newspapers. I can’t change there mind on what they buy since they say they’ve been using it since they were kids and they’ve had hamsters last 3 years before (it has pine chips in it). I only used half a news paper though and snuck in tissue paper (for noses), paper towel, and toilet paper all one-ply to make up for it. Can I use craft tissue paper too? Or are all of these things going to kill my hamster?

    • [email protected]

      Paper is perfectly fine for hamsters, but pine chips can cause respiratory infections.

    • Haylee Parker

      I don’t think that the cheapest wood chips are going to be the best. But I would just use toilet paper until your parents let you get carefresh, aspen etc.

  • liv

    wouldn’t shredded tissue paper work as fine?

  • Gabriella Johnson

    can I use foam for a Syrian hamster as bedding

    • Ivan James

      NO!

  • Tallulah

    Gabriella Johnson. No, don’t use foam as a bedding for your hamster. They could eat it and become ill. I would just stick with either Aspen, Kaytee clean and cosy or carefresh.

  • Elizabeth Whittington

    Are shaving bedding harmful?

  • Yalina Marie Baella

    What do you think about the National Geographic line? I know it’s exclusively sold at PetSmart. They have naturally scented ones and non-scented as well. Safe? Unsafe? Please and thank you!

  • graph

    hello. I’ve just read about pine and cedar wood shavings are bad for hamsters. I have 2 siberian hamsters and I just bought Emily Premium Wood Shaving brand. Does anyone knows about it? because I’m really worried if it’s made of pine or cedar wood shavings. can anyone please reply asap cuz I’m really worried if it’s harmful to them so I’ll change their bedding right away. Thank you so much in advance!

  • hamsterluvxoxo

    hi! Is Aspen Shaving and Kaytee clean and Cozy bedding safe for animals?
    i need to get new bedding soon and will be going to the pet shop on sunday…

  • Lizzy Marie M

    what bedding should I use !!!

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