What type of hamster bedding may not be one of the prime questions you ask yourself when buying a pet hamster. However, once you’re responsible for your hamster and want it to have a good life, you’ll be looking for products that improve your hamster’s environment and make it more comfortable and happier.
One of the most basic needs for a pet hamster is comfortable hamster bedding, but what’s the best hamster bedding for your hamster that also provides easy cleanup and replacement.
Listed below are the best hamster beddings to make you and your hamster happier.
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Top 8 Hamster Bedding Products
Not all hamster bedding is created equal, and you will often need to compromise in certain areas based on what’s most important to you. For example, you may be able to get softer and better burrowing from some hamster bedding, but then the absorption or odor control may not last as long as some other materials or products.
If the price isn’t a significant issue for you, you can find multiple hamster bedding options that provide different advantages in different areas. Such as a more absorbent and odor-reducing material for the bathroom area while having a much softer or easier burrowing material in the living space.
1. Carefresh Small Pet Bedding
Carefresh provides excellent hamster bedding made from reclaimed fiber, which reduces your footprint on the earth while still being a soft and effective material for your hamster to sleep on.
It will reduce ammonia odors for up to 10 days and is twice as absorbent as traditional shavings. In addition, Carefresh will keep your hamster dry and warm, which is important, especially during winter or if you need to leave your hamster throughout the day.
It’s 99% dust-free, so it won’t cause allergy problems or general mess, and there are no harmful chemicals or dyes, especially if you stay away from the colored versions of the product.
One of the biggest problems, as seen in reviews, is that while it says it’s great for your hamster to burrow in, it may not actually be that good. Due to the recycled nature of the product, it’s less bright white and more of a grey color.
2. Kaytee Clean & Cozy Bedding
Kaytee provides a shredded paper hamster bedding option which is extremely affordable if you’re on a budget or even have many hamsters in larger areas. It’s twice as absorbent as shavings and can absorb 6x its weight in liquid, which should do well for any regular hamster or a little hamster family.
It’s 99% dust-free to ensure allergies aren’t a problem and that cleanup and mess don’t become a big issue. You can get various colors if you want to mix things up, and because it’s a lightweight material, it’s easy to burrow through and have fun for your hamster.
On average, it’s expected you would change the bedding every 2-3 days; otherwise, it could become too damp, especially with multiple hamsters. So the cost may be slightly offset by the extra changes that some other materials don’t require.
There are a number of reviews indicating odor absorption isn’t as good as other materials. However, this may be due to changing the hamster bedding less often than the material requires that others don’t.
3. Small Pet Select Natural Paper Bedding
Small Pet Select provides new shredded paper, so this is not a recycled product and is without any contaminants that may be found in recycled material. The company is a smaller family-owned business and creates products for consumers and for their own small animals.
The bedding is 99% dust-free, providing allergy control and easy cleanup; it’s absorbent and soft for your hamster and allows for as much borrowing as your hamster can handle.
One of the big complaints from consumers is that the bedding is compressed, and once you open it, there is expansion but not enough to make it last as long as typically uncompressed bedding, so your dollar may not go as far.
One of the typical issues with shredded paper, and is the case with this product as well, is that odor absorption is only suitable for around 2-3 days, so you should be replacing the bedding that often.
4. Vitakraft Crumble Bedding
Vitakraft provides recycled shredded paper hamster bedding, which is environmentally conscious while still providing excellent odor absorption of up to 14 days and is biodegradable and compostable for your trash; there is also no baking soda added and no bleach to keep your hamster safer.
The material expands to 3x the size, providing good quality and excellent water absorption to keep your hamster dry and clean. It’s also excellent and easy to move around in material for hamsters; however, some reports indicate it crumbles too much compared to other materials making it hard to burrow and stick to hamsters which creates more mess.
So the upside is better odor absorption but more mess, and it’s harder to burrow in.
5. Healthy Pet Natural Bedding
Healthy Pet provides biodegradable and compostable reclaimed wood pulp for their hamster bedding. It’s virtually dust-free, which keeps you safe from allergies and mess. It will also absorb up to 3x its weight in liquid for hamster pee or water bottle spills, which keeps your hamster dry and warm. In addition, it can expand up to double the size to provide more coverage for hamster living spaces.
One of the big issues with the product is that it’s initially not as soft as other materials and takes some time to soften up, which may not be ideal if you need to or want to change the bedding often. However, it could be an excellent option for a bottom layer that can absorb with a softer material on top.
6. Living World Wood Aspen Shavings
Living World provides 100% natural aspen wood shavings for their hamster bedding in an affordable 20-liter bag. The wood shavings can absorb up to 4 times their weight in liquid and are almost dust and scent-free to help with allergies and insensitivities.
If your hamster may have lung or skin issues, this is a great hypoallergenic product, completely natural, free of scented oils, colors, and anything other than wood shavings.
Your hamster will find it easy to burrow and dig in these wood shavings, and there is no clumping or sticking to your hamster, so the mess is minimized.
The only big issue noted is that there may be some larger chunks of wood rather than actual wood shavings, but for a small hamster area, you should be able to pick the chunks out if you’re concerned; the price may be worth some mild manual labor.
7. Kaytee All Natural Aspen Bedding
Kaytee provides an all-natural aspen shredded paper hamster bedding option. It’s in an affordable 20-liter bag and has no scented oils, dyes, or other chemicals included; it’s pure aspen paper so that your hamster is safer.
It’s 99% dust-free to ensure allergies and cleanup are easy; it can absorb 5x its weight in liquid and is 2x more absorbent than wood shavings. It’s a super comfortable, soft, and easy to burrow material that will keep your hamster clean and dry.
Two of the big downsides is that while this bedding is extremely fluffy and comfortable, it may not be ideal for areas with heavy objects like a wheel. Also, you may need to change the bedding more often than other materials as the absorption is fine, but the wetness can stick around.
Consider using this hamster bedding for an actual bed and other hardier materials for the rest of your hamster’s cage.
8. Sunseed Small Animal Bedding
Sunseed provided an affordable 20-liter bag of shredded recycled newspapers and magazines that are biodegradable and compostable. Odor absorption can last for up to 7 days with the help of added baking soda to eliminate ammonia smells from the hamster cage.
The materials will absorb up to 3x their weight in liquid which is ideal with the odor absorbing features to change the bedding less often than many other materials.
Overall the reviews for this hamster bedding are highly positive, though some suggest it’s not the most comfortable bedding for your hamster. So you’ll need to determine ease of use and long-lasting vs. comfort and changing more often.
9. FiberCore Eco-Bedding
FiberCore provides interlocking crinkle paper for its hamster bedding, which is ideal for burrowing and having fun with your hamster. In addition, it’s made from 100% recycled materials, so it helps with your environmental footprint and is hypoallergenic for you and your pet.
The material is highly absorbent and very soft; most people agree that it’s excellent as a toilet paper for your hamster and also as a living paper to provide comfort for sleeping and easy burrowing for fun. A significant benefit is because this is a stronger paper material, there is almost no dust which is ideal.
One of the big issues with the material is that once it’s padded out into your hamster cage, it’s challenging to pull small pieces out, and you often need to replace the entire area once there is smell or dampness.