Gerbil Allergies: What kind of nesting/bedding material besides these do I use?

If a gerbil is showing signs of an allergy (Blood red mucous under its nose, because for gerbils their mucous IS blood red in color), and the allergy is caused by pine bedding material, what else is there on the market besides Aspen or CareFresh? These two are not comfortable for the gerbil; Aspen is like gray pine needles, and CareFresh is like balls of paper that you pull out of your pockets after leaving notes in the pockets of your pants that have been forgotten there and washed, and also is not good nesting/bedding material. What else is there on the market that's NOT made of pine or cedar or these other bags of crap? Gerbils need to have their allergies tended to, but making them nest in Aspen, CareFresh, or Corncob which is like walking on rocks for their tiny little feet is torture for them and a totally unacceptable choice. What do I do?|||Hi there! I agree with you 100%, I hate aspen and carefresh! My gerbils are allergic to aspen and care fresh is expensive and over rated. Anyway, Soft Sorbent (The NON SCENTED kind) is safe, Sunseed Freshworld bedding is excellent, Total Comfort is good. NO CORN COB that causes intestinal blockage because it is made from corn and tastes good to gerbils or other rodents. Plus it gets moldy. Remember no cedar or pine.





Good luck! If any one needs any help on gerbils, hamsters, rats, mice, or fish email me at averyrazno@yahoo.com








Edit: Anna M- First of all, you're being an idiot. It's not BLEEDING, their mucus is naturally a blood red color. And aspen is known to cause skin allergies, my gerbils got a skin allergy as soon as I started using it. They were itching a lot and eyes were watering. So start learning your facts, kay hon?





Edit edit: Pirate does not have a very good idea. Sand is NOT ideal. It is very dusty and can cause respiratory sickness and oxygen can't travel through so if they try to snuggle up in it, they suffocate. Reptile beddings are not acceptable. There is reptile in the name for a REASON. And like I state before, corn cob is bad.|||Carefresh is recycled newspaper (without the harmful ink) and is VERY good for rodents. You are sadly mistaken. Please stop leading people to think otherwise. Aspen I agree doesn't seem comfortable, but is safe because it's NOT pine or cedar. It's aspen. (I thought that was self explanatory but I guess not.) If your gerbils are having allergies, it's something else and not the bedding. Carefresh is tremendously soft. I use it and have felt it. You need to take your gerbils to the vet because it is NOT the bedding that's making them bleed.|||I have to agree with the other posters here. Carefresh is an excellent choice. I have used it with my rats for years and they love it.|||Seems like you're getting rather defensive, there, friend.





While I agree with the other three answers that CareFresh IS IS IS an appropriate choice for bedding, as it's extremely soft when it's spread out. You don't just throw a block of CareFresh into a cage, you spread it all out so that it is fluffy again. Have you tried CareFresh? It's actually quite nice. I used it when I had hamsters, mice, *and* gerbils, and they all seemed to really enjoy it.





Fabric is always another alternative, but will, obviously, not work well for nesting, unless you shred it, which would be a god awful mess. Another alternative is get computer paper and shred it at home, but again it will be a huge mess and MUCH harder on their feet than CareFresh would be, as it's extremely soft. You could also use sand or reptile bark or beddings, but for obvious reasons I wouldn't suggest either of those.





Essentially, here are your options:


Aspen


CareFresh


Shredded papers


Fabrics


Corncob


Sand


Reptile bark/beddings