The Chipsi Green Apple Scented Softwood Bedding for Small Pets is Chipsi's softwood shavings with a natural green apple scent, in the 3.2 kg pack that opens out to about 60 litres.

Key Features

• The same soft softwood shavings as Chipsi Classic, with a natural green apple fragrance rather than a chemical one - JRS states there are no chemical additives.
• Highly absorbent, so the base stays dry between changes.
• Binds odour, and the apple scent sits on top of that rather than doing the work.
• Soft under bare feet.
• Dust-reduced.
• Biodegradable and compostable.
• 3.2 kg compressed, which expands to roughly 60 litres of bedding.
• Suitable for rodents and small mammals.

How To Use

• Clean the enclosure out, then spread a layer 5 to 10 cm deep across the base.
• Scoop out the wet and soiled patches every day and top the level back up.
• Strip and replace the whole lot at least once a week, and wash the base out before refilling.
• For a litter-trained rabbit, use it in the tray and put a hay rack right beside it.

Good To Know

• The same apple bedding is also listed separately in a 1 kg (15 L) pack under the newer Chipsi Classic Apple design. It is the same product in a smaller bag.
• Scented bedding does not suit every animal. Rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and hamsters have sensitive airways and some individuals react to any fragrance, natural or not. If yours starts sneezing, wheezing, or gets runny eyes or a runny nose, move to the unscented Chipsi Classic - and start with unscented if your pet has any history of respiratory trouble.
• This is kiln-dried, dust-reduced softwood shaving, which is not the same thing as the raw pine and cedar shavings exotic vets warn about. If your own vet has advised against wood bedding for your animal, use a paper or hemp bedding instead.
• No bedding is genuinely dust-free. JRS describes Chipsi as dust-reduced. Pour it in gently, and let the enclosure air for a minute rather than tipping the bag in with the animal sitting in it.
• Urine turns into ammonia, and ammonia is the main cause of respiratory disease in caged small animals. Scoop the wet patches out every day and strip the whole enclosure at least weekly - more often for rabbits, guinea pigs and rats, which produce a lot of urine.
• Lay it 5 to 10 cm deep. Hamsters, gerbils and mice burrow, and a thin scattering does not let them behave normally.
• Change bedding brands gradually. Small animals recognise home by smell, so when you strip the enclosure keep a handful of the old clean bedding and mix it back in.
• Bedding is not food. A little gets eaten during nest-building and that is normal, but a pet chewing bedding instead of hay is telling you there is not enough hay.
• Bedding does not replace hay. Rabbits and guinea pigs need unlimited grass hay in front of them at all times - it is the bulk of what they should eat and it is what wears their teeth down.
• This is small-animal bedding, not cat litter. It does not clump and it is not made for a cat tray.
• Keep the bag sealed, off the floor and somewhere dry. Bedding that takes up damp in a UAE store room can go mouldy before it ever reaches the cage.
• JRS states the bedding is biodegradable and compostable. Soiled bedding from herbivores composts well; it is not one for a wormery, and do not put it on anything you will be eating from this season.
• Small animals hide illness until they are very unwell. A rabbit or guinea pig that stops eating or stops passing droppings for 12 hours is an emergency, not a wait-and-see - gut stasis can kill within a day. Sneezing, laboured breathing or wet eyes and nose need a vet who sees exotics.