As the number of people keeping pet hamsters increases, the number of questions that we see from the hamster owning community also increases at a correlating speed and as more and more people ask a wider range of questions, we decided to start answering as many of them as possible.
One of the most important things about keeping a pet hamster is making sure that you are using a suitable bedding product for your pet with a number of people curious about using fleece bedding for hamsters.
You should avoid using fleece bedding for hamsters as the majority of hamsters will either pee on it constantly or attack it and shred it into small pieces.
Some hamsters can then eat the small pieces of fleece that can then potentially cause issues with impaction in their digestive system leading to some serious health issues.
There so many high quality hamster bedding options on the market that you are able to use instead of fleece bedding that are also cheaper that it just makes no sense to even try fleece in the majority of cases.
On the environmental side of things, non-chemically treated fleece bedding can be broken down over time but it takes a long period of time and some chemically treated fleece will never break down where as the paper or wood-based beddings break down and decompose considerably quicker.
Do Hamsters Like Fleece Bedding?
Although some hamsters do seem to like fleece bedding, most of them prefer to “fight” with it as if it is a thread to them and rip it to shreds rather than actually sleep in it.
The hamsters who do like to fight with their fleece bedding do usually seem to really enjoy it and treat it as some type of game with some hamster owners using fleece bedding as more of a toy for their hamster rather than a bedding option.
This can be fine and totally safe for your hamster when done correctly but you really do have to take steps to keep fleece bedding safe when used in this way.
Thankfully though, the general process is very easy as the basic rules for using fleece bedding with your hamsters is to avoid leaving it in their cage to prevent them eating it once shredded and monitor your hamster when playing with it.
The easiest way to do this is to only give your hamster the fleece bedding when out of its cage playing so you can watch to make sure that your hamster doesn’t try to eat the fleece after shredding it into tiny pieces.
You will usually find that your hamster will get bored of playing with the fleece bedding after five or ten minutes and go off to do something else anyway but some pet hamsters can try to eat the leftover fleece.
Can You Use Fleece Bedding For Hamsters?
Just because you can use fleece bedding for hamsters does not mean that you should as the majority of hamsters will usually not sleep on or under fleece bedding and tend to prefer to pee on it or shed it into small pieces.
The price point of fleece bedding also tends to be higher than the other bedding options for hamsters too meaning there are usually better, safe, cost-efficient bedding options for your hamster.
This is why we always recommend that our readers just go with a high quality hamster bedding options as their bedding option for their pet hamster as it will be the better choice for the majority of our readers by far.
In some situations, a cloth bedding can work but it has to be made out of a suitable material with fleece usually not being considered a suitable cloth material for hamsters.
If you are just purchasing generic fleece then you may be running the risk of picking up an insulating fleece product for building construction that has fiberglass in it too.
This should always be avoided when it comes to hamsters as the fiberglass is a direct hazard to your hamster but these fleece products are clearly labeled as construction or insulating fleece.
The problem is that some people just mistake that to mean “insulating” will keep their hamster warmer, this is not the case and construction fleece should be avoided at all costs.
What Can You Use Fleece Bedding For With Hamsters?
The most common use for fleece bedding with hamsters is actually as a toy for your pet hamster to shred to pieces rather than as a bedding option.
You could try to use a small pieces of fleece bedding to train your hamster where to pee in its cage as many hamsters seem to enjoy peeing on fleece too but other than that, its real world use cases are limited.
This is why the majority of people who keep pet rodents usually only use fleece bedding for guinea pigs as their attitude and behavior to fleece bedding is totally different to that of hamsters.
Many guinea pigs will actually use the bedding as intended rather than a hamster who will usually either pee on it or attack it or in some cases both.
Even if you do choose to use fleece bedding as a toy for your hamster rather than as bedding, we would highly recommend that you follow our guidance covered earlier in the article and never put it in your hamster’s cage, and always monitor your hamster playing with the fleece to prevent them from eating it.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over using fleece bedding for hamsters to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you realize that there are a number of risks with fleece bedding for hamsters and we usually recommend that you just avoid it altogether. There are much better options available when it comes to hamster bedding that are not only safer for your hamster but can also work out to be much cheaper than fleece too.
