# Corn cob bedding?



## Discordya

Does anyone have any experience with corn cob bedding? Is it safe for mices or is it bad? I tried a search for it and only one post came up, with just one general statement about it and nothing informative. It's very nice and doesn't seem to have hardly any dust at all, but I know corn is bad for them so if he were to eat any of the bedding I don't know how bad that would be. So far as I have been watching him closely in general, I have not seen him eating the bedding (but doesn't mean he never would).

I was going to switch to Aspen this afternoon unless the corn cob is ok? If so, should I double it with anything?

Also I was wondering, would anything like newspaper or copy paper be ok to put in the very bottom under the substrate, to soak and prevent wetness from being on the cage bottom all the time? I use to do that with my rabbits and it worked wonders on keeping odors down from the plastic (you could still smell the rabbit pee even after a strong animal safe cleaner). I don't want to use the same tactics from them to my mouse if it is not safe for him, though, so I will just wait and see what everyone says first!


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## Jack Garcia

With birds, they'll sometimes eat it and it swells inside them and can cause intestinal blockage. But while I've heard of this concern with mice, I've never known of a mouse to actually it it.

I've used corncob before, but always as one part of a mixture (usually along with aspen and hay). I put a little corncob in the corners, and then cover it with aspen and hay. The only problem I've ever noticed is that sometimes, some bags seem to mold rather quickly when they get wet. But I always change it immediately (because it smells gross).



> Also I was wondering, would anything like newspaper or copy paper be ok to put in the very bottom under the substrate, to soak and prevent wetness from being on the cage bottom all the time?


You can generally use newspaper, but they'll pull it up and chew it. You can also use plain baking soda in the corners (where they go to the bathroom) and if you clean the corners out mid-week and replace the corners with clean bedding, often the mice won't go to the bathroom anywhere else. Their instinct tells them to go to the bathroom in a place as far away from the nest as possible so that predators don't smell them, and in a square cage, often that's one or two corners at the other end of the nest.


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## Discordya

So for now as long as I don't catch him eating it, then it is okie to use the corn cob. It is $1 cheaper bag than aspen for the same amount, so it's why I was asking.

Do mice eat the hay, or what do people use hay for? I could easily get some of that to add with corn cob substrate.

The reason I asked about newspaper was because when I had quail and rabbits, I noticed that when I clean the cage the bottom is wet from water droplets from the bottles or their pee, and it is hard to get the smell off the plastic. I used newspaper with them and it helped keep the actual cage clean. I don't have much issue with smell AT THE MOMENT. I keep his cage fairly clean and like that, but I just hate knowing that there is wet on the cage itself all the time. It just bugs me!


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