Safebed Paper Wool

A small animal sleeps with its nose directly in its bedding and stays there for most of the day. That simple geometry is why dust matters far more in a hutch than it does in a stable, and it is why the first question worth asking about a sneezing rabbit is what is underneath it rather than what is wrong with it.

Safebed Paper Wool is made from a recycled food-grade tea-bag paper derived from natural plant fibres, which Safebed describe as both natural and sustainable. It comes cut into long strands that tear down by hand into smaller pieces, so the animal can shape a nest out of it rather than just lie on it, and Safebed put the dust content at practically zero next to wood shavings and sawdust. It is warm, absorbent, non-toxic, biodegradable and straightforward to dispose of, and it is listed for rabbits, guinea pigs and other small animals.

• Recycled food-grade tea-bag paper, from natural plant fibres
• Long strands that tear down easily into smaller pieces
• Practically no dust compared with wood shavings and sawdust
• Warm, absorbent and non-toxic
• Biodegradable and easy to dispose of
• Listed for rabbits, guinea pigs and other small animals

There is no pack size on this listing, and the size code is not one. the makers record it as a code rather than a weight or a volume, so nobody has told us how much paper wool is in the bag or how many hutch changes it covers - which makes it genuinely hard to compare on price against a bale of shavings. Absorbency is described but never quantified either. And bedding is not litter: paper wool is nesting material, and a wet corner still wants a tray with something meant for the job in it.

Who it's for: keepers of rabbits and guinea pigs, particularly anyone whose animal has already had a respiratory flare-up on shavings, and anybody who wants nesting material the animal can rearrange itself.