# Is walnut shell bedding really bad?



## JDL (Jan 4, 2017)

Hi everyone,
I am new here and I am trying to get some advice from you regarding bedding. I have a pair of tiels, Coco and Papillon. They are about 6 months old by now. When I frist adopted Coco 3 months ago, petshop recomended me to have crushed walnut shell for bedding. And I have not found any problems. However, many articles online say paper is the best because other beddings such as walnut shell are toxic to birds. Has anyone had negative experience?
Thanks,
J.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I don't think I could even find walnut shell bedding here, it's not very commonly used.

Tiels are not floor sleepers, why do you need bedding? We always line our cages with newspaper, it's super easy to change and if they shred it, it's no big deal.


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## JDL (Jan 4, 2017)

Wow! Really? I guess that explains a lot, if you cannot find this bedding product often elsewhere. I don't know.. the pet shops here in Tyler carry walnut shell beddings. And I see them using to their birds in the shops. However, I find it helpful to control the humidity in the cage. When I spray my tiels to bathe, the bedding soaks up water droppings easily and it maintains the humidity until it dries out. Well, some people see this as a negative side of using walnut shells because it could grow molds, fungus, etc. But I have not seen that happening at all here in a quite humid area of East Texas. I personally also see that it could be more natural to tiels feet when they are on the floor of their cage. After I've read possible toxication of the material, I rinse the shells and dry them to use for my tiels.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=1842
This is a link to our toxic plants/trees list and yes, walnut trees are on here. I would assume that because the tree is toxic so are the walnuts and it's not something I would keep in my cage. As for humidity, unless you are breeding and trying to hatch out eggs, humidity really isn't a big issue. I know many pet stores sell what's called care fresh and it's just paper, you can use that instead. If you want something more natural, you can get grass mats for the floor of the cage.


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## Lore (Dec 5, 2016)

I use shredded/chipped beech tree as a bedding. It's pretty much free of dust and I like the smell of it. It's safe for tiels and my tiel loves exploring the bottom of his cage, looking for dropped seeds or just messing around. 
I don't know how well available it is in the US, but over here every pet store sells it, and it's pretty inexpensive. I usually just scoop out the areas where Puck poops most often whenever necessary. I clean the entire tray about once every two weeks, sometimes earlier and sometimes later.


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