Aspen shavings is giving me nasal congestion?

[bobsmith2002]

I'm keeping about a few button quails indoors as pets and I'm using dusty Aspen shavings from PetSmart as their bedding. However, I've noticed that whenever I am in their room my nose becomes clogged and I am experiencing nasal congestion. But my congestion clears up when I exit the room and enter other rooms of the house.

Currently, I have an air purifier running in the room. I also have a 2 inch layer of dusty Aspen shavings in the quail cage. If I lower the level of Aspen shavings to a very shallow and thin level of shavings, will this help lessen my nasal congestion? Or should I look into a different type of bedding?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I'm keeping about a few button quails indoors as pets and I'm using dusty Aspen shavings from PetSmart as their bedding. However, I've noticed that whenever I am in their room my nose becomes clogged and I am experiencing nasal congestion. But my congestion clears up when I exit the room and enter other rooms of the house.

Currently, I have an air purifier running in the room. I also have a 2 inch layer of dusty Aspen shavings in the quail cage. If I lower the level of Aspen shavings to a very shallow and thin level of shavings, will this help lessen my nasal congestion? Or should I look into a different type of bedding?

Have you had quail before, and did you get close enough to them to trigger an allergic reaction?

Because that is also a possible (and different) allergen.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Try something else (sand?) to see if the congestion goes away. If it doesn't it's likely the bird dander.

 

[llcardinale]

I'm keeping about a few button quails indoors as pets and I'm using dusty Aspen shavings from PetSmart as their bedding. However, I've noticed that whenever I am in their room my nose becomes clogged and I am experiencing nasal congestion. But my congestion clears up when I exit the room and enter other rooms of the house.

Currently, I have an air purifier running in the room. I also have a 2 inch layer of dusty Aspen shavings in the quail cage. If I lower the level of Aspen shavings to a very shallow and thin level of shavings, will this help lessen my nasal congestion? Or should I look into a different type of bedding?

 

[llcardinale]

That is so frustrating. I use Aspen and dust extracted cut straw. Aspen isn't so bad, but for me the straw is giving me asthmatic symptoms. I think you just have to try out different types. Maybe hemp. It's a bit expensive, but so are health issues. Good luck.

 

[theoldchick]

I'd try different bedding.

 

[PeaShack]

I'm keeping about a few button quails indoors as pets and I'm using dusty Aspen shavings from PetSmart as their bedding. However, I've noticed that whenever I am in their room my nose becomes clogged and I am experiencing nasal congestion. But my congestion clears up when I exit the room and enter other rooms of the house.

Currently, I have an air purifier running in the room. I also have a 2 inch layer of dusty Aspen shavings in the quail cage. If I lower the level of Aspen shavings to a very shallow and thin level of shavings, will this help lessen my nasal congestion? Or should I look into a different type of bedding?

I have kept indoor button quail in the past and found all the wood shaving products to be too dusty. Sand is also too messy indoors as bedding. (As an aside, I used a large plastic juice bottle with the top cut off as their sand bath. We used a soldering iron to melt the egdes so they weren’t sharp. Having a covered dust bath minimized sand getting everywhere.)

Carefresh bedding worked well but can be pricey. I decided to make my own paper bedding by shredding cardboard. I would cut up cardboard boxes (cardboard scissors available on Amazon). Wet the pieces down in our jacuzzi. After a 15 minutes the 3 layers separate/delaminate easily. Hung them off the side of the tub to dry overnight (they dry fast) and then would run through a paper shredder. It was more effort, but totally worth it for the dust reduction.

As others mentioned, some people are allergic to feather dander too…but I would try changing the bedding first.