[Phobie]

Hi guys, yet another topic by me (sorry)!

I noticed that in a lot of your 'meet my rat' pictures, that your cages are lined with carpet or material. The man in the pet shop gave me 'megasorb' (spelling?), and I naturally lined the bottom of the cage with it. On the top level (my cage has a shelf level), I put soft shredded paper bedding.

I was wondering whether I was right or wrong to line the whole lower level with this 'megasorb' stuff, would material not get dirty/smelly?

In one particular picture I noticed there was a tupperware type box filled with what looked like this megasord material, that type of thing.

I'd appreciate feedback

 

[Forensic]

I use fabric, and then I fill a box with litter (YEsterday's News). They're pretty good about using the box and then I just wash the fabric. Less mess, less waste.

I'm not sure what this 'megasorb' stuff is. Is it pellet like? If so you will have to empty it out and replace it regularly.

 

[Phobie]

Megasorb is weird, it's like balled up paper kinda. It's like kitty litter in the sense that you can just take out the soiled stuff.

 

[IlikePizza]

Hey i use this wierd sort of meshie carboard stuff its really good as it eliminates urine odours and lasts twice as long as traditional bedding and its environmentally friendly and is also easy to clean out. I find the best thing is that its highly absorbent and best of all dust free! It also says its hypo-allerdenic.

But i dont really use a special box for them to pee in, should i? They same to pick out a spot and always pee there anyway? Is what i'm doing okay?

 

[chrisstrikeagain]

your prob usin carefesh which is good. you dont need litter box. i use papertowell bottom and just change the soiled paper towell so keep it clean and its fine.

 

[IlikePizza]

Yeha thats what i'm using carefresh, it is really good stuff! Doesnt lave bad smells at all!

 

[secondshadow]

Just to sound off, I use care fresh. Even with quite a few rats in the cage it lasts pretty well and mostly keeps the odors down. Just stay away from woods, especially aromotics like cedar. Those are really bad for them. I've read the ash or pine are non-aromatic and thus safe, but I have one rat in particular that seems to have a sensative upper-resperatory system and didn't handle pine very well when she was younger, so I've been using carefresh since she was a baby. Personally, stuff like carefresh or yesterdays news are some of the best as far as I've been able to discern. I'm not really sure what the megasorb is so I can't really comment, though if I didn't think I'd have to wash it every other day I wouldn't mind just using something like carpet or fabric. Even cleaning it doesn't bug me, except Punk gets a little territorial about the cage sometimes and nips at me if my had is there too long (only inside the cage).

 

[Forensic]

Pine is a soft wood and thus aromatic.

 

[secondshadow]

you are absolutely correct. I went and asked someone who was around at the time and it was aspen not pine. We know that because they were and still are using it for their mice. I had to switch to carefresh because she didn't even handle the aspen well. I never used pine it turns out. Just aspen (for a whole week or so) and then switched to carefresh.

 

[IlikePizza]

yeha i found my rats just couldnt stand aspen. They kept sniffing and i mean serious sniffing but now since ave used carefresh there has been no bother with the sniffing. It was almost like there allergic to aspen. Anyway i found that the stuff is too dustie for rats. And we got told from a pet shop that aspen or any soet of saw dust isnt good at all.

 

[lilspaz68]

The only safe wood shavings are aspen (hard wood) but some cheaper aspen is quite dusty, but if you get good stuff its actually my favourite bedding. Mine are on fleece right now and Mewsprint in the litter pans.

Carefresh made me and my rats sneeze... :roll: LOL

 

[Altronix]

I've used the Megasorb stuff, it's good but expensive to line a big cage. For several years I've been using compressed wood pellets for the bottom of the tray and have had no sneezing or breathing problems.
I use the Yellow Pages torn into strips and scrunched up, for the bedding. I used news paper for a while, but found it reacted with the urine somehow and really stank, even if it was fresh just the day before.

:¬)

 

[camel24j]

i like cell sorb to my mice did great on it and the rats were fine to i even used it with snakes and lizards and as cat litter and the birds liked it to.