[linkmoon]

So my new rat Maia is constantly sneezing. She wasn't at all untill we put her in the cage. Even when she is sleeping, you can hear its hard on her. (She doesn't seem sick at all, and like I said was not sneezing or anything before putting her in the cage)I am currently using Aspen, I haven't had any trouble with Fay or Nova using it.My question is, for those who use care fresh (paper?) bedding. Has anyone ever had any issues using it?I never got it before cause of the price. I also have not used it since i was 13-14 when I had a bunny. I don't remember any experiences with it from then.

 

[LilCritter]

When I used carefresh, two of my rats were sneezing a lot and had a lot of porphyrin. Turned out they were allergic. I switched them to aspen actually and it all went away.

 

[kksrats]

Finding a bedding that suits all your rats can be rather tricky, especially if you've got rats with allergies to different things. I have cut down on the amount of loose bedding I use (aspen) to a bare minimum and use fleece elsewhere. I do have one with an allergy to aspen, but it's nothing too concerning. I do not particularly like paper bedding because it smells bad and I've had some hairless rats develop blotchy, dry skin from it; however, if your rat's allergies are bad enough that they impair her breathing, I'd definitely consider trying something different. Also, if I remember correctly, you haven't had Maia very long, so she could just be going through the normal adjustment period.

 

[linkmoon]

Thank you both.
The stinking is my only fear using paper bedding

@kksrats, you are correct. I have only had Maia since Friday. I know she was probably just adjusting to the new surroundings. But the way she was sounding (almost like a wheeze) and all the sneezing throughout the night, I had to try something else.

SO far, she hasn't sneezed once since the switch.

I eventually am going to switch to fleece, but I am waiting till I can get a DCN for that.

 

[futureshadows]

I had a rat get very allergic to Carefresh. Her head swelled up and I felt so bad. She got baby Motrin on watermelon and lots of cuddles, and an old fleece blanket in place of bedding until I bought a different type.. She hasn't been that allergic to anything else thankfully.

 

[Nieve5552]

Are you able to get access to these wherever you are?
http://www.kritterscrumble.com.au/

I went to the pet shop yesterday to get some more aspen, I initially used carefresh but switched to aspen for a while as I thought the paper bedding looked too dirty. I dont think it was too good with odor control either (I clean the cage every week, pick litterbox every day)
Aspen was OK, but yesterday the guy at the pet shop said that the dust from woodchip beddings are more microscopic than paper bedding dust, and that the wood dust builds up inside them while the rats can process paper dust.
I wasnt really keen on going back to carefresh so I decided to try the kritters crumble, which the store was using for their rats.
The guy said it was fine for their health, but he didnt really like it as the bits were small and got stuck to rats fur sometimes, making them appear a little dirty. My rats dont really roll around that much on the bottom level and I dont exactly have my rats for aethetic pleasure haha
Decided to try the kritters crumble, looks really nice in the cage and looks natural. The rats dont seem to mind it either, so far no smell and all good
So yeah you might want to try experimenting with different stuff to see if your rat allergic to aspen reacts to other stuff

 

[linkmoon]

@futureshadows I am sorry to hear your babies went through that. I am glad to hear they are doing much better!


No, only place I can find that here is off Amazon. If I had Amazon prime to get the free shipping, it would be worth ordering to try it. The price for that with shipping is almost what I am paying for double the amount of bedding with Carefresh.

Right now, they are all doing wonderfully with Carefresh. Neither one of them are having any kind of negative reactions to it. So for now, I think I may stick with it.

My girls don't really roll around in the bedding either. They run on their wheel, eat, drink then go back to bed lol They are a lazy bunch :3