Well I have been using Pine for some time now (bad me)..I had way too much left from previous animals to throw it all away. I am now ready to move to a more pleasing bedding for my rats. My choices are Yesterdays News, Carefresh, or Aspen (aromatic oil free). If you do not use any of those tell me what you think is best.
Best bedding
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Even if you had tons of Pine Bedding left, its would have been safer to just throw it away or use it for something else. Pine is very VERY bad for rats, and you shouldn't have even used it...
Any of those are fine, really depends on what you prefer. Towels are great to use too.
Any of those are fine, really depends on what you prefer. Towels are great to use too.
Yea, but I used to run a small shelter out of my house and had tons of the huge bags, but have sold most of it, am planning on switching them asap...towels sound cool, but wouldnt they get under them and do towels absorb odor very well?JennieLove said:
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Towels work very well and control odor just fine, but needs to be changed at least every two days or so. Its helps if you teach your ratties to use a cornor potty box and spot clean everyday (just pick up any poops done outside of the potty box). In the long run, I think towels are better beacuse they can be washed and used over and over, but bedding you have to buy everyweek or so. I bought 4 towels for $12...Bedding before cost me close to $20 and only lasted me a few weeks!
Yeah, I would which to towels or anything else besides pine or cedar, ASAP.
Yeah, I would which to towels or anything else besides pine or cedar, ASAP.
I use towels and litter boxes right now. Three of my boys are about 80% trained. The towels do need to be changed a bit more often, but they can be washed and reused! I have one boys who sleeps under the towel if he can, but he doesn't mess them up too much. My fourth boy is on Yesterday's News until he moves into the FN (he's just barely too small!)
We've found that aspen is too light/dusty and gets flung everywhere.
Carefressh is somewhat better on being flung about, but worse for clean up... It practically killed our vaccuum and my roommate's banned it for that reason. Yesterday's News is easy to clean, seems to stay in better, and does fair on the odour issue.
We've found that aspen is too light/dusty and gets flung everywhere.
Carefressh is somewhat better on being flung about, but worse for clean up... It practically killed our vaccuum and my roommate's banned it for that reason. Yesterday's News is easy to clean, seems to stay in better, and does fair on the odour issue.
it depends on where and how you buy your litter though. i can get a 30lbs bag of yesterday news for $15 and that can last me 4-5months for the cage style i have. so in a year a spend about $30-40 in litter, which i don't think is that bad. you're probably going to spend about the same in the electric bill and soap to run the towels through the wash every couple days by the end of the year. though depending on your cage and where you get the litter you might end up paying more. i guess it depends on the cage, price and personal preference.
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LMAO, yeah if feels great not to have to pic up all the aspen Bob use to fling out of the cage! But ever since Ive switched to towels and a potty box, he loves tossing out all the littler and poops. xD Both my boys DO use the potty but rarely do they pee in it. They usually pee right outside of it, >.< I have no idea why, but I dont mind!
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Heres a link that talks about litter training:
http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#litter
http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#litter
I switched my boys straight to towels with boxes of their old bedding (YN) and they did pretty well, really.Strike2 said:
Just put the poops back in the little box as you spot clean so they know what it's for.I don't know about the cost issue. I never devote a washing just to the towels, so they get tossed in with everything else I need to wash, no extra laundry.
I got a bunch of towels at the dollar store for a dollar a piece, so that wasn't so bad, but if I was still using YN in the big cage I'd be going through it like it was going out of style. :lol:
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It shouldnt be much of a difference with the electric bill...Thats just me though, we usually do the wash every week anyways, thats why I have so many towels, so we can wash them the same time the normal wash is being done.
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Yeah Im using YN for litter...lol, Bob likes to play in it...I think its the smell he likes xD
I'd like to add a plug for the hardwood fuel pellets, which are so superior to Carefresh. They're $4 for a 40/lb bag at your local tractor supply (Fleet Farm for me). The Carefresh cage stinks after a few days... the pellet bedding takes *forever* to start smelling. Plus, the rats smell better, too.
I am so crazy about this stuff!
I am so crazy about this stuff!
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I like aspen because as a poor college student it costs about a third as much as other things. They spend most of their time on the hammocks/levels anyway so it seems kind of pointless to me to have that expensive stuff.
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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU2manyrats said:
You just saved me decent money.
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LMAO! you dont have to wash the towels with your clothes! Besides thats the point in having the potty box for your rats...So they wont dirty it up.
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