[WDshorty]

Hi I'm new on this forum. I've kept rats as pets now for about 6 years and I currently have 2 boys called Artemis and Houdini but am having problems with Arty ripping up his bedding at night and keeping me awake. I currently have a plastic bottomed cage which I line with newspaper and then they have lots of shredded paper to burrow and nest in. However Arty likes to do it himself obviously (shred the newspaper) and also run around being noisy at night underneath the newspaper. This also makes cleaning them out really messy too cos their supposed to go on top of the newspaper so I can just throw it all out but they much prefer to do their business straight onto the bottom of the cage and make more mess for me to clean. Was just wondering if anyone can suggest a better lining or bedding to solve any of these problems. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Pomperella]

welcome to the forum they do tend to shred everything in site, i suppose as it is fun for them. maybe some fleece instead that they can chew as it won't be noisy. you can whip it out and put in washing machine.

i use megazorb with my rats and have never (touch wood) suffered any probs, it's so dry without being dusty and soaks up urine and poop. cleaning out if easy, just scoop it out.

you have very pretty rats!

 

[sonoma]

Aww, cute ratties! :wink:

As for bedding, I've pretty much always used Care Fresh and been fairly happy with it. Fleece is a good idea, but I think it works best if your rats are litter box trained.

I think you'd find it easier (and quieter!) if you switched to some type of small animal bedding (just as long as it's not cedar or pine.) I tried newspaper for a very short time and it just didn't contol odors or soak up waste very well at all.

edited for typo

 

[WDshorty]

Wow thanks for the quick responses!! And thanks, I think my ratsies rather cute too but I'm biased ;-) your Rose ^^ looks a bit like Arty, maybe a bit darker, all 3 look adorable too anyway ^^ Just googled megazorb and carefresh, do you just put it straight into the bottom of the cage then or do you line the cage with something then put it in to make it easier to clean out? I've always used newspaper because it comes through the door for free and you can just fold all the mess up in it and bin it at cleaning out time until Arty fooled that plan, he's a terror!! But I seriously think I need a new bedding as I'm not getting much sleep at the moment, it's amazing how much noise 2 little rats can make (although I'm sure Arty is the main culprit...) lol.

 

[Forensic]

I use fleece with a litter box. Much easier to clean.

 

[WDshorty]

I did try to train them to just go in a box I put in the corner, cos they do tend to just go in the same 2 corners anyway, but they kept tipping it over. I also tried weighting down the newspaper in the corners of the cage with quite big stones but they still manage to either move them or nibble away the newspaper from around them. Cheeky little things, I'm sure they're doing it on purpose just to have a laugh at my expense lol.

 

[Forensic]

I use a plastic tub, which is weighed down by the litter that's in it.

 

[WDshorty]

I might see if I can get hold of some Megazorb, been looking it up and it's used for horses too so should be able to get it in bulk quite cheap, and is supposed to absorb smells too, my mum will be extremely pleased about that she won't let me move them out of my room because of the smell, even though they're keeping me awake at night. But I will definately have another go at trying to litter box train them as well, I probably gave up too easily last time. Although they're older now, might be too set in their ways :-|

 

[Forensic]

How old is old?

 

[WDshorty]

They're just over a year old now, maybe they'll take to it, I'll just have to try and see.

 

[Forensic]

They might be stubborn about it, but be persistent... it helps a lot with the smell.

 

[Pomperella]

yeah megazorb is great, it is cheap in a big bag made for horses. i line with newspaper and put megazorb over it cos it is so thick the paper isn't touching the rats and they tend to not realise it is there. you c an use it without as you can just tip the cage tray over a bin as it doesn't tend to stick.

hope you like megazorb...my girls love it!

and mine will not use the potty, no matter how much i try!

 

[WDshorty]

I looked it up online and it does look like just what I need. I also found a local supplier of Megazorb so I'm going to go check them out tomorrow and see if I can get some, thanks for the advice guys!!!

 

[savveth]

Megazorb looks great! but....im in the u.s. is there anything like megazorb in the u.s?

 

[WDshorty]

Ah we in the UK get Megazorb, you in the US get all the decent cages: Ferret nation, Martin's etc lol. I'm no expert on Megazorb or related products but it seems that it's just a kind of horse bedding material so maybe try asking at a local stables or horse supplies shop or similar online shops. It's made for animals so I see no reason why it shouldn't be ok for rats too as Megazorb is, and they will have the same dust etc related concerns about horses and bedding as we do with our ratties. If that makes any sense... :-S

 

[WDshorty]

Right so I went to this supplier this morning and bought a bag of Megazorb, it was £5.31 for a massive sack so I was very impressed (so were my parents who were paying hehe). Anyway I spent most of the morning and a bit of the afternoon making more things to keep my ratties entertained and happy and then cleaned out the cage and filled it with Megazorb and my ratties. They seem to like the Megazorb, I think it's nice and soft for them to walk on, they can dig in it, and apparently it tastes nice to them....(although it is not noisy if they do eat it so yay I'll be sleeping well tonight!! ) It's too soon to tell if it helps with the smell yet, but Arty seems determined to go to the toilet on the smooth bottom of the cage I think as he has already dug down the the bottom in one place. I did also put a litter tray in for them, I filled it with soil and stones from my garden as I have no cat litter at the moment but so far they show no interest in going to the toilet in it, just seem to like digging in it and eating things from it....not quite the idea but hey....

Anyway if your interested in seeing pics of my ratties with Megazorb and all the new toys I made them in their cage try this link as I've already posted them in another topic:

http://ratforum.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2468/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=0.html

 

[Pomperella]

so glad the megazorb is working out well. i love it and gives no sneezes or snuffles to the ratties! like the pics in the link too!