What Type of Bedding or Litter?
Posted by jorats on Thursday May 21, 2009 Under HabitatOver the years, I’ve tried all kinds… except not the dreaded cedar and pine. The softwood chips contain phenols which in turn can harm the rat’s respiratory systems and kidneys since it cannot keep up with filtering the toxins as well as their liver.
Aspen is another choice but again, I’ve found a study that suggest it’s also not the best to use with rats not as bad as pine and cedar though. Also, aspen is dusty and can get rather stinky once it’s been urinated on.
There are other types of commercial bedding marketed for small animals like Carefresh. I have used this brand in the past and found it excessively too dusty.
Clumping clay cat litter is definitely a no-no. Rats could easily ingest it when cleaning themselves. This litter clumps when moisture is added, think of the issues this can cause in ratty tummies.
Another issue for tummies would be corncob bedding. If not cleaned fast enough it will mold and rats do find it palatable. Corncob bedding is also too absorbent which can cause a condition called ringtail in rats, from which they can lose their tail unless treated. It sucks the moisture from the tail.
The best I’ve found so far is Yesterday’s News… a cat litter made of recycled material. The odor control if fantastic, it’s very absorbent and easy to clean as well.
I have yet to try Boxo which is a shredded box board. I’m hesitant to change since using fleece on my floors and YN in litter trays, my cages haven’t been stinky and it’s a breeze to do daily cleanups.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:09 PM
Fleece and paper towels are what my rats like best as bedding. I’ve cut fleece squares large enough to carpet the entire floor of the cage with about an inch more on all four sides. I have my boys in a Martin’s Rat Skyscraper and you can lift the cage right out of it’s pan. Line the floor with one or two fleece pieces and then put the cage on top of it. The fleece will be held in place by the cage itself. Then just lay paper towels over the fleece. My boys shred certain areas of their paper towels and use the intact section to poop on. It makes it easy to tidy up the cage every day. Fleece absorbs urine really well and it takes about a week for things to get smelly. Rat laundry is done once a week. My way of doing things… for what it’s worth.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:02 PM
i just bought two rats a few days ago. these are my first rats so i am new to things. well for one i have carfresh as my bedding is that a bad thing, because like u said they are dusty and i have one of my rats making a half sneezing kinda sound although some ppl say they make this sound when they are scared. and i don’t rly have the money to take her to the vet. the other thing is that i have this 100% edible house thing called edi-house. it is made of pine wood shavings, is this a very bad thing? because the rats love it, they littealy attack it for a snack :p
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 AM
Hi Jake, you could try changing the bedding. A lot of rats will sneeze with the carefresh. You could try aspen bedding or better yet, the Yesterday’s News.
I’m pretty sure that edi-house is perfectly fine for rats. Pine shavings have phenols but when it’s worked into a product, I don’t believe the phenols are all that concentrated.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:28 PM
Here’s another vote for Yesterday’s News. Even better now that our 6 ratty girls have trained us as to where they like to poop. Now we barely need any pellets at all because they use their litter box faithfully. As for the rest of the cage, shredded paper towels and baby blankets from a $1 store, mostly.
June 7th, 2009 at 7:52 PM
Do you have any thoughts between using Yesterday’s News over Harlan Teklad Aspen bedding? We’re just beginning our rattie journey and are getting our supplies and this was what was recommended by the breeder – though I admit I’ve heard numerous good things bout YN’s. Have you tried Harlan’s aspen bedding? Thanks for the help, guys!
June 7th, 2009 at 10:03 PM
A lot of people do like their aspen but I must admit that I find it quite dusty as well as smelly once the rats have gone potty in it. I still recommend Yesterday’s News over aspen any day.
Congrats on adopting rats!!
June 8th, 2009 at 3:09 PM
YEAH! Thank you so much for the YN rec. I love that it’s recycled and I can get it locally (have had trouble tracking down Harlan Teklad food)
And Jo, you’ve been so inspirational! I found you by watching the “Rats Love Bananas” YouTube and also the sequel. My daughters (6.5 yrs old) were laughing hysterically. I think I was crying…good thing…I didn’t realize how much I needed to nurture a little critter until I saw that. Had a pet ferret as a child, who was my first love and I’m excited to open our hearts and homes to these amazing ratties. We fell in love with your Jet
Bless you for taking such great care of so many rescue rats, too! I’m already looking for some males to rescue to add to our family once the babies settle in a bit
Can’t wait for this journey to begin! And I’ll be signing up to receive updates from your various sites. Thanks for starting this! Yesterday, I had to cut up little pieces of bananas and put them on a plate to “feed” to my 6 yr old twin girls, who were pretending to be rats _- ha!
June 8th, 2009 at 10:30 PM
I’m so glad I’ve been able to help you in your decision in getting rats. And also for your girls to grow up loving and rescuing rats makes me so proud and pleased.
June 13th, 2009 at 9:20 PM
Is the fleece or towel necessary for shelves and the floor? I have my 2 rats in a powder coated Martin’s cage. I recently switched from Carefresh (also tried Boxo) to YN as they’ve been having respiratory issues… but I just filled the whole bottom pan with YN, especially since they’re not litter trained. It doesn’t look very comfortable but I try to put tissue and stuff on the shelves for them to rip up and nest with.. What do you think?
June 13th, 2009 at 10:25 PM
It’s not necessary to cover the shelves with fleece but it’s nice to have if the rat chooses to nest with it. It sounds like your setup is working out pretty good.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:09 AM
We just got our ratties on Sat and have a martin’s cage, too. We have a litter pan on the bottom with YN’s and I have the Harlan Teklad shavings on the bottom level and put fleece on all the other levels. Most of the time, they seem to prefer the fleece for sleeping. I am not finding them much on the aspen shavings and they are using the litter pan for most poops – yeah! So I’m going to scrap the aspen shavings due to my own tree allergies and line the bottom with fleece since they seem to enjoy it so much. I have boys, so perhaps the sex makes a difference since gals might like to nest more??? We’re totally in love with the ratties, btw – you were right, Jo!
June 24th, 2009 at 9:10 AM
p.s. I did put grommets and shower curtain hangers on some of the fleece levels so they wouldn’t get bunched. They are not pulling up the other fleece much and I do have some fleece scraps in there for them, but they aren’t using them much at this point…fyi
June 24th, 2009 at 10:02 PM
My sister also had a problem with the aspen and her allergies. Way to go with the litter training!
June 30th, 2009 at 5:00 PM
I’m adopting ratties soon, and I just wanted to say thanks. You have led in to the right direction!
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:35 PM
i’m also adopting a few soon! i read every comment on here and taken notes haha – im already confident YNwill work xD
August 27th, 2009 at 10:48 PM
omg your ratties have posts? thats so adorable since i have my own job i can pay for my rats vet bills and cage cleaning bills and such. but my dad hates the smell of my rats. i use the pine bedding, you know the ones they use in horses stalls? i dont think they absorbe the stink, and i want the ratties to start litter training by the way what kind of litter do you use? i use just regular cat litter and they like to sleep in it, oh and my dad hates the smell of a big testosterone filled male rat in the cage breeding with my in heat smelly doe!! i mean i clean all my does once a month (even though they hate it) and get them nice and sweet smelling like apples but i never wash a pregnant doe because water freaks them out and i dont want to harm the pups. and your rats look bright eyed and clean and fit, i dont really know how much to feed them so my two, old, lady does are sorta fat and when pinky (the biggest) drags her big belly through all her buisness it gets her…. chichi all covered in this yellow muck and stains her fur, like not under the fur on top of it. and whenever i try and clean it out the stain will not go away!! it will fade just a little bit but she’ll get it dirty again very quickly. what can i do to help?
September 5th, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Jessica you don’t seem to know much abour rat care, so why on earth do you breed them ?!?
January 12th, 2010 at 2:11 AM
^^ haha
I work in the pet industry and have had rats for quite awhile.. I’ve had them on Carefresh since I began to have rats, and the vet that I take them to has always told me it’s the best…… I do find the brown carefresh to be excessively dusty, but the white ‘ultra’ one isn’t at all… I, along with my rats, have respiratory problems, so that’s important to me…. I’ve heard of people doing yesterday’s news, but my only concern is that it’s really hard and would be uncomfortable for them? I’m not bashing it because I’ve never tried it… and I’m intrigued, because if it’s better, I wouldn’t want to shove it off….. and it’s a LOT cheaper too… for us students who don’t have oodles of cash to be blowing. Does anyone find their rats being uncomfortable on it? Not that they really have voices to complain with…… haha
January 30th, 2010 at 8:20 PM
I see your point with YN. I don’t use it to cover the bottom of the cage, I use it only in litter pans so it’s a non issue if it’s too rough a bedding for my rats.
February 6th, 2010 at 12:06 AM
what is the best bedding to use, everyone always says aspen but im not sure.
February 6th, 2010 at 12:06 AM
and also i ‘m a beginner
February 11th, 2010 at 8:19 AM
I don’t like any wood shaving for bedding. I find them too dusty. The pine and cedar are toxic but the aspen is not ideal either. I prefer to use Yesterday’s News a pelleted cat litter made or recycled paper.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:24 PM
Hmmm. I volenteer at a reptile rescue as the rodent keeper ( hey, the snakes are rescues, and they gotta eat, im there to make sure the rodents get treated well and have plenty of toys and a clean home) and i ended up adopting a few of them. Before i used to keep my dwarf hamsters in pine, but i keep the rats in a room with carpet, so i want an easy to sweep bedding. I tried brown carefresh, but i think it gave my rats the sniffles ( they didnt have them at the breedery, i made sure everyone was clean and healthy). That and now my room smells like soggy stale cardboard. Trying horse pellets, but theyre eating them. I might try the more expensive carefresh, but for the cost of that stuff i should just bite the bullet and buy a wire cage with fleece ( theyre in an aquarium, i know i know its bad, but its what i had on hand for free, a very roomy 30gal with tons of hammocks and ladders and free range time, i do intend to get them in a real cage soon as i just got a cheque, tho i might have to use it on vets if my biggest rat dosent stop clicking when he sniffs)
But anyways this site is very informative and im thankfull!