Baby rats & pelleted bedding

[kc261]

I decided to try breeding rats (previously I have only bred mice, at least as feeders). Unfortunately, I did not remember that I had read people saying that the pelleted bedding (like Equine Fresh) can get stuck in the mouths and noses of the baby rats until I had lost several of my first litter. I don't quite understand why it is a problem for baby rats but not baby mice, but whatever the reason, it is, so now I put my about-to-burst mommy rats on shavings and don't switch them back to the pellets until the babies are about 2 weeks old.

I'm on about my 6th or 8th litter now, and this is working out fine in the sense that I'm not losing any babies, but I do notice the smells accumulate a lot faster in the tubs with shavings instead of the pelleted bedding. I'm hoping someone with more experience with this can answer a few specific questions so I can minimize my experimentation (and possible losses of more baby rats when I guess wrong).

1) - How old do the baby rats need to be before they are safe on pelleted bedding? 2 weeks is working just fine, but I'm hoping I can cut it down a little bit. Is 10 days safe? 7 days? Or are there particular developmental signs to look for (fur, the ability to raise their head & hold it up, or something like that)?

2) - Will a mix of shavings and pellets work? It seems the mommies would build a nest of the softer, fluffier shavings and thus the babies would not be in direct contact with the pellets (or more specifically, the small particles the pellets break down into), but I'm afraid to try it because it seems like enough of those little particles would get into the shavings to be a danger. Has anyone tried this successfully?

Any and all insights & experiences with this will be appreciated! Thanks!

[WmHrbst]

I use dried pine large flakes with about a cup of pine pellets on the bottom, without any problems. The pellets do a good job at keeping the smell down and that is the only reason I use them honestly. I typically change the bedding every 5-7 days.

I did have problems in the past using smaller flake sizes, the flakes would get stuck to the babies during birth and I lost many litters because of it.

[wilomn]

I use pellets and pine mixed too. My rats live in that mix from birth to death. Some of the pellets are just floor sweepings, some are pretty good. Some, the floor sweepings are loaded with dust, some are vacuumed. Make sure you're using quality pellets.

[kc261]

Wilomn, do you have any particular brands of pelleted bedding that you recommend (or know are not good)? I used to use Equine Fresh, but can't seem to find it locally any more. I'm not sure of the name of the one I'm using now offhand... I'll have to wait until I purchase more.

[WmHrbst]

This is what I use http://www.guardianhorsebedding.com/

[wilomn]

It's called Natural Choice. It may be a west coast thing. I'm sure if you check feed stores you'll find a few brands.

[satomi325]

I don't use pellets any more, but I have in the past.
I used wood stove pellets from Home Depot(40lb bag for $4), just fine with no ill effect on the rats or litters.
And its fine to give them shavings to nest with when using pellets.

Currently, I use America's Choice - Eco Flakes. The rats love it and it keeps odor under control relatively well compared to

[kc261]

I found I do have an unopened bag of pellets when I went to feed the rats tonight (opened bags get transferred into a separate container). It is America's Choice brand, and says something along the lines of "multi screened to reduce dust" on the bag. So I guess it is a pretty good brand. I don't have a whole lot of choices of feed stores here in the NoVA/Washington DC area anyway. The reason I can no longer get Equine Fresh is because the feed store I got it at (actually a small chain with about 5 local locations) went out of business.

I'll try using a mix of shavings and pellets for a while and see how that goes. It is comforting to know people are doing that without having babies die like they do on pellets alone. Thanks for all the replies!