Paper

[Clear]

Should I mix in paper shredding with my rats/mice/asf? Right now I just have them on Pine.

[anendeloflorien]

I wouldn't use shredded paper. It does not absorb very well and it usually has some rough edges which I would be worried about with my rats. Try using equine fresh or woody pets they're both pretty much the same thing, just compressed wood pellets, they absorb extremely well and cut the smell down to next to nothing.
Also, what type of pine bedding are you using? It can cause respiratory infections in rats and mice so you want to be careful using that. Aspen is a much better alternative if you're going to use shavings..

[RoyalGuardian]

i dunno about the others but paper STINKS even worse with mice than they already stink. Just a thought.

[OhBalls]

I use shredded paper on top of wood pellets with my ASF and never had a problem. They love it.

[littleindiangirl]

I give it when we empty our shredder. They do love it, downside is, it does stink!

[anendeloflorien]

I give it when we empty our shredder. They do love it, downside is, it does stink!

Yeah I give my rats some paper towels or something sometimes to play around with and make nests out of but it sounds like the OP was talking about using it as an addition to the normal bedding.

[littleindiangirl]

Yeah I give my rats some paper towels or something sometimes to play around with and make nests out of but it sounds like the OP was talking about using it as an addition to the normal bedding.

Yes, I understood the OP's question. Should I have said it's not mandatory to use shredded paper? I didn't think my post hinted at that...

[Clear]

Just wanted to add something extra for them thats all.

[truthsdeceit]

You can add paper. If you put whole sheets under the regular bedding they have a ball pulling it up and shreding it. It's better than a wheel!

I use my local weekly paper, it's free and made with soy inks, totally non-toxic.

The downside is the paper does not mask the smell so it can get bad. Since I rotate my male around and in my opinion he's the only one who outright stinks I just don't paper the tub he's in.