what do YOU use?

for bedding? we got pine & i know it was a no-no.. remy has been sneezing alot too, i also hate the "pet" smell that bedding gives off, i would prefur something less obvious (i hate u walk into our sons room & its obvious there is an animal) what is ideal for them?

ASPEN all the way :)

Truly, I use aspen on my rat cage and it works great. You don't get that 'bedding' smell with it, the only scent it has is when it's in the bag/bin and that's a nice gentle woody smell, and it's nice and soft...and cheap!

I'll be starting mouse breeding on small scale here soon, and will be getting a young corn snake to add to my collection (tho that will be it...partner is already starting to fume at the number of critters I have) and I intend to use aspen with them as well. Great stuff

for rats...I have used pine and aspen and I can't really tell the difference.

they both get gross within a few days.

I clean my rat tubs about every 2-3 days now.

I think Jamie had a post somewhere about some pellets he is using.

I will be changing over myself soon!


O...here is the link to his thread.


http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=48384

We use equine fresh as a base, and aspen on top, and there is a HUGE difference in smell. We change every saturday [ugh.. today:/] and it's the best mix we've found so far.

You could try Woody Pet if you can find it, either alone or with pine or aspen. You could put a layer of stall dry under any bedding. If you use pine do find a low dust one so the rats won't get breathing problems. Aspen works beautifully and doesn't have that wet nasty wood smell. You can buy a bag of fine aspen at any Walmart for just under $4.00 and it expands to 1800 cu inches. I find if I do a full enclosure clean once a week and about midweek just toss in a couple of fresh handfuls of bedding it really is fine. You can also add a few drops of vanilla to their water bottle. That tends to negate quite a bit of smell. Also ventilation is key. If the room is closed up or has poor ventilation, then they are going to smell more, that's a given.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

You can buy a bag of fine aspen at any Walmart for just under $4.00 and it expands to 1800 cu inches.

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Well, not ANY Walmart, mine doesn't carry it! :P

I also use aspen with my rats and change their enclosures once a week. You can't tell I have 7 enclosures with rats by your nose!

I use Kaytee aspen... the smell definately improved over pine or Yesterday's News. You can tell if you're overcrowding if it starts to smell in less than a week.

I only have three baby female rats.. i cant imagine thats over crowding? and if it is too bad lol.. they are keepers

Nope three females will be fine in any larger rat safe enclosure, that's not overcrowding. Your WalMart doesn't sell that aspen Robin! Wow every one I've ever shopped at does. I just wish they stocked a bigger bag of it. Their big bags here are either cedar or pine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

We use equine fresh as a base, and aspen on top, and there is a HUGE difference in smell. We change every saturday [ugh.. today:/] and it's the best mix we've found so far.

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We do the same. It seems to have helped cut down the smell. I tried other solutions (vanilla in the water, stall dry, etc) this combination seems to work best for us.