Bedding experiment

My rodent colony has grown and so has the smell. I have two 6 tub racks and some standalone tubs as well. At any given time I have 50-100 rodents here. I have tried Aspen and Pine and with both there is a noticeable ammonia smell within 2-3 days. After doing some research I am trying out a product called Woody Pet (which I think another forum member had used). It is sold as horse bedding at a lot of feed stores. The price ranges from $4-$6 per 30lb bag. It took me two 30lb bags to do 12 tubs (and I probably used slightly less than I was supposed to). The product starts out as a compressed ball of wood about the size of a pebble. It is supposed to fluff up to 4 times its size as it absorbed urine. Here is some info about the product and the website. I will let everyone know how it works and if it does what its supposed to!

www.woodypet.com

Woody Pet Professional Animal Bedding (30 lb.)

The Ultimate Horse Bedding - Used by professional trainers, breeders and veterinarians world-wide!



Woody Pet Professional Animal Bedding is not only the preferred horse stall bedding, but is also widely used and loved by cat, rabbit, ferret, guinea pig, hamster, parrot and bird owners as well as all other animals. Let’s put it this way; if you own animals, Woody Pet Professional Animal Bedding will work for you.



Woody Pet bedding is three products in one: a moisture absorbent, that controls odors and expands into a fluffy soft bedding! The product is a dry granular material with very high absorbent capacity and absorbs very quickly. Absorbs 3 times its dry weight in moisture (urine) and expands to 4 times its original dry size. Made of pure softwood fiber with absolutely no additives and is sterile.



There are many horse stall benefits with the use of Woody Pet Bedding, such as: Reduces flies; Reduces waste; Great for foaling; Extreme absorbency; Helps to reduce hoof diseases; Reduces ammonia odor; Environmentally friendly; Reduces allergy symptoms; Reduces stall cleaning time; Reduces respiratory problems; 100% biodegradable; All animals stay cleaner and healthier; and it is not necessary to strip Woody Pet Bedded stalls every one or two weeks as it is with shavings, straw or sawdust. Many Woody Pet customers strip their stalls every five – six months, some even longer. On average, one pallet will last one horse in one stall for one year.

Available through Woody Pet Dealers and Retailers only.



Woody Pet All Purpose Litter & Animal Bedding (15 lb)

Our All Purpose Litter & Bedding is very popular with Pet Owners and Animal Breeders of all denominations. It offers the same odor and moisture absorption qualities as our Woody Pet Animal Bedding, in a smaller package for customers that do not have the storage space for the larger bags. The odor & urine absorption is unsurpassed as compared with other products in the market place, and being the “preferred choice” by cat owners and small animal rescue centers, as well as owners of large bird cages across North America. In cat litter boxes, Woody Pet absorbs more odor causing liquids and lasts longer. Cat owners have said, “Scooping the solids daily, we only replace the litter every 14-21 days and there is NO ODOR.” Because of the high compaction, Woody Pet has up to 400% more volume and will absorb up to 6 times more than most other litter & bedding products, making Woody Pet Bedding more economical for the consumer. Available through Woody Pet Dealers and Retailers only.



When discarding used Woody Pet from litter trays & small animal areas, it can be flushed in small amounts. For litter boxes and cages; start with ½ - ¾ of an inch as it will swell 3 – 4 times in depth.

Jamie what is the dust factor like?? equal to aspen or other shredded wood bedding??

This sounds interesting Jamie. I sent a request at their website for a dealer local to me. I'd like to do a side by side tub trial in my own rat colony and see how it stands up to other beddings over the course of the week. Let us know what you think about it once you've had some time to check it out with your colony. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Jamie what is the dust factor like?? equal to aspen or other shredded wood bedding??

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Out of the bag it has zero dust. Its compressed into little pellets. We'll see what happens as it expands. Check out the pictures on their site.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

This sounds interesting Jamie. I sent a request at their website for a dealer local to me. I'd like to do a side by side tub trial in my own rat colony and see how it stands up to other beddings over the course of the week. Let us know what you think about it once you've had some time to check it out with your colony. Thanks!

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Will do! At this point I'm willing to try anything.

Looking forward to a detailed report Jamie! :salute: I don't think there is a distributor here locally, but ya never know. What does it run price-wise?

-Evan

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Originally Posted by Evan Jamison

Looking forward to a detailed report Jamie! :salute: I don't think there is a distributor here locally, but ya never know. What does it run price-wise?

-Evan

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$4-$6 per 30lb bag...We'll see what happens!

Woody Pet!!! That's what Kara uses in her rodent room - a very little bit goes a LONG way - you should have seen how many bags of dirty bedding we filled after cleaning after all the mice!

Woody Pet Rocks...I just switched back to it (I couldn't find my usual Aspen).


I used it some time ago then the local supplier went out of business so I switched to Aspen...I am so glad some local guys are carrying it again.

I will look forward to seeing what you think...for me I only have to use a single layer. I also put a handful of pine bedding in a pile to act as a nest for any nursing or prego moms (just for comfort)

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

Woody Pet Rocks...I just switched back to it (I couldn't find my usual Aspen).


I used it some time ago then the local supplier went out of business so I switched to Aspen...I am so glad some local guys are carrying it again.

I will look forward to seeing what you think...for me I only have to use a single layer. I also put a handful of pine bedding in a pile to act as a nest for any nursing or prego moms (just for comfort)

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How long did it last before you had to change it and what about the smell?

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Originally Posted by jglass38

How long did it last before you had to change it and what about the smell?

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In most of my tubs (concrete mixing tubs) I have 2 -3 females (males are rotated)...I can go a week + half before the pellets all turn to dust (for lack of a better word...though it isn't dusty at all even at this stage). If they have litters then it lasts about a week.

Surpisingly it almost eliminates any smell issues (based on the above timing)...until I change the tub then they really stink. From what I understand it holds the urine so well that very little gets atomized or airborn so it doesn't stink until you go to dump the tub then some atomizes and it really stinks due to the movement of the waste.

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

In most of my tubs (concrete mixing tubs) I have 2 -3 females (males are rotated)...I can go a week + half before the pellets all turn to dust (for lack of a better word...though it isn't dusty at all even at this stage). If they have litters then it lasts about a week.

Surpisingly it almost eliminates any smell issues (based on the above timing)...until I change the tub then they really stink. From what I understand it holds the urine so well that very little gets atomized or airborn so it doesn't stink until you go to dump the tub then some atomizes and it really stinks due to the movement of the waste.

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I can handle the stink once a week for a few minutes. We'll see how long it lasts.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I can handle the stink once a week for a few minutes. We'll see how long it lasts.

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It will be interesting to see if you get similar results...good luck. Looking forward to your update.

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

It will be interesting to see if you get similar results...good luck. Looking forward to your update.

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I am sure there are some differences that can influence the outcome. I tend to keep the rat room fairly cold. That should mean less water consumption and less urine.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I am sure there are some differences that can influence the outcome. I tend to keep the rat room fairly cold. That should mean less water consumption and less urine.

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Very true...mine are in my garage so it is warm and they go through lots of water.

So what I notice so far is, for lack of a better description, a woody smell. It isn't the strong Pine smell or even the Aspen smell. Not offensive though. For me, the real proof will be a day or two from now when I would normally start smelling the ammonia.

Keep me posted with the results...If it is good, we can order a pallate of them (35 bags)

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Originally Posted by monk90222

Keep me posted with the results...If it is good, we can order a pallate of them (35 bags)

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I think its much cheaper if you order directly from the manufacturer.

I am anxiously awaiting results here jamie! :bounce:

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I think its much cheaper if you order directly from the manufacturer.

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Thats what I meant!! lol

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Originally Posted by adizziedoll

I am anxiously awaiting results here jamie! :bounce:

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I love breathless anticipation... :eek:

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I love breathless anticipation... :eek:

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Is there any other kind....?

....just sayin?

looks and sounds a lot like wood stove pellets that I use in my ferret cage

I buy those for $4.00 per 40 pound bag

Jamie, we use that and another wood pellet animal bedding product for all the the thousands of rats we have up at the shop. You biggest rule of thumb is... don't use to much since it really does expand. You will just end up throwing a lot of it out in the end. I know we use just a little to *almost* cover one layer of the bottom of whatever kind of bin they are in. AWESOME stuff. Doesn't smell, easy to scoop out, and SUPER easy to rinse out! I use it too here at my house with all of my rodents.

Its been almost 36 hours since I changed the litter. I just checked the room and as of now there is no smell. I looked in all the tubs and there are some areas where the pellets have started to break down but for the most part its still pretty intact.

Hey Jamie, just to add a little to your new experiment. Monica recently decided to try a very similar product. I am not sure of the name, but it is a pelletized wood, just like waht you are using. I think we are paying $8 for a 50 pound bag. At any rate Monica has been putting a scoop of the pellets, and a scoop of regular pine bedding in the tubs (the pine is just to have some extra bedding, since it would cost too much to put all pellets in the tub). Well, I think they work great. After two weeks, there was still no smell in the tubs. The pellets had pretty much completely broken up by that time, but the smell was great.
p.s. We have a friend who actually let some tubs go 4 weeks with this setup, and he claimed that he still had no smell in his room. I think 4 weeks is a little long, maybe even a little unsanitary, hence the reason we decided on the 2 week time period. But, it appears that this stuff will keep down the smell for up to a month.

As far as the dust issue, even after 2 weeks, the dust did not seem to be as bad as when we used straight pine bedding. I hope your experience will be as good as ours, as our biggest goal was similar to yours: Remove that smell!

Good Luck with your endeavour and I look forward to hearing how your experiment turned out,

Thanks for the info Tim! As of this morning there is still no urine smell which is the worst part. In the rat room there is still a smell of wood and feces but its not nearly as bad as it was. We'll see what happens but so far its pretty good.

Well dang it I got a response back from Woody Pet and it doesn't look like there are any stores close to me that sell it. I'll have to give Sweet Feed (local farm supply store) a call though and see if they stock a similar product.

I use woody pet with my African soft furred rats, but stopped using it with the domestic rats. When it breaks down it gets too dusty and it seemed to aggravate their respiratory systems.

Not sure if it was the cause, but I had 3 adult males with myco flareups after using woody pet for a month or so.

I now use only aspen with the domestic rats. The Woody Pet however works great for mouse smell and doesn't seem to bother the ASF rats either.

The experiment continues!

3.5 days since I started using the Woody Pet and there is still no odor whatsoever. A few of the tubs are nearly all broken down to sawdust but some are not. I see no respiratory issues at this point. All the rats are eating and drinking normally. Today I filled the water buckets completely and they didn't drink too much. Checked all sippers and they are fine. The room was around 70 when I got home. I backed off the AC a little to around 72. I continue to use Vanilla in the water.

Hi,


Forgive my ignorance but what does the vanilla in the water do?


dr del

Glad to hear the test is going well so far Jamie. There isn't a Woody Pet distributor around here, but I did find a similar product (called "Dry Den") for just a little more. Just did rodents tonight, so we'll see how things go here too.

-Evan

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,


Forgive my ignorance but what does the vanilla in the water do?


dr del

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The vanilla helps cut down the ammonia smell from their urine, especially the slightly stinkier males.

I think the experiment is somewhat of a bust. It is now 5 days since the changeover and I came in to the familiar Ammonia smell. I am not sure if I didn't use enough or if I should have mixed in some Aspen. There are a lot of weans here and they make a lot of smell!

What is the condition of the pellets? Are they all used up...by this I mean all turned to dust or are there still whole pellets?

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

What is the condition of the pellets? Are they all used up...by this I mean all turned to dust or are there still whole pellets?

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I would say overall, 85% dust.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I would say overall, 85% dust.

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If they are that far along I would guess you didn't use enough. When they are mostly dust that is when they no long absorb and start to realease ammonia. Would your usual stuff (aspen?) have lasted 5 days under the same circumstances?

Also you mention you have alot of weanlings...these might be why you are smelling faster just a much higher bio load??

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

If they are that far along I would guess you didn't use enough. When they are mostly dust that is when they no long absorb and start to realease ammonia. Would your usual stuff (aspen?) have lasted 5 days under the same circumstances?

Also you mention you have alot of weanlings...these might be why you are smelling faster just a much higher bio load??

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Probably I didnt use enough (just barely covered the bottom) and I have a lot of weans. Aspen starts to smell around 3 days.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Probably I didnt use enough (just barely covered the bottom) and I have a lot of weans. Aspen starts to smell around 3 days.

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Yea...I forgot to mention that part in my earlier posts...I have to tailor the amount I use to the numbers in the bin.

But still sounds like it gets you a couple more days at least :)

Definitely a couple more but ill have to see what I can do to get it better than that.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Definitely a couple more but ill have to see what I can do to get it better than that.

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Use F/T. (LOL)

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Originally Posted by monk90222

Use F/T. (LOL)

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Exactly!! FT worked great until about 20 snakes. Then it becomes a pain to defrost. And if they refuse you are stuck double feeding others or refreezing. I still keep a freezer full of FT at all times just in case.

Well its day 7 and while it has started to smell it isn't even close to what Aspen or Pine would smell like after 3 days. I wasn't able to get more Woody Pet this week and only have 1 bag left so I am going to use a mix of Woody Pet and Aspen. Next time around I am going to use more Woody Pet to see if that helps.

So this week I couldn't make it to get Woody Pet so I used Aspen only. 3 day later and the ammonia smell is already bad. I have 1 bag of Woody Pet left so tonight's experiment is going to be a light layer of Woody Pet with Pine or Aspen on top. We'll see how it works out.

Jamie,
That is how we were doing it. A nice even distribution of pellets on the floor of the tub topped with about a 1 inch layer of pine bedding on top. Seemed to work ok. I am interested to here how it works out for you. Monica actually talked to our feed shop, and they told us they could get us bags of the pelletized wood for $7.70 a bag if we bought a pallet (50 bags). We are debating once we get a little money back in the bank.

Just Sayin'.

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Jamie,
That is how we were doing it. A nice even distribution of pellets on the floor of the tub topped with about a 1 inch layer of pine bedding on top. Seemed to work ok. I am interested to here how it works out for you. Monica actually talked to our feed shop, and they told us they could get us bags of the pelletized wood for $7.70 a bag if we bought a pallet (50 bags). We are debating once we get a little money back in the bank.

Just Sayin'.

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I will let you know!

Keep using my catch phrase and you won't have money in the bank for long... :D

Hi everybody!! I live in Florida and there was no dealer in my area, but i found a guy in Georgia who sells them. I only have a small colony of mice for my one snake, but man, those little buggers stink. My husdand went to get the wood pallets today - so I can't wait to clean the cages and start using Woody Bedding. The dealer charged me $6.00/bag and was willing to meet half way.

I will let everyone know how it goes for me.
Paula

Well, nine days since the last change and I'm amazed at how little smell there is. It is a light week as far as weans and smalls in the tubs, but it smells like day 4 of normal bedding. I used a layer of the pellets covering the bottom of each tub, then about an inch of shredded paper bedding on top. At this point, only about half of the pellets in each tub have broken down (if that). It should be noted that we have a dedicated building that has a ventilation fan running 24/7, and is kept at 70 degrees. We are also in Utah, so the humidity is usually around 10% which helps keep the bedding pretty dry. I am very happy with this stuff so far, and have no doubt I will be using it regularly from here on out.

-Evan

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Originally Posted by Evan Jamison

Well, nine days since the last change and I'm amazed at how little smell there is. It is a light week as far as weans and smalls in the tubs, but it smells like day 4 of normal bedding. I used a layer of the pellets covering the bottom of each tub, then about an inch of shredded paper bedding on top. At this point, only about half of the pellets in each tub have broken down (if that). It should be noted that we have a dedicated building that has a ventilation fan running 24/7, and is kept at 70 degrees. We are also in Utah, so the humidity is usually around 10% which helps keep the bedding pretty dry. I am very happy with this stuff so far, and have no doubt I will be using it regularly from here on out.

-Evan

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Good stuff! I just changed them today going with the same strategy. I don't have a ventilation fan unfortunately. I might see if I can put one it. I do have an AC unit keeping it around 70...

Today is day 3 of the second bedding experiment. So far, no smell. As I mentioned, I used a thin layer of Woody Pet in the bottom of each tub and a 1 inch layer of Pine on top of it. Normally by day 3 the Ammonia smell would be pretty evident in the room. For two 6 tub racks I ended up using one 30lb bag of Woody Pet and half of a large bag of Pine.