Rat's

What's wrong with Carefresh?

It's too dusty. Try sifting it through some window screening and you will see what I'm talking about. Or put your face in it and breathe for a few minutes. I only use it if one of my animals has just had surgery and needs to be on something soft and absorbent(but usually I just use paper towels).

Carefresh causes alot of respiratory distress because of how dusty it is. Most of the animals at Petco and Petsmart are kept on that junk, and they usually have porphyrin in their eyes and nose and are sneezing like nobody's business. Of course that could also be stress, but the carefresh doesn't help.

I really recommend aspen, or if you have allergies to wood beddings, try Soft Sorb. It's a soft pelleted paper(cream colored) and isn't too damaging to your wallet. A friend of mine uses it and just loves it. I don't think her rats have ever sneezed, LoL.

Hmmmm, I'll have to check that out. I've had my rodents on gray Carefresh for over a month now and none of them are sneezing or have runny noses/eyes...but I don't want to risk the chance that they could get sick.

Now out of curiosity, why do you recommend the white Carefresh but not the gray? Is the white less dusty? If so, I may switch to that...I much prefer this kind of bedding to any kind of wood bedding and would like to stay with it if possible.

I tried that vanilla water trick and have noticed a big difference. Plus I'm sure they like the taste. :)

-- I think the funniest thing I've ever seen is a mouse pushing along a huge chunk of Carefresh to bring it to her nest. She managed to get it all the way from one side of a 20L to the other. No idea why she wanted that particular piece over the couple hundred others in there, but she was determined to bring it home! lol!

I know! It's so funny watching those little waddling golf balls carry bedding from here and yon, instead of what is next to them... Mice!

I've found(by sifting mostly) that the white carefresh doesn't have much dust at all. I don't know WHY exactly, but it doesn't. The animals I've kept it on never had issues with it.

You may try that and see how it works for you. I know it's a bit more expensive, but it's less expensive than a vet bill for antibiotics for one of your rats' RI's.

It's only $3 more than the gray stuff, well worth it to keep them healthy and happy.

Another question -- I got the idea to use the gray stuff for my snakes from a breeder/friend back home in Wisconsin (Al Guetzkow - NEWReptiles). He uses it for his collection and he has 60+ snakes now, I believe. Is that stuff still safe for ball pythons or should I switch to the white for them too?

Random - what about the colored stuff? Would it be less dusty like the white? I thought it'd be cute to keep them on pink bedding. lol! ;)

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Originally Posted by emilio

I got two pair's ready to go.Hopefully it will be cool and well worth the extra work.I also wanna compare breeding them to just buying them at the store.Well I'll let you guy's know what happen's

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Financially, unless you feed them steak and a nice wine instead of water, it will be far more financially advantageous to bred :)

LoL, I like the colored stuff, it's cute. I have only tried it once, and it didn't seem too dusty. Maybe it's the dye that gets rid of some of the dust, and since the grey stuff is unbleached and natural, it has alot of dust. Granted, it's just paper, but still not good for any animals lungs on a long-term basis.

I like the white because you can see if there is a mess or a water spill, anything really. For some reason, the grey always looks dirty to me, but that just may be my opinion :)

You can always try it out, the white and the colored. If they don't suit your fancy, you can just sift the grey stuff on some window screening and that should get rid of the majority of the dust. I always do that if I get a free bag from someone.

I was wondering if the aspen will mask the urine smell? Cause I woke up this morning and it smelled pretty bad.

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Originally Posted by emilio

I was wondering if the aspen will mask the urine smell? Cause I woke up this morning and it smelled pretty bad.

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I dont know why yours smell so bad? maybe its your diet what are you feeding them?

I already switched them to aspen today.What I meant to say in my previou's post was that I changed them from pine to newspaper over night and the smell was terrible.Well I have not heard any more sneezing since I changed the bedding.I should be getting some babie's soon I'll let you guy's know if I have any luck.