substrates..

any to stay away from? i would liek to have one for all the pets, is carefresh ok to use with the snakeys?

tia

aspen for everybody! Just modify the rats a little to keep down odor. Stay away from Ceder or smelly chips. The oils are harmful to most animals. Even rats. I still dont trust carefresh. Most reviews dont endorse it.

I used to use Carefresh with the snakes and rabbits, it's a little dusty but not bad. Expensive! I've since switched to Indented Kraft Paper because it's nice, neat, safe, and easy to clean! Also, much cheaper in the long run. :)

We use CareFresh for all of our snakes & Bearded Dragons. It is expensive but how much do you really use? It's easy to spot clean. The only disadvantage is the snake can burrow under it, but they can do that with aspen too. And it's weird looking (looks like it snowed!) in a snake enclosure.

hmm.. i need to really decide what were going to use in the long run, i would hate to be using several different products, we got the aspen but had to toss it for awhile until cautions belly heals (had to toss both enclosures worth because they had traded enclosures ((smacks head-idiot)) we had been using katee brand bedding i cant remember the name of it now but the smell of wood (smelled like a pet store which i cant stand)


how can i "cut down" on the smell of the rats?

I would use 2 different substrates...remember you are talking about 2 completely different animals with different needs and different habits (think waste - maybe weekly for the snakes vs. hourly and lots of it)


For my rats I use Woody Pet (aka, Equine Fresh - compressed pine pellets) - no smell even after 2 weeks :D
For my snakes I use aspen and/or newspaper - depending on the season and snake

The way I cut down on the smell of the rats is just to clean regularly. Maybe use one of those scented oil plug in things(I use the green tea and mandarin one, it's awesome).

Use aspen(when pine is wet it STINKS) and mix it with yesterdays news and provide litterboxes. You can use a bit of baking soda mixed in the bedding too. Change out their hammocks every few days as well as wipe down their shelves with a very mild bleach solution(or the Clorox Anywhere spray).

They are girls, so putting vanilla in their water isn't going to help. You can bathe them once a week or every other week if you want. Baby shampoo or kitten shampoo (not anything with flea stuff in it) would be appropriate.

Also, making a spray with a bit of mint oil(very weak) in it, and spritzing everything lightly with that helps a good bit, and they like it.

A few drops of vanilla extract in their water bottle tends to keep the ammonia smell down, but otherwise, I've found the only way to keep the smell down is the replace the bedding frequently.

Shredded aspen substrate! ftw!
Its good, nay, great bedding in comparison to the reptile bark chips you would use for other reptiles, and possibly snakes.
Its a more finely shredding substrate so the snake is in no danger of harming its innards.

GREAT SUGGESTIONS!


i liked using the aspen for the snakes, never thought to use it for the rats too. right now they are on care-fresh ultra and it seems to be working well so far (only a couple days in) I know the snakeys need to be on papertowels for a couple days until cautions belly "rot"? goes away then i would like to put them both back on aspen,ill give it a go :D