Best buy on bedding?

What has everyone found for the cheapest source for bedding? I've just been getting it from walmart is there a better way?

Newspaper is by far the least expensive and most efficient bedding you can get. ;)


Other than that...it probably depends on exactly what kind of bedding you're talking about. You can probably get better deals at feed stores or gardening stores (again, depending on what you're looking for).

Its for my breeder rats. What do you shred the newspaper?

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Originally Posted by biggc1

Its for my breeder rats. What do you shred the newspaper?

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:ohmygod: I should learn to check the forum category before throwing out answers too quickly! :P Sheets of newspaper are great for snakes...but would probably not work nearly so well for rodents.

There's folks here who buy a LOT of bedding for their rodent colonies...so hopefully they'll step in here and let you know where the good deals are.

In order of cost:
Tractor Supply
Petsmart
Walmart
All of the above are for shredded aspen. The Tractor Supply aspen is larger shred, but still works fine.
I try to get either the Petsmart($11 per bag) or Tractor Supply($6 per bag)
If you want to use pine I'm sure the price goes down even further, but same places still apply. In Petsmart they sell Stall bedding for horses(pine shred) and its cheaper. I just don't use pine.
Wolfy(15 bins of rats to change every week)

Does the aspen help with the smell more than pine? What is the advantage of aspen over pine?

I'm using aspen for both snakes and rodents, I had been using pine for rodents but I don't like how dusty it can get. I don't have that issue at all with aspen. I've been getting it from tractor supply but its more than $6 for the bags I'm getting I think its more like 8 or 9. Now that I'm going through more I might have to shop around.

OK, yes, even though it was a mistake and said on the wrong forum, do not use newspaper for rodents (unless it is the non-printed stuff). Newspaper ink can be toxic is eaten and can rub off on the rats. The rubbing off of ink isnt too bad I suppose unless they get inked and then sent to the snake. I don't know about you but I don't want to feed my snake inky rats. PLus, newspaper does not help with smell and is not very absorbant. Now if you are talking a paper product like cell sorb or yesterdays news, they are pretty absorbant. I still would not use it for rodents though (I used to use it for my ferrets). I just worry that the rats would eat it and fill their tummies with paper. I use aspen, so far so good. I am going to have to check out my tractor supply because the pet store here is pricey....maybe walmart too. I have shopping to do.

I use low dust pine. If you don't get the right kind of pine, it can be SUPER dusty and SUCK.

I use laboratory grade pine from Harlan Teklad and pay $5.30 per 3 cubic feet compressed (about a 2 to 1 compression ratio normally)

I also have a local supply of pine for $5.50 per 3 cubic feet, and it is compressed 3 to 1, unfortunately it can vary from month to month and my latest batch was dusty :-/

Uncompressed I only use about 18-24 cubic feet a week and I'm dealing with 100 rat tubs and a few big cages.

I would say just shop around, walmart near us always has a very very very low dust chipped pine that work fairly well, but they changed their composition on us a few times so I gave up. (went to weird chips, and weird smelling)


Pine vs Aspen, pine wins every time as far as smell since it has a natural odor.

I have used the pine made for pets at walmart for my guinea pigs (when I had them) I can say that most of the time the pine was not very soft and didn't look comfortable for my pigs. Then again, sometimes it was supersoft....hit and miss thing I guess.

I use kiln-dried pine, it helps bake out some of the pine oils. I have found it cheap at several locations, but the best in my area is Mills Fleet Farm. If you buy it by the bale, it is $3.90 a bale. If you buy a half pallet (20 bales) it is $3.75/bale. If you buy a full pallet (40 bales), I believe it drops to $3.40/bale. I go through approx. 3 - 3 1/2 bales a week.


Just a side note: newspaper print is not toxic.

I WAS using pine shavings. Pine oils/odor is nice, but makes MY rats sniffle and do the eye/nose porpherin (sp?) bit w/congestion sometimes. Not good...so I don't use it any more.


I buy a big bale of Harlan aspen from the feed store, but it just went up in price to $20. Buuuuut I only have to buy one every 6-8 weeks (or longer). I use it for my rats and the snakes.

If I can find a better price, it would be nice!! so I think I'll have to do some shopping around.

I was looking at the CareFresh type stuff, but now that I have biiiiiig cages, that's not cost effective for me.

RuLyn

I use pine shavings from a company called suncoast. I get it from my local feed store $5.95 for 12 cubic feet and it has very little dust.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...baleswshav.gif

I get huge bags of kiln dried pine (no dust) at the feed store (the bags for horse stalls) for $5. Two bags lasts my 13 rat/mouse cages a month or two.

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Originally Posted by Wolfsnaps

OK, yes, even though it was a mistake and said on the wrong forum, do not use newspaper for rodents (unless it is the non-printed stuff). Newspaper ink can be toxic is eaten and can rub off on the rats. The rubbing off of ink isnt too bad I suppose unless they get inked and then sent to the snake. I don't know about you but I don't want to feed my snake inky rats. PLus, newspaper does not help with smell and is not very absorbant. Now if you are talking a paper product like cell sorb or yesterdays news, they are pretty absorbant. I still would not use it for rodents though (I used to use it for my ferrets). I just worry that the rats would eat it and fill their tummies with paper. I use aspen, so far so good. I am going to have to check out my tractor supply because the pet store here is pricey....maybe walmart too. I have shopping to do.

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While newspaper isn't a good choice for rodents, it is in no way toxic. Most newspaper publishers use organic pigment, vegetable based or soy based.

Just a side note on the whole paper thing. It's not toxic but it doesn't absorb well and will make the bottom of any rodent cage a soggy mess in a day or two. However, strips of old phone books are a wonderful addition to any rodents home. Not as bedding really though they will nest build with it (especially mice) but they love to mess about with it and it's a great way to recycle those old phone books. :)

One thing to check when you are pricing out bedding is the compression listed on the bag (and what it expands to). You'll find a bag at WalMart for $5.00 and at Petland for $8.00 but I've noted that the Petland is compressed harder so it's cubic feet of actual bedding is twice as much but not twice as expensive.