Pine shavings

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Not talking about pine pellets....

when using kiln dried pine shavings for your rats, do you prefer it to be
1.) cut into little thin tiny pieces
2.) longer, very thin, curly shavings
3.) thinker fatter straight shavings

AND WHY!!!???

My local feed store has all three to choose from... all priced about the same. The one cut into little tiny pieces gets you the most for the buck (in weight) but because it is such small pieces, you have to use more of it then the bigger cut stuff....

[Adam_Wysocki]

Doesn't matter to me ... I just like it to have as little dust as possible.

-adam

[Bettacreek]

Depends, what is the flooring like in the room where the critters are? If it's carpet, try for the tiny pieces (believe me, I've used the large shavings and shredded aspen, and getting that out of carpet is worse than hell, plus you cannot vacuum the large stuff of you'll spend more time unclogging the vacuum than actually cleaning the floor), if it's linoleum or tile or similar, I'd go for the thin curly shavings, because IMO, I'd say it absorbs the best, and would be the most cost-effective, as well as the most comfy for the critters.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

anyone else want to chime in?

[twh]

all things being equal i would use the smaller fine cut shavings( # 1 ),better at aborbsing and more bang for your buck.

[littleindiangirl]

I surprisingly like larger shavings for my big rats, and the smaller shredded for ASF's. (I'm talking about aspen but you get the idea.) For some reason that's what they seem to prefer in nest building.

The big rats seem to just spread away the smaller stuff and dont actually use it for nest making. And the ASF's find the smaller stuff easier for them to dig with and move around.