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  1. #1
    BPnet Veteran nevohraalnavnoj's Avatar
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    Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    Hi everyone,

    I picked up two new female rats from the pet store to raise for breeders. They were on Cell-Sorb at the pet store, but now here on aspen they haven't stopped sneezing for 3 days since I brought them home (I'm fairly certain they were at least reasonably healthy when I bought them). I am thinking the aspen is the problem. Not to mention, I cleaned cages over 14 hours ago, popped two Claritin, and I am still sneezing and coughing from the dust. This is supposedly a "dust free" brand as well.

    I exchanged their aspen for the small amount of Carefresh bedding ($$$) I had laying around a few hours ago. The two sneezing rats have totally stopped sneezing after the switch to Carefresh.

    Question: Have other people and their rats had allergy probs with aspen?

    Question: What would be a good bedding that isn't too terribly expensive? Can you find Cell-Sorb or Carefresh in bulk? Maybe some type of horse bedding is out there?

    Any input would be *sneeze, sneeze, sneeze, cough* appreciated. Thank you,

    JonV

  2. #2
    BPnet Veteran littleindiangirl's Avatar
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    Re: Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    I buy cellsorb in 50 lb bags from a local feed store for 20$.

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    nevohraalnavnoj (11-15-2008)

  4. #3
    BPnet Veteran nevohraalnavnoj's Avatar
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    Re: Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    Oh nice, I will look for it!

  5. #4
    BPnet Veteran marmie's Avatar
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    Re: Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    I use pine and don't have a problem. I know it's not the bedding of choice for some but it is reasonably priced and I've not had any issue with the rats being on it.
    Laurie

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    nevohraalnavnoj (11-15-2008)

  7. #5
    BPnet Veteran littleindiangirl's Avatar
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    Re: Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    Yea, cellsorb is bought for just my two pet rats, I couldn't afford to spend 20$ a week for all of my feeders. I go through a 40 lb bag of wood pellets a week.

  8. #6
    BPnet Veteran nevohraalnavnoj's Avatar
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    Re: Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    Thanks, I'll look into pine as well. I have heard of big name rodent breeders using pine for decades without problems. Thanks for the information!

    JonV

  9. #7
    BPnet Veteran truthsdeceit's Avatar
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    Re: Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    I acctually use a mix of pine/aspen. So yeah use pine. It's cheaper than aspen too!
    ~TruthsDeceit~
    My house? ... 13 snakes, 3 geckos, a tarantula, a boyfriend, a roommate (yes the roommate and boyfriend make the "animals" list), 3 cats, a roach colony and don't ask me to count the rodents.

    www.rodentworks.net Local to Bremerton, WA
    >Rats >Mice >ASF >Rabbits >Custom racks/cages

  10. #8
    BPnet Veteran blackcrystal22's Avatar
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    Re: Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    I have used pine, but trust me, pine is worse for allergies than aspen.
    At least from my experience, pine can cause sneezing in the rodents and you.

  11. #9
    BPnet Veteran marmie's Avatar
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    Re: Rats and I have allergy problems with Aspen?

    I guess it just depends on the person. My husbands allergies go crazy with the pellet bedding so I can't use it in the house anymore. When I switched back to pine he was fine. I only have 4 pet rats in the house so I just have to clean a little more frequently to keep the smell down.
    Laurie

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