I am currently not breeding my own feeder rats but I am strongly considering starting my own colony. I currently puchase my feeders from a local pet store and get a considerably good deal since I've been doing buisness with them for many years, but after some consideration I am debating my own colony. I have decided against this in the past due to the strong ammonia smell regardless of frequent cleaning.
I was again faced with the amonia issue when i would purchase to many feeders during breeding season, when most of my snakes went off feed. I now had several rats I had to house until my snakes would feed. My solution to this was using kitty litter as substrate in the rats temporary homes.
Which now brings me to the Pro's of using Kitty litter. I use "Cat's Pride" kitty litter and it eliminates the odor of the rats totally. The litter is fine enough to where I can sift out the rat droppings as you would that of a cat without having to change the substrate. The kitty litter makes the maintanence extremely simple.
The only Con I currently face is the fact that the litter is so fine when the rats are in active play the surrounding area of their containers is generally pretty dusty. I have housed rats in this bedding generally no longer then about two weeks with no visible issues.
So I am asking from those more experienced what would be some possible issues I would face should I decided to use this bedding when starting my colony?