I decided to try breeding rats (previously I have only bred mice, at least as feeders). Unfortunately, I did not remember that I had read people saying that the pelleted bedding (like Equine Fresh) can get stuck in the mouths and noses of the baby rats until I had lost several of my first litter. I don't quite understand why it is a problem for baby rats but not baby mice, but whatever the reason, it is, so now I put my about-to-burst mommy rats on shavings and don't switch them back to the pellets until the babies are about 2 weeks old.

I'm on about my 6th or 8th litter now, and this is working out fine in the sense that I'm not losing any babies, but I do notice the smells accumulate a lot faster in the tubs with shavings instead of the pelleted bedding. I'm hoping someone with more experience with this can answer a few specific questions so I can minimize my experimentation (and possible losses of more baby rats when I guess wrong).

1) - How old do the baby rats need to be before they are safe on pelleted bedding? 2 weeks is working just fine, but I'm hoping I can cut it down a little bit. Is 10 days safe? 7 days? Or are there particular developmental signs to look for (fur, the ability to raise their head & hold it up, or something like that)?

2) - Will a mix of shavings and pellets work? It seems the mommies would build a nest of the softer, fluffier shavings and thus the babies would not be in direct contact with the pellets (or more specifically, the small particles the pellets break down into), but I'm afraid to try it because it seems like enough of those little particles would get into the shavings to be a danger. Has anyone tried this successfully?

Any and all insights & experiences with this will be appreciated! Thanks!