rat bedding

[tmlowe5704]

Has anyone tried any other cost effective bedding besides pine and aspen? After seeing how cheap cypress is I was wondering how others are. Anyone ever try cypress?

[SatanicIntention]

Too much humidity, it will cause tail and feet problems as well as respiratory issues. Stick with aspen(as I am one of those pine haters when used for rats) and alot of ventilation.

I don't recommend carefresh or other similar bedding as it can get stuck in their eyes and cause ulcers on the corneas, and the dustiness of it will cause upper respiratory problems.

[tmlowe5704]

Thanks Becky. You are teh rat-massa

[Ginevive]

Has anyone else thought of straw? I was thinking of maybe freezing some (to kill off any buggies that might be in it) and trying it; we have clean wheat straw (not wheat hay..) that we use in our horse stalls. it would be ridiculously cheap as opposed to anything else I could buy.. your thoughts?
it is not that ansorbent, I know; like the horse stalls, i was thinking of using a layer of shavings underneath to absorb more. Is this just an outlandish idea?

[lord jackel]

Has anyone else thought of straw? I was thinking of maybe freezing some (to kill off any buggies that might be in it) and trying it; we have clean wheat straw (not wheat hay..) that we use in our horse stalls. it would be ridiculously cheap as opposed to anything else I could buy.. your thoughts?
it is not that ansorbent, I know; like the horse stalls, i was thinking of using a layer of shavings underneath to absorb more. Is this just an outlandish idea?

As you point out it isn't absorbent...so not sure the value of putting in the rat cage (if you are still going to have to put shavings in anyway). Where is might be useful is if you were using those compressed pellets for bedding and added some straw as nesting/bedding material.

Just my

[tmlowe5704]

I think she was suggesting it for the cost.

[lord jackel]

I think she was suggesting it for the cost.

I assumed this too...but if you also have to add shavings then it seems to negate any cost advantage as you are still buying both.

[SatanicIntention]

Straw is also incredibly dusty and prone to molding. Won't even use it with my horse. It's also not absorbant and will start to stink very quickly. Non-absorbant bedding that isn't soaking up the urine leads to the rats standing in their own pee. That can create a bacterial situation very quickly and bacteria leads to bumblefoot(which HURTS from what I've seen).

It's very inexpensive to use a good quality aspen bedding. Pine smells disgusting when wet(think guinea pigs peeing a gallon a day...), but aspen just smells like wet tree when wet. No biggie.

[Ginevive]

I am not going to use straw for the rats; it was a far-out idea. I have the aspen shavings that I posted in the other thread, in response to Raven's question. I can completely agree with you Becky; pine has no place in any rodent's cage, and I don't even like it for horses because it is dustier than a farmhouse bookshelf. I don't even use it under the straw anymore in the horse stalls; it is redundant. The floors slope and the urine drains out into a little ditch. I need to add though, i paid out the wazoo for very clean straw; I had a guy truck it out from 30 miles away, and I stacked all 72 bales myself (back pain was my companion, lol.)
But straw for horses has been the best bedding I can find so far. My straw has no dust; I have actually tried to swish it around and make it be dusty to no avail. I wish that our hay was this dust-free. :/ There is nothing like a nice deep bed of straw; I clean it daily and strip each stall, but then again with warm weather coming, I am having them outside as much as possible..
But a differing opinion is nothing to be angry over. I know that it is a complete definite, that with horses, people are veeery opinionated myself included. I would never become closed-minded and blatantly reject any other ideas that could be better than what I do. I have a friend who thinks I am insane for using straw instead of bedding with edible hay and piling said hay in a corner to feed; I have another who uses pine shavings exclusively. Both of them have had their horses for years with no problems related to bedding; they are both breeders; one an aqha breeder with very nice stock, the other one an awesome showjumper who breeds her own warmbloods, and I will never be anywhere as good with horses than her But I respect difference of opinion and try not to be closed-minded.

[SatanicIntention]

Hehe, I was posting all short and quick because I was at work.. Supposed to be working.. I was I promise!

I just think it's different down here. My horse and the others she stays with are rarely, if ever, stalled. They are only separated into the stalls when it's feeding time. I guess we just don't have a need for bedding here as they just stay in the pasture year round. Alot of the straw we do have around here is plain and utter crapola, dusty and dead. I know I sure wouldn't want to sleep on it, haha.

I know people who use cedar for their horses' bedding, so don't even get me started :eek: