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    Top soil as alternative bedding for mice

    I read a few forums where people would use topsoil as an alternative to pine shavings. They said literally only had to remove the top layer of soil once a month. It's a lot cheaper than pine or recycled newspaper. However, they have to bake it in the oven prior to using it. I thought since mice in the wild live in dirt, couldn't you use topsoil out of the bag? I can't imagine baking or freezing topsoil.

  2. #2
    Registered User LadyCalypso's Avatar
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    I never heard of that, personally I use aspen for my mice, pine can give them respiratory issues.


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    Telling it like it is! Stewart_Reptiles's Avatar
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    Re: Top soil as alternative bedding for mice

    Quote Originally Posted by breederfeeder View Post
    I read a few forums where people would use topsoil as an alternative to pine shavings. They said literally only had to remove the top layer of soil once a month. It's a lot cheaper than pine or recycled newspaper. However, they have to bake it in the oven prior to using it. I thought since mice in the wild live in dirt, couldn't you use topsoil out of the bag? I can't imagine baking or freezing topsoil.
    I guess if you want to clean a muddy stinky mess why not, again complicating thing, you need something absorbent not soil. If you want to do this as a business there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
    Quote Originally Posted by LadyCalypso View Post
    I never heard of that, personally I use aspen for my mice, pine can give them respiratory issues.
    Pine is fine, pine found in store is kiln dried, I produce thousands of rodent each year with no respiratory issue (going on 11 years now), I am curious how many do you produce and what was the percentage of respiratory issues in your colony?
    Last edited by Stewart_Reptiles; 12-31-2017 at 01:08 AM.
    Deborah Stewart


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    Re: Top soil as alternative bedding for mice

    Quote Originally Posted by Deborah View Post
    Pine is fine, pine found in store is kiln dried, I produce thousands of rodent each year with no respiratory issue (going on 11 years now), I am curious how many do you produce and what was the percentage of respiratory issues in your colony?
    This past year was actually my first year breeding mice, and I think I got around a hundred or two, and I had I think 2 have problems. But being new to it I was going off from when I had hamsters and how pine was bad for them, so if I sounded ignorant in my last post I'm still learning and thank you for the insite


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    Personally I just don't picture this in my head working out very well. It turns to mud when they urinate and what will it do for the feces? They may live on dirt in the wild, but they also have square miles to do their business. Ball pythons live on dirt, most animals live on dirt. The small amount of space we give them compared to the wild, forces us to do things differently than in the wild.

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    BPnet Senior Member Sunnieskys's Avatar
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    I would not like to clean mouse mud. Ewww. Recycled paper is what I used. Cleaned thoroughly once a week.
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    I read in a few forums people really like using soil over the pet store bedding. I'll probably give it a try when Home Depot sells topsoil again in the spring. $1.50 a bag

    http://www.petshub.com/forums/topic/soil-as-a-substrate

    http://www.gentlechristianmothers.co.../t-165697.html

    https://www.reddit.com/r/PetMice/com..._as_substrate/

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    Telling it like it is! Stewart_Reptiles's Avatar
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    Re: Top soil as alternative bedding for mice

    Quote Originally Posted by breederfeeder View Post
    I read in a few forums people really like using soil over the pet store bedding. I'll probably give it a try when Home Depot sells topsoil again in the spring. $1.50 a bag

    http://www.petshub.com/forums/topic/soil-as-a-substrate

    http://www.gentlechristianmothers.co.../t-165697.html

    https://www.reddit.com/r/PetMice/com..._as_substrate/
    People who have 1 pet mouse or maybe 2 in a cage, I thought you wanted to be a feeder breeder

    When you will have 1.3 to 1.4 + babies (anywhere from 18/24 to 36/48) it will be a different story

    Again you are complicating things when it's not all that complicated and proven methods have been around for a long time. You get your info from pet owner forums and show breeders forums and that will not get you far those people do not have business in mind, cost efficiency or practicability.
    Deborah Stewart


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    Re: Top soil as alternative bedding for mice

    Quote Originally Posted by Deborah View Post
    People who have 1 pet mouse or maybe 2 in a cage, I thought you wanted to be a feeder breeder

    When you will have 1.3 to 1.4 + babies (anywhere from 18/24 to 36/48) it will be a different story

    Again you are complicating things when it's not all that complicated and proven methods have been around for a long time. You get your info from pet owner forums and show breeders forums and that will not get you far those people do not have business in mind, cost efficiency or practicability.
    I'll probably try it later on one colony to see how it compare. I been using cat litter for long time never had issue with my hamsters and mice.

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    BPnet Senior Member cchardwick's Avatar
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    Topsoil - Brilliant! I actually just tried Cypress mulch with fantastic results for both my mice and rats. I live in a dry climate so there's nothing getting wet or turning to mud. Rodent bedding is a huge expense, it's probably a quarter of my total costs raising ball pythons. Anything to cut those costs and keep the animals healthy is a bonus. I'm going to try it next!


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