# FinaCard - is it as good as it seems?



## Reikiru (Apr 9, 2013)

Every so often in threads i'm lurking around, I keep seeing some UK users recommending FinaCARD. So its just shredded corrugated cardboard right? What I am wondering is, how often does it have to be changed? My experience with my current rats and corrugated cardboard is they nibble on it(which is fine) _but_ they also pee on it and after about 2 days it stinks. I really dont have the time to clean them out totally every day or every second day, just now i do a daily spot clean and that does until the once a week that i do the full cages. I currently use Carefresh Confetti on the bottom of the cage and bedding is a mix of tissues and shredded edible vegetable fibre bedding. I noticed they also do paper pellet litter, does any one know if its any good? I currently use Back-2-Nature small animal litter and bedding (though i only use this in the litter boxes and NOT as a bedding material)


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

I use finaCARD and find it's completely fine. It does start to smell after about 4 days but generally it's easy to sort out weekly as usual. The good thing about it is it doesn't get too mushy or anything. It's also brilliant value for money; I assume you're currently buying Back-2-Nature from Pets At Home correct? Essentially you're losing out on saving so much money buying that. If you don't like the idea of using cardboard you can get huge bales of paper-based bedding instead. I generally just put a layer of Papelit 100% Paper Litter pellets on the base first to help absorb any pee etc. I'm going to try a different substrate when my bale runs out, but for £22 for a 15kg! bale of it that's so far only half gone and lasted me almost half a year is brilliant going, cheap postage too. That was also with 2 bags of the Papelit Litter and some Sofnest Tissue bedding; I generally just stick with the finaCARD and the Papelit Litter now though. It doesn't harm them if they want a chew as well, and they love to burrow in it haha. It's really a matter of trying out different options, they do a sample pack though here's the link:

http://www.finacard-uk.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=137


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## Reikiru (Apr 9, 2013)

Thanks Ratclaws. I'll give it a try, I've a very good sense of smell so i always worry about trying new things when it comes to animals. Most of the smell and odor control stuff for animals seem to be a hit or a miss, more of a miss with my pup. But yeah, I think I'm gonna give it a go see how that works out for me.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

Yeahhh, I mean what do you have to lose really? I'll post some bedding alternatives in this post when I can find a decent list.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

Right, here's a list of the various bedding available - Ratrations sell most of them but you have to pay their somewhat overpriced delivery. Anyway, here's the list:

finaCARD
Fitch Paper Bedding
Ecobed
Hemcore
Green Mile
Flaxcore

I've consistently heard good things about finaCARD, Fitch, Hemcore and Green Mile. So it really depends on what you try and how it works for you! I think I'm going with either Hemcore or Fitch next time as they're both not cardboard, but one is made from paper and one from hemp, so i'll see the difference based upon smells, urine absorption and whether the rats prefer a certain kind. One thing you could do however to kick smells is to add a rounded medium sized rock into the litter tray, so your rats pee on it and then the cage smells better for longer. Not tried it yet but I will when I find a good rock to use!


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## Reikiru (Apr 9, 2013)

They already both have a Pee rock in they're cages lol. It just seems to be more their poop i can smell, though that most likely is down to their diet, im slowly trying to improve it, as i must admit, just now they have two dishes each one is normally half filled with rat nuggets (that i love the smell of but hate having to feed them with) and the other is filled with various dried pasta, cereal, veg, occassionally some fruit and a small amount meat normally chicken as its pretty much the only meat i eat, i try to balance it out teh way recipes tell you to but ive not quite got it fully right yet, though they both throughly enjoy it, the nuggets only get eaten during the night when i'm asleep and they've emptied the other bowl. Just now though Mina is getting different things to eat to help her keep the babies and herself well nourished. Sorry i just realised i went totally off topic there, my bad ^^'


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

Ahhhhh I see! Well you'll find that will have an effect yes, maybe it's an idea to empty their litter tray every half week instead then to reduce smells? Also I forgot to add a bedding called Auboise, it's like Hemcore but a lot of people prefer it over that one. So next time, I'm trying either Fitch or Hemcore/Auboise. Of the latter I'm going to see which works out cheapest. Apparently using hemp gives the cage a more natural smell and Hemcore gives it a slightly "lemony" scent, so I'm sure this would be better at reducing smells.


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