# Bedding issues/Pee Training



## TygerLynx (Apr 4, 2013)

Hello! So I've been trying out different bedding options since I got my rats (about a month and a half ago). I have the rat manor from petco for my two girls. 

First thing I tried was binder-clipping fleece (on top of towels) on each level including the bottom pan. I had a corner litter pan in the bottom with carefresh natural and a pee rock. While poo-training went pretty well, the peed EVERYWHERE except the litter pan and it smelled enough to need to change the fleece every two days...

So then, I just put fleece (with no towels) on the main (middle) level and on the mini levels. Then I filled the whole bottom with carefresh and put aspen in the litter pan with the pee rock. Still used the litter pan except to pee and the carefresh smelled awful after the peed in it. It was also dusty (as many others have found).

Next try was keeping the fleece on everything except the bottom pan. I filled the bottom pan with kaytee clean and cozy and kept the litter pan filled with aspen and a new pee rock (maybe they didn't like the first one?). No luck. Still peeing everywhere AND they decided to carry the kaytee bedding up the stairs and made a complete mess. They filled their hammock up top with the bedding (and thus dragged it up every level where it stuck to the fleece). They also flung it out the side of the cage making a bigger mess. Tried flipping the aspen and clean & cozy..and they dragged the aspen upstairs.

I've tried moving the litter pan around on the bottom area. Is there something smaller I can use as a litter pan to maybe try it upstairs? Any other suggestions?

This is what they accomplished during the hour and a half I was washing the fleece, but they dragged a similar amount around when there was fleece too.









and this is their hammock...I call this tonk's "I swear I didn't do it, mom!" face.









Any suggestions?


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## FamilyRatters1 (Jun 22, 2013)

From the research I've done on the internet (I don't have any rats yet nor any prior experience), It's really difficult to teach rats on not peeing everywhere. Some rats will only pee in the litter box, others will only poop in it.


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## TygerLynx (Apr 4, 2013)

Thanks. I'm not too upset about them peeing everywhere. It's the moving the bedding upstairs that's causing the biggest mess! They are getting worse as the days go on. Within an hour or two of me either cleaning the cage, moving the bedding downstairs ect they are dragging it back up and its flying everywhere. Anyone have this happen with their rats?


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## mameur (Nov 3, 2012)

you can always use puppy training pads instead of fleece or bedding they kill odors and they won't make a mess


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

Have you not tried to use Aspen as your actual base bedding? It's recommended to soak up the pee pretty well. It's not uncomfortable or anything, don't worry.


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## zurfaces (Jan 16, 2013)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000HG96ES


Solves the dragging around of bedding. If you want something for them to burrow in try shredded paper inside an igloo mine won't drag it out of the igloo but they will anywhere else. 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## TygerLynx (Apr 4, 2013)

Thanks! I tried puppy training pads and they ripped it to shreads and then carried it around... and then shredded the blue plastic part that I thought I had hidden/tucked in well enough. 

I tried the aspen in the whole bottom tray and the smell wasn't bad but they still filled their hammock with it and flung it outside the cage. 

Maybe I'll try filling a hideout with bedding. I'm not sure the big igloos will fit anywhere but that's a great idea!


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

I think you're fighting somewhat of a futile battle here... I can understand wanting to stop them moving the litter tray stuff, but on the whole rats are going to kick out bedding from the base and stash it round the cage. That's just what rats do and you can't stop this kind of natural behaviour.


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## Mball77 (Jul 3, 2013)

I'm not a huge ran of the softness or absorbency but Care Fresh Crinkles shredded paper (natural colors unless you want colorful rats) really helped me (especialy for my sneezy rat). Its kinda clumps together so it didn't end up all over my floor. Its not as messy. I happily put in on my higher lvl shelves (the only bedding that has allowed me to do that....) I give them paper towels to play with (about 5 a day and regular changes because my boys pee where they sleep) If your ratties are nesters it should help with their urges (I stick paper towels on the side so they can drag it in...they had a mighty need to do this with a blanket I used to use as a cage cover...blanket lost)

Peeing everywhere...er...yeah don't know about that.

I picked up Yesterdays News Kitty Litter (paper pellets) for the bottom underneath the Crinkles and pee smell is gone, just...gone (though my rats don't use the hammock) Super absorbent. If it can deal with kitty pee rat pee is no problem.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

The best option here would be to use either Aspen or a Hemp-based or cardboard-based bedding as the substrate, and to use a paper litter for the litter trays (such as Mball77 has suggested). This is because I find that these kinds of bedding are hard for rats to stash and drag, so they don't bother. But with any kind of fabric or paper bedding, rats are going to drag it round their cage, especially to their place of sleeping because it adds warmth for them and comfort. I honestly don't see why this is such a huge problem? Surely the rats can do what they like in their cage (as long as it's not super destructive) until you clean it up and it's good as new again with fresh bedding? I don't get why you'd want to have the inside immaculate when there are animals living inside of it. Also, rats do tend to pee everywhere in their cages. Just start doing spot cleans by wiping up the patches with tissue or a wipe if it bothers you. But I'd honestly try the Aspen/Paper Litter combination as I think it'd suit you well if you don't want your rats to have a messy cage.


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## dr.zapp (Dec 24, 2012)

I think the issue with moving the bedding around is a lot of it gets pushed out of the cage, making a mess around it- at least that's what my rats do, especially when it gets dirty. I switched to the paper pellets for base and they can't move those around or pile them as high, so they tend to stay in the cage instead of out. Before that I had a large piece of cardboard the cage sat on that I could sweep the expelled bedding off easily and kept it off the floor.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

I know haha, what I was really referring to was the complaint about them moving the paper bedding into the hammock, which is natural for them to do! In fact, it gave me the idea to start giving them strips of tissue again to used as bedding in their hammock and Sputnik XL because I usually just give them their layer of Hemp bedding and that's all.


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## Risika (Jun 22, 2013)

I'm going to suggest trying all rocks in the litter box for training. I just got some river rocks from the store. I put them in an old plastic food container that I obviously won't use anymore. My two girls pee and poop in there about 70-80% of the time. I have the Manor too and they have yet to go on any of the higher levels.


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## TygerLynx (Apr 4, 2013)

I apologize for the late response, but I didn't have internet for a few days.



ratclaws said:


> I think you're fighting somewhat of a futile battle here... I can understand wanting to stop them moving the litter tray stuff, but on the whole rats are going to kick out bedding from the base and stash it round the cage. That's just what rats do and you can't stop this kind of natural behaviour.





ratclaws said:


> The best option here would be to use either Aspen or a Hemp-based or cardboard-based bedding as the substrate, and to use a paper litter for the litter trays (such as Mball77 has suggested). This is because I find that these kinds of bedding are hard for rats to stash and drag, so they don't bother. But with any kind of fabric or paper bedding, rats are going to drag it round their cage, especially to their place of sleeping because it adds warmth for them and comfort. I honestly don't see why this is such a huge problem? Surely the rats can do what they like in their cage (as long as it's not super destructive) until you clean it up and it's good as new again with fresh bedding? I don't get why you'd want to have the inside immaculate when there are animals living inside of it. Also, rats do tend to pee everywhere in their cages. Just start doing spot cleans by wiping up the patches with tissue or a wipe if it bothers you. But I'd honestly try the Aspen/Paper Litter combination as I think it'd suit you well if you don't want your rats to have a messy cage.





ratclaws said:


> I know haha, what I was really referring to was the complaint about them moving the paper bedding into the hammock, which is natural for them to do! In fact, it gave me the idea to start giving them strips of tissue again to used as bedding in their hammock and Sputnik XL because I usually just give them their layer of Hemp bedding and that's all.


Thanks for the replies, but I think you misunderstood me a little...I understand the rat's natural behaviour to want to rearrange/make beds. I was just wanting an alternative that wouldn't make a mess OUTSIDE of the cage. Sorry if that wasn't apparent before. I don't mind it going in the hammock, it just ends up everywhere around the cage on the way up to the hammock. I don't want the inside to be immaculate. I've had plenty of animals of all kinds and am fine with animal messes. I'm planning to move the rats cage into my room in a week when I move out of my parents house and was just trying to think ahead on how to not have the fluffy bedding all over my room. I mentioned I tried aspen already and that didn't really make a difference. Still flug about 75% of it outside the cage. I'm going to get a paper bedding as soon as I run out of my current stuff and see how that goes, thanks. 



Mball77 said:


> I'm not a huge ran of the softness or absorbency but Care Fresh Crinkles shredded paper (natural colors unless you want colorful rats) really helped me (especialy for my sneezy rat). Its kinda clumps together so it didn't end up all over my floor. Its not as messy. I happily put in on my higher lvl shelves (the only bedding that has allowed me to do that....) I give them paper towels to play with (about 5 a day and regular changes because my boys pee where they sleep) If your ratties are nesters it should help with their urges (I stick paper towels on the side so they can drag it in...they had a mighty need to do this with a blanket I used to use as a cage cover...blanket lost)


Thanks! The paper towels was a great idea - they love it! Seems to distract them from the other bedding and still gives them something to play for. I'm going to pick up the care fresh crinkles or a paper bedding like others mentioned as soon as I run out my current bedding and see what happens!



dr.zapp said:


> I think the issue with moving the bedding around is a lot of it gets pushed out of the cage, making a mess around it- at least that's what my rats do, especially when it gets dirty. I switched to the paper pellets for base and they can't move those around or pile them as high, so they tend to stay in the cage instead of out. Before that I had a large piece of cardboard the cage sat on that I could sweep the expelled bedding off easily and kept it off the floor.


Thank you - that's exactly what I meant.  I put a piece of cardboard under the cage and it seems to make outside cleanup faster!




Risika said:


> I'm going to suggest trying all rocks in the litter box for training. I just got some river rocks from the store. I put them in an old plastic food container that I obviously won't use anymore. My two girls pee and poop in there about 70-80% of the time. I have the Manor too and they have yet to go on any of the higher levels.


Filled it with rocks yesterday - I'll let you know how it goes!


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## Honeydew (Jun 16, 2013)

This thread is probably dead, but I might be able to help if it hasn't been solved yet. 

First and foremost, I recommend using this as a liner for at least the part of your cage you want them to use as the bathroom area: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3678495&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No. I used to use Carefresh as litter but I don't even have to use a litter material other than this; the rest of the cage is partially bare and partially fleece-lined. 

If you decide to do that, go get a rock from somewhere, boil and wash it, and put it in the area of the cage that has the reptile carpet. My rat was totally poop-trained but peed all over the place and would marinate in it while he slept. Now he only pees on the rock, and that change literally happened overnight. Dunno if it'll help with you, but it's inexpensive and worth a try.


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## Divit (Aug 5, 2013)

Honeydew said:


> This thread is probably dead, but I might be able to help if it hasn't been solved yet.
> 
> First and foremost, I recommend using this as a liner for at least the part of your cage you want them to use as the bathroom area: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3678495&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo. I used to use Carefresh as litter but I don't even have to use a litter material other than this; the rest of the cage is partially bare and partially fleece-lined.
> 
> If you decide to do that, go get a rock from somewhere, boil and wash it, and put it in the area of the cage that has the reptile carpet. My rat was totally poop-trained but peed all over the place and would marinate in it while he slept. Now he only pees on the rock, and that change literally happened overnight. Dunno if it'll help with you, but it's inexpensive and worth a try.


This looks like a really good idea. Do you have a photo of your cage that you could post? I'd love to see how it looks.


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