# What do you use ...



## leesha (Feb 15, 2010)

What do you use for bedding? One of my girls seems to be very sensitive to any bedding that's even a tiny bit dusty. I've tried paper like beddings, aspen, and now we're trying out Yesterday's News (my vet suggested this). It seems to be working well so far, but I guess we'll be able to tell beter with time. What kind of bedding do you find works best for your rats?


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## BumblebeexSweat (Mar 10, 2010)

I use and love paper pellets. I had a friend that owned two girls and would use some sort of Aspen bedding but it smelled weird and wouldn't hold smells from the rat pee/poo very well in my opinion and the rats would make a mess by pushing it out of their cage. With the paper pellets, there is hardly any smell (caused by the actual bedding itself or the rats because it is a great odor obsorber) and there isn't really any mess (my boy doesn't push his bedding out but if he did, they are in pellet form and easier to clean up than other bedding IMO). 

I am going to try and potty train him and get him on fleece but, for now, paper pellets.


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## AvaAdoreSmashing (Dec 31, 2009)

i use fleece for all over and carefresh in their litter box


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## Julia_Austen (Mar 4, 2010)

The most favourite which is also quite pricey is
Carefresh. The second good one is Eco -bedding.
Both are paper-based beddings.


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

I use carefresh


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## leesha (Feb 15, 2010)

We can't afford Carefresh, we have a lot of pets to care for. I'm a bit confused as to how I could use fleece on the bottom of the cage... They're doing pretty good with litter training, so I'm not worried about having to change the fleece too often. But how would I keep the girls from simply moving the fleece around on the ground level if it's not secured down in some way?


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## ZoeHale (Jan 9, 2010)

Fleece 
I haven't litter trained yet, dunno if my girls would catch on to it.


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## RatfanaticLady29 (Mar 2, 2010)

I use fabric in the cage and Crown Animal Bedding (recycled paper pellets) in the litter boxes. 
Leesha- Do you have feed stores in your area? The usually have large bags of off brand bedding for cheap. I get big bags of Pet's Preference Critter Litter & Bedding (similar to carefresh) from our feed store for about $10. Just a thought.


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

Differs from time to time. One of the following:

* Biocatolet (best at keeping smell down, but currently not suitable due to one rats ill health - not easy to move around in with HLD and tumour)
* Fleece
* Carefresh (worst at keeping smells down, very expensive and smells strange sometimes)


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## BumblebeexSweat (Mar 10, 2010)

Leesha said:


> We can't afford Carefresh, we have a lot of pets to care for. I'm a bit confused as to how I could use fleece on the bottom of the cage... They're doing pretty good with litter training, so I'm not worried about having to change the fleece too often. But how would I keep the girls from simply moving the fleece around on the ground level if it's not secured down in some way?


You could adhere velcro to the bottom of the shelf and the corners of the fleece and stick the fleece onto the shelf so they don't move it around. Make it an after work/school project


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## leesha (Feb 15, 2010)

BumblebeexSweat said:


> Leesha said:
> 
> 
> > We can't afford Carefresh, we have a lot of pets to care for. I'm a bit confused as to how I could use fleece on the bottom of the cage... They're doing pretty good with litter training, so I'm not worried about having to change the fleece too often. But how would I keep the girls from simply moving the fleece around on the ground level if it's not secured down in some way?
> ...


Ha, my girls would never let that fly with them. They'd pull it all off.


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

you could always use newspaper, its pretty cheap, but as far as smells, it does nothing. You would have to clean it every 2 days or so. And if your girls would move the fleece around, im sure they would rip up the newspaper also, but its worth a try


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## leesha (Feb 15, 2010)

hshelton said:


> you could always use newspaper, its pretty cheap, but as far as smells, it does nothing. You would have to clean it every 2 days or so. And if your girls would move the fleece around, im sure they would rip up the newspaper also, but its worth a try


I've tried newspaper, they just shred it. I have difficult rats.  The Yesterday's News seems to be working okay, but one of the girls is still sneezing...


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

I figured, my girls would do the exact same lol.


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## AMJ087 (Aug 27, 2008)

the bottom of mine is newspaper and then there perches are cardboard, fleece, carpet, and straw mats


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## TamSmith (Mar 1, 2010)

I use fleece in my cage. I have a pan cage and I just fit the fleece and attach it with binder clips and put the cage on. It works great. I change mine once a week and sometimes the rats eat holes in it and you have to throw that one ou t. My girl was too sensitive to carefresh and this has helped tons.


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## RatFunk (Mar 3, 2010)

I've had the best luck with fleece held down by binder clips. For the litter box Yesterdays news does the trick; hides smells and is cheap when you buy in bulk!


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## Alexc844 (Sep 8, 2008)

I LOVE the paper pellets. Very inexpensive and holds smell very well. Not too messy, either.


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