# sneezing?



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

i have 4 rats, 2 girls 2 boys, the girls are 9 months old, the boys 8 weeks, and they all sneeze quite a lot. is this normal? is it the bedding? it doesnt seem to bother them, do i need to worry? they have wood shavings and paper bedding along with the cotton wool bedding, they all eat plenty and drink well


----------



## Leiren (Aug 5, 2007)

Mine sneezed nonstop when I first got him,and after giving him a bath he stopped.


----------



## FreedomDove (Aug 16, 2007)

What kind of bedding do you use?


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

they have woodshavings and paper bedding i get the dust free stuff, they seem to have settled down a bit now. my girls used to sneeze a lot and 1 still does occassionally


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

What kind of wood shavings? If it is cedar or pine I would switch it immediately as those are toxic.


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

just had to look at their website to see wa they r made of, norweigan sprice pine? wat do i need to change to?


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

it says that they r not sawdust so they r suitable, i didnt realise that it could b wrong i should have done research


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

Switch to aspen if you want to keep using wood shavings or there is care fresh, yesterdays news, alfalfa pellets (rats don't eat them so it works as bedding), towels, fleece, and alot of other choises really. Persnally I use towels with alfalfa pellets in their litter boxes.


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

so just puttin shredded newspaper in will b ok? i also put in paper bedding like little squares of thick paper that i buy. i thought shavings was best, ill go to the pet shop today, thanks


----------



## chrisstrikeagain (Apr 10, 2007)

Shredded paper is really dusty...whether it settled or not, it shouldnt be a main bedding. plus it gets stinky. look through past posts for ideas of bedding. I like Carefresh. And mine are litter box trained with Yesterdays news in it. Pine and Cedar can be DEADLY to rats...


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

No problem alex. I would not use shredded newspaper for more than a day or two. Some people like care fresh I am not a fan when you go to the store look for this stuff from kaytee it looks like little balls of paper all wadded up. I used to use that and it worked really well. Plus it was pretty cheap!


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

that wadded paper is the stuff i have! didnt know how to describe it! wen u say towel do u mean a hand towel? i have an old towelling dressing gown that i could cut up would that b any good? i am in uk so im not sure i have the same things available to me over here, really appreciate advice!


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

yeah I use regular towels that are old or stained or something LoL just fold them up and put them in the cages I will try and get a picture of a clean cage for you tomorrow LoL. All of the cages are a little dirty right now and I don't have my camera charged. I loved that litter but my oldest rat Jackson started having problems walking on it cause he is over2 now and he has arthritis. That litter is really very good since it is absorbent without being dusty.


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

do u wash the towels regularly? my rats arent litter trained unfortunately, i tried very hard with my 2 girls but the useless!!! im gonna try train my boys cos they only 9 weeks now so maybe they will learn easier!


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

detergent wont effect them will it or maybe handwash??? hmmmm, sorry i sound so clueless but i have always used shaings no knowing they r bad


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

shavings*


----------



## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

I changed the bedding in the cage every 3-4 days despite lack of litter training. I always have a few spare sets so I can throw the soiled ones into a sealed laundry bag (which is great at keeping the smell in) and await what I so lovingly call pet laundry day (or rat laundry, but there is ferret laundry yet I call it rat laundry cause it mostly smells like rat pee lol). I would do it every time I get a soiled set but I have to use coin laundry and that's a hastle for me.

I spot clean out the poops at least once a day and put them in the litter box because my rats are STILL not 100% litter trained. My rat Odin was but had to be pts recently and I so miss the ease it takes of cleaning his cage ): I only had to change his bedding once a week. Sometimes I can go longer with Bert and Bastian because there cage is over twice the size they need. Hopefully I can figure out where to put another large cage I have and move Morgan and Hobbes into there so they can have extra rat spacing as well. But they are EXTREMELY messy rats.

So yeah guess it just depends on the rat. Change the bedding once every three days and give the cage a good scrubbing once a week and you will be fine.


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

I change the towels every other day then do rat laundry once a week (needless to say i have alot of towels). Pictures will be posted in a little bit of one or more of my cages.


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

thanks guys, ill have to get some old towels out lol. the girls r pretty messy but the boys arent as they only babies, they r in a smaller cage at the mo til i upgrade soon, poppyseed, im sorry to hear about odin, i read about that, very sad


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

ok, so i put some towels in along with newspaper and paper bedding. the girls have pushed the towels over and sleepin on the bare bottom cage, whatever makes them happy i spose!!! sneezing seems to have calmed down alot too!


----------



## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

I let my boys move the towels where ever...Its not going to hurt anything  Its fun watching them do it too, cuz they each have there own spot they want it, so its always getting tossed around.


----------



## alex (Aug 14, 2007)

i put the towels in yesteday, last night, both the boys and girls were soooooooooo noisy, its new to them so they must have bee rearranging the towels to how they wanted them! little blighters


----------



## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

Haha, thats cute!


----------

