# Rattie bedding? So.. many..choices..



## Cashew1992 (May 18, 2012)

Hey all! 

After a quick chat with a couple of people in general chat I'm just curious to see which bedding's people have found most cost effective that actually help to keep smell down; At the moment i'm using Back-2-Nature paper pelletswhich works out about £24-£30 a month as i use about 10-12 litres a week of B2N 

I was thinking about trying some small packs of bedding off RatRations as i want to get a few things off there just to see what they are like; i'd hate to be stuck with a bale of something i don't use.

The choices are :

Finacard (heard good things about this)

Ecobale (Heard less promising reviews) 

Hemcore (Never heard of this one)

Megazorb (Meant to try this for my gerbils but it was too pricey at the time for the amount i need) 

Green mile (Never heard of it looks, like neatly shopped Finacard?)

Flaxcore (never heard of this one either)

Any workds of advise for anything above would be most welcome!


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## Dayumie (May 6, 2013)

I like the carefreash all natural brown bedding. I don't find there is any smell using that littler. Mind you other people say they can smell them but I don't so I'll continue using it.


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## Patientzero (Jan 12, 2012)

I personally use Yesterday's News litter and have great success with it. I am looking to get some aspen bedding as well. I used to use care fresh but wasn't a fan of it, dusty, doesn't do well with odor and doesn't hold up well against urine.


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## Dayumie (May 6, 2013)

If your using the all natural ultra soft bedding from care freash it works wonders on urine. My girls spill their water dish all the time and if it wasn't for that bedding their entire cage would be soaked... I find it works perfectly.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

here's some beddings i've used, there all fairly easy to get hold of in the uk so should be relevant. I'd recomend starting off with a small pack of greenmile and fitch and seeing which you prefer or if you are like me and prefer a mix

Finacard – realatively soft for a card bedding, some batches can be a bit dusty, price is good and its fine. I prefer greenmile though if you want a card strips style bedding. Fair absorbancy but can be improved with mixing it with a more absorbant bedding. You can get it in small amounts from rat rations which is handy to try it out as well as full bales which is cheapest but takes up lots of space

Ecobale / EcoBed – its chopped card in a square shape, this means it moves more easily around, so good for rats that like shoving stuff, I prefer the strips though as they poof up more. Otherwise its similar to other card beddings. You can get it in small amounts from rat rations which is handy to try it out as well as full bales which is cheapest but takes up lots of space

Greenmile – another shredded card bedding like finacard, its more bouncy than finacard and also generally less dusty. As with finacard and ecobale it is fair absorbancy but can be improved by mixing with something more absorbant (like hemp), may not be needed with a small number of rats. This is my fave card and my staple substrate of choice (though I currently have 3 bales of other stuff in the shed as well lol). You can get it in small amounts from rat rations which is handy to try it out as well as full bales which is cheapest but takes up lots of space

Hemcore – A substrate made up of hemp stalks chopped up finally, it is very absorbant and pretty low dust too, however it is very light and so gets kicked out of the cage easily so is messy. This brand has added citronella to it, which can irritate some respiratory tracts (human and rat), ive not had an issue with it but it bothers some of my friends. Its quite a flat bedding, good for digging in but if you scatter feed like me its not much of a challenge for the rats to find there dinner. I like it mixed with greenmile best. You can get it in small amounts from rat rations which is handy to try it out as well as full bales which is cheapest but takes up lots of space

Aubiose – like hemcore but better, lower dust, no added citronella. It’s a shame it’s a pain to get hold of, I’ve only seen it in big bales

Rapport – made by the people who make hemcore, this is chopped rape straw, again like hemcore it has added citronella. It’s not bad stuff but has a habbit of smelling strongly of vegetable (like brocelli ish) when its got wet. Not one I’d bother with as you can get better for the same money. Only seen it in big bales

Fitch paper bedding – just discovered this recently, it’s a tissue bedding like safebed but a lot cheaper. It makes a nice substrate as its soft and fluffs up well, its more absorbent than card and lower dust, however it tends to flatten down under the rats feet so works better mixed with something a bit more bouncy like greenmile. I expect this and greenmile will be my standard substrate for a while now. You can get it in small amounts from their own website or ebay (try googling it) which is handy to try it out as well as full bales (and multiple bale stacks) which is cheapest but takes up lots of space

Carefresh – didn’t like this, it smelt funny and was dusty so I chucked the sample I’d got to try.

Bedmax – this is a heat treated, dust extracted wood shavings. I use this sometimes rather than hemp as I can get it locally. Its nice big flakes mixed with smaller ones and is nice and absorbent without as much mess of hemp bedding. It is wood shavings though, which puts some people off, however if you compare this with the stuff they sell in supermarkets you’ll see why its so popular with rat breeders and owners that have a decent number of rats. Its low dust and very low phenols, though again it lies a bit flat so is better mixed with something with more shapre. You’d need to find this locally, but it’s commonly stocked in horse and farm supply places, and works out very cheap (around £7 for a full bale, which will last a good 3-6 months). Theres a smaller version of this called littlemax which I haven’t tried but is meant to be similar but with smaller flake sizes.


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## Cashew1992 (May 18, 2012)

I don't think very highly of Carefresh in general as the few times i've used the naturals one for my gerbils its been unbelievably dusty ! and we ended up with red noses all round 

Wow! Isamurat you're a star  I'll keep a copy of that post if you don't mind ? 

I'll show this to my fiance and see which he likes the sound of best ^^ I'll definitely be switching to a 1 or a mix of these ! We are just about to move to a flat so we won't be able to stock multiple bales unless our guest bedroom turns into a storage room instead haha!


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## alexn (Sep 30, 2012)

Seconding (thirding?) The opinions of care fresh. It's one of the dustiest 'dust-free' beddings I've used. 

(I haven't used it at home, but for about a week the boys at work were on it, and while it made cleaning easier than pellets, the dust did shock me.)

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## littleames (Apr 29, 2013)

Thirding (fourthing?) carefresh natural was very dusty for me. I had my gerbils on it becuase I got it on sale online. I also got carefresh colors. Both were dusty. As you said, my gerbil girls both had red, hairless noses .

I've always read great reviews about Hemcore, Megazorb ( I really, really want this for my gerbils lol.), finacard and fitch. I haven't tried them since I'm in the US, but I've always read they were great.


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