# Brands/source for screen dust-free aspen bedding?



## Dylan (Jun 12, 2016)

I'm having a very hard time finding a suitable bedding for my rats. I like to use a litter and not simply cloth scraps or fleece on the cage floor because I cannot personally handle the odor these get after just a few hours under a few piddly ratties in my bedroom and I don't like normal care fresh because the pieces are too large and it's hard to sort through to find droppings and keep it sanitary. In the past, I had great success with aspen shavings I could get at a local big box store. After being out of rats for several years, however, buying this same brand again I found it so dusty! The dust was just everywhere and covered my hands and formed clouds in the air and made my rats sneeze 10 to 20 times a minute for all of their waking hours even if they weren't in it but above it on the shelves or in their hammocks. I was able to find a product at Petco tonight that works - soft granules, basically tiny chips of Carefresh that sort of clump up when wet and which I can easily remove soiled patches of, which is about perfect but too costly to be buying long term whenever I need bedding. I am really wanting something along the lines of laboratory grade aspen - tiny uniform granules, fully screened to eliminate the dust, not the big messy shreds I can find in the stores here. Sanichips seems great but I can't find a supplier in the US. Are there any good brands that I could order that someone can confirm aren't so dusty that they're going to make my rats sick?


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## Ratlettes (Mar 29, 2016)

I love aspen bedding too and yeah they do come super dusty, but what I've been doing recently is poking lot of holes with a needle through the freshly bought bedding package and hitting it enough so that a lot of dust will come out then after it comes to a minimum I put some bedding in a bag (like a Walmart bag) and shake it gently, you'll see so much dust it'll make you glad you're getting rid of it! (Also at the bottom of the bag you'll see all the dust that didn't go clumped up together) Do this outside of course, first time I dusted out my bedding after cleaning the cage there was no dust at the bottom of the pan. I was in tears.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I ordered by mistake the Kaytee Aspen, I have been using it for 4 days now and my rats got a little porphyrin around their eyes when they wake-up. I'll see. Before that, I used the Drfostersmith Aspen bedding brand, no dust and no porphyrin EVER- even when my rats wake-up. They used to have porphyrin each time they woke up when I was using fleece or mats. I use Aspen on all levels of both my DCN. I will never use anything else.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

I use the aspen from tractor supply. IDK the brand but they only have one kind here. I find it great and not dusty.

I found the cheaper brands seem to be the dusty ones.


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## Ratloved (Oct 4, 2015)

I always forget about tractor supply, but I really like to go in there. Thanks for reminding me, and I think they just built a new close to me too!!


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