RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:41 am

I use cloth on the floor, just stick it between the cage base, and the cage wire, and then add the litter box. I also found that useing cloth and the litter box, before they were fully litter trained, was very helpful. That way you can just pick up rattie raisins, without mixing them up with YN like I did. I also found that sani chips are EXPENSIVE. Here they charge $11 for enough to last my guys litter box about 2 days. I used them once, and that was enough. They flew EVERYWHERE, though they are good for rats with chronic myco.

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Rosie

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I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat

Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:11 pm

Can you guys fill out this scorecard?

Just...type up your answers something like this:

Carefresh: 8 for absorbancy, 5 for odor control, 7 for value and a score of 6 overall and so on.

I'm compiling a scorecard for my website and your help would be appreciated!

Absorbancy: How well this bedding absorbs the pee and water spills in your cage
Odor Control: How well this bedding controls the smell of rat body odour and urine smells
Value: How good is the value for this bedding? Is it overpriced? If it is score it low, if it is a great price, score it high.
Overall: This is your happiness with that sort of bedding overall, this does not have to reflect the scores you gave it in the other fields..this last part is just for your personal feelings and how it has worked for you.

Scoring:

1- Exceedingly Poor (Letter grade: F)
2 or 3- Fair (Letter grade: F)
4 - Slightly better (Letter grade: D)
5 - Alright (Letter grade: D)
6 or 7 - Good (L:etter grade: C)
8 or 9: Very Good (Letter grade: B)
10: Excellent (letter grade: A)

Edit: Wrong section! Sorry...this is meant to go in Memories and More. ^^;; I'm sorry ><

Last edited by Celynny on Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:47 pm; edited 2 times in total

Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:29 pm

Alfalfa Pellets: Haven't Used

Carefresh: 7 for Absorbency, 7 for odor control, 4 for value. Overall, 6. (Plus, I've gotten mites from it more than once. Yuck

)

Shredded Paper: Haven't used

Wood Shavings: 9 for Absorbancy, 7 for Odor control, 9 for Value. Overall, 9. (I use Aspen)

Yesterday's News: 10 for Absorbancy, 10 for Odor control, 5 for Value. Overall, 9. (My favorite bedding. I'd use it if it was less expensive. The cat litter version isn't available in my area, so I've only used the expensive as heck small animal version. Its really great though.)

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--Brittany

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom."

Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:16 am

Alfalfa pelets-Haven't used

Carefresh- Haven't used

Shredded Paper-Haven't Used

Wood Shavings- Absorbancy-8, Odor control 6, Value 6, Over all-6.5

Yesterdays News- Absorbancy-9.5, Odor control-10, Value-9, Overall-9.5

Britt, there is a petsmart near you right? The ones near us have big bags of Yesterdays News with the clay cat litter, which are packaged like YN. All the Petsmarts that I have been to have it, and my dad even got the same amount of small animal YN either there or at Kroger, for $15. The YN here is the same amount as Aspen.

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Rosie

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I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat

Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:46 am

angelratgirl (I think it was) also conducted this survey. Read back through this litter/bedding thread to see the results.

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Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Mon Oct 31, 2005 3:57 pm

I only use Alpha-Dri, I use if for my rats and my bun. Lasts forever and it's the only bedding I will ever use. I get a 20lb bag for just over $30 with shipping

Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:04 pm

Where the heck can I find Yesterday's news? I have found the cat litter, rabbit litter, and ferret litter on www.petco.com but I can't find the small animal bedding that they advertise. I went around to some stores lastnight and couldn't find it. I would like to get some and change them tonight. Anyone have any help? The website said that it could be purchased at Giant and I looked there with no luck. I'm in Northeast PA. I guess actually all I could do is just look at every store listed.

Thu Nov 03, 2005 10:59 pm

I use Yesterday's News cat litter. You can get a 30lb bag at Petsmart for like $12 as opposed to a 20lb bag for $15...

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*Oliver & Dodger*

Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:20 pm

So I can use the cat litter? I thought that I HAD to use the small animal bedding. Thank You.

Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:57 pm

Nope - the YN cat litter is exactly the same as the small animal stuff, but in bigger bags (and works out cheaper usually).

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:43 am

Ok so I got some of the Yesterday's News cat litter. I get it home and look at the bag. I got the softer texture fresh scent. I'm so mad at myself. Can I use the fresh scent? It really doesn't smell like anything but then again I don't know what the original smells like.

I hate when I buy the wrong thing!

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Crystal...The Ratties..Cocoa & Splinter...The Doggies...Jack & Molly

Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:18 am

I would take it back and get the unscented. Scented bedding can cause quite a reaction in some rats. Keep in mind it doesnt smell strong to you..but a rats nose is more keen AND their noses are less than a quarter inch from the bedding.

I'd take it back if you can..

Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:24 am

I honestly don't know - It's only been mentioned once or twice on here, and I don't know what it smells like or how strong it is, or if it will be a problem. Confused

Usually I'd say scents aren't good for their sensitive noses but I have no idea with this.

Does it say on the packet anywhere what the scent is, or what is used to produce the scent?

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:30 am

It doesn't say anything about what makes it smell. All it says is that it is a fresh scent. I already opened it but I won't use it. I cleaned them. I'll put them back into the Care Fresh until I get the right stuff.

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Crystal...The Ratties..Cocoa & Splinter...The Doggies...Jack & Molly

Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:48 am

The difference between the Cat litter YN, and the small animal YN is that the small animal version has smaller, slightly softer pellets (but is a little more dustly). My dad got it once, and it did not even work as well as the cat litter.

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Rosie

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I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat

Sat Nov 12, 2005 8:30 pm

Both my boys have bumblefoot for which they are on antibiotics. Since cleanliness is not the issue in this case, my vet feels it may have been caused by the cage. They have a couple of hard plastic shelves and wood-based litter pellets. I feel the shelves are the most likely (and will be modified) but should I consider switching to Carefresh? I like the pellets because they are highly absorbent, safe to "chew" and don't get flung out of the cage! Also, the girls have them and their feet are absolutely fine.

Obviously I'll just do what's best for the boys, but what do you guys think: pellets or carefresh?

Sat Nov 12, 2005 8:51 pm

I cover my wire cage floors with some plastic material from the hardware store. I believe it is a carpet cover/protector. I just had it cut to size for a couple of dollars. I take it out and wipe it down frequently.

One of my girls had bumblefoot and I tried several different treatments, the best thing for her was to leave it alone and she healed on her own! She is two years and eight months old now!

Sun Nov 13, 2005 7:26 am

I would do something about the shelves first, then if that does not help, try switching litters.

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Rosie

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I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat

Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:41 am

Rob, have you tried Biocatolet? It's less dusty than carefresh, cheaper and it's not hard. There's also the Bob Martin's paper litter from Asda, I think.

I'd cover the shelves in plenty of soft stuff (fleece etc) and I don't know what you're using to treat them, but cephalosporin antibiotics seem to work reasonably well.

Are they squishy, your bumblefoot ones?

I'm wary about just leaving bumblefoot because the infection can spread to other areas, into the bone and eventually lead to fatal infections if it becomes severe. Confused

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:06 am

Okay, this isn't *so* new, but I feel I've really perfected it now. The key is binder clips. I use fleece (nice because it stretches) and pull it through the bars next to the shelves and clip it outside the cage. This is beneficial for several reasons including that pee + binder clips = rusted binder clips and clipping them outside eradicates that, and that they take like 10 seconds to remove when it's cage-cleaning time, which saves me a good five minutes from the old safety pin method.

I'm altogether so happy with my discovery. Binder clips are my new favorite rat cage accessory, as they work for securing most anything. Even the small ones seem to have enough force to hold up anything the girly rats stand on.

I'm sharing this in case someone out there is in the same "takes too long to change/secure cloth bedding" conundrum I was in.

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Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:41 am

That sounds great! *runs off to buy binder cli[s*

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Rosie

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I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat

Wed Nov 16, 2005 2:21 am

LittleWillow wrote:

Rob, have you tried Biocatolet? It's less dusty than carefresh, cheaper and it's not hard. There's also the Bob Martin's paper litter from Asda, I think.

I'd cover the shelves in plenty of soft stuff (fleece etc) and I don't know what you're using to treat them, but cephalosporin antibiotics seem to work reasonably well.

Are they squishy, your bumblefoot ones?

I'm wary about just leaving bumblefoot because the infection can spread to other areas, into the bone and eventually lead to fatal infections if it becomes severe. Confused

Obi is squishy-ish, Viggo is solid and muscular. In terms of meds, my vet has put them on Baytril.

Many thanks for the flooring suggestions; I will give that a go. The only soft stuff I could get my hands on immediately was Carefresh, which Obi is on now (I share you reservations about the dust). Unfortunately for Viggo, he has just had a lump (cyst) removed on his tummy and is in the hospital cage. Because the wound must be kept clean, I’ve had to stick to newspaper. He has about 4 papers a day and a layer of old T-shirt, so it’s springy enough.

Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:54 am

That should work for now. Using cloth on the bottom of the cage normally might work well, though it is a pain to clean.

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Rosie

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I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat

Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:08 am

Well, in light of possibly getting some ferrets in the next 2 years or so, I thought I'd go ahead and start taking on some of the responsibilities of owning them. Mainly, having cloth "litter". Does anyone use just cloth litter with their rats? Is it very smelly? What kind do you use and how often do you change it? I was thinking about using fleece. If I put Yesterday's news under the fleece, would it be more absorbant and smell less. I was going to just make one large piece of fleece and lay it on the bottom of the cage. Probably have to do a few layers, right? Currently, I'm using Yesterday's news covered with aspen, but I thought I'd try out cloth and see how it does. Any help?

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My zoo: Link, Cyrano de Bergerat, Pipsqueak and the girls Harley, Kira and Esie<:8 )~
Also, Arwen the garter snake, Merry the beta, 2 fantail goldfish, 4 applesnails (r.i.p. pinky), 3 cory cats and Evie, the Jack Russell Terrier.

Tue Nov 22, 2005 9:49 pm

I use cloth sometimes, and if they are litter box trained then you need to switch it every few days.

You do need to anchor it down, otherwise they just pull it in to a box or something

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Rosie

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I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat