[CactuarJon]

So, having had my rats since jan I've been experimenting with the best bedding to use. I started off with wood shavings, because thats what i was recommended from a friend, but soon realised it's no good and then I switched to carefresh. This stuff is expensive and one bag only lasts for two clean outs.

So I've just switched to hay! I can't really find anything bad about it on the net. It's cheap and it comes in large blocks and my first use of it hasn't even put a dint in the bag that I bought.

So i wanted your opinions on it incase it does have it's downers. My two seem to link nomming on it. Is this ok? They've had hay tubes and stuff and they've nommed on those.

And also, while I'm here, I thought rats were meant to be intelligent and acrobatic? I bought them one of those rope rings you have for parrots to encourage this and they don't seem to bother with it. So I've made it so they have to climb them to get to treats and they still take the lazy route. What else can i do to encourage them with this behaviour? I don't want them to get bored, but they just don't seem interested at all in climbing things other than the cage bars! :devil:

 

[saxon]

I don't use hay as I had one a few years ago that had an eye injury due to hay and ended up having his eye out.
I suppose chopped hay might be fine though.

 

[abandonallhope]

I used hay when I kept rats, as long as it's not dusty it was fine.

In fact mine did seem to love it as they can make great nests and scurry around under it.

 

[CactuarJon]

I don't use hay as I had one a few years ago that had an eye injury due to hay and ended up having his eye out.
I suppose chopped hay might be fine though.

Oh no sounds awful! I might chop it up some then!

I used hay when I kept rats, as long as it's not dusty it was fine.

In fact mine did seem to love it as they can make great nests and scurry around under it.

Thats what i like about it! They have one of those stretchy tunnels and i've burried it underneath the hay! they LOVE it!

 

[sooty]

we have a cross paper shredder that we got cheap from argos and shred all our magazines and junk mail etc,
its free and not too dusty and all our rats have been on it with no problems!
hope this helps: victory:

 

[x Sarah x]

I've always used hay as bedding for my rodents and never had a problem, they love it, especially for building nests.

My rats get excited when they see me getting fresh hay and they come bouncing over and as soon as i put it in they start grabbing mouthfuls and rearranging it to make a bed.

 

[corny girl]

I use Aubiose for my rats, have also used chopped up newspapers that i bought a bale of once when i couldn't get any Aubiose. I wouldn't use hay due to the fact that it is usually full of mites (from past experiences with breeding Guinea Pigs & Rabbits). I have found that with the Aubiose they don't smell too much :2thumb:.

 

[saxon]

There's that as well Corny Girl.

I'm paranoid now though with Piny losing an eye and that was years ago.

I use bedmax at the moment along with soft shredded paper dog bedding. My lot seem happier than ever with this combination.
I do ocassionally give them a hay bag but not enough to nest in.

 

[lil lizzie]

you could use cat litter , i tried this on a friends rats and it worked great , it also absorbed the urine and the bad smell of males . We added hay for bedding material along with the cat litter :2thumb:

 

[corny girl]

I also use shredded paper on top of the Aubiose (from our shredder) for nesting material :2thumb:. I know what the Piggies were like for getting mites from hay so wouldn't use it (also for the fact it can poke in eyes).

 

[samurai]

i used bio catolet (a cat litter) for my rats. my mice always had hay for bedding and never got injured or mites from it, i didn't use it with the rats because of the possible dust but if people have used it successfully i guess it should be fine. theres also russell rabbit bedding which is very soft finely chopped straw.
with the rope rings have you tried rather than just having it dangling, tieing it up from both ends like a bridge? you could then connect 2 platfoms with it and they may start to show an interest. or hanging some millet spray at the top for them to climb up and collect

 

[CactuarJon]

Thanks for all the input guys! I'm going to see how the rest of the bag goes. First signs of any issues then I won't bother with it anymore. I'm going to look up that aubiose stuff, never heard of it before.

with the rope rings have you tried rather than just having it dangling, tieing it up from both ends like a bridge? you could then connect 2 platfoms with it and they may start to show an interest. or hanging some millet spray at the top for them to climb up and collect

Tried this too :-/ they're so damn lazy!

 

[corny girl]

Thanks for all the input guys! I'm going to see how the rest of the bag goes. First signs of any issues then I won't bother with it anymore. I'm going to look up that aubiose stuff, never heard of it before.



Tried this too :-/ they're so damn lazy!

Aubiose is a horse bedding, here's their website: Aubiose Ltd | The Natural Alternative Horse bedding, the orignal hemp bedding You may have to ring them to find out where your nearest stockist is :2thumb:.