Best Rat bedding?

lucyAM

Are there any rat keepers on here, please?

I have 2 rats and I'm currently using wood pellets to cover the base of the cage. The rats are not liking it though (I'm guessing it's a bit hard on their feet).
Any suggestions on what to use? I know sawdust, etc. is a no-no, and when I search various rat care websites I get conflicting ideas.

As a rat keeper, what do you swear by as the best thing to use?

Thanks.

MoneyMate

ONLY JOKING Can't be too serious in life :beer:

krlyr

I used shredded cardboard bedding. Lots of brands available, most come in big bales - so as long as you can store it, it works out pretty cheap (it was only about £7 a bale when I was buying it). The bales are probably about 80-100cm tall, 50-60cm wide and 40cmish deep from memory - not massive, but definately need a cupboard or shed to stash it in.
Ecobed, Ecopetbed, and Finacard are a few brands I can think on.

http://www.fancyratsforum.co.uk/ will be fab for advice

Mankysteve

I used bio cat. Liter from pah. It's cheaper than other litters. I believe it's what they use with there rats. It reasonable absorbent as well. Unlike just plain papersr\ccardboard.
I didn't like the wooden found they would break up an drake a mess.

divadee

We used a bedding called megazorb for my daughters rats. Brilliant stuff and very cheap for a huge back (was designed for horses so it really is a big bag!)

http://www.northerncropdriers.co.uk/product/megazorb

Toomuchdebt

I like megazorb.I'm currently using hempcore and a paper based cat litter and quite like this combination.Cardboard seemed to smell very quickly.

kitschkitty

I found megazorb was more messy/easily kicked out of the cage (and has a smell of it's own) than the recycled card bedding which is little squares of chopped corrugated cardboard.

You also used to be able to get Bob Martins recycled paper litter in the supermarkets fairly cheaply, but in the long term it still worked out quite expensive, but if shops like PaH are selling the same kind of stuff it's worth checking the prices.

The rats were happy with all of it but our choice was definitely bales of recycled card, we never found smell a problem (and had 6 girls and 2 boys on it) it was delivered to the door too which makes life easier!

lucyAM

Thanks everybody for the replies.
I'll try the different ideas and see which ones I (and the rats) get on with.

Rovver125

Ecopet bed or Finacard without a doubt. Both the same product really, Ecopet is chopped into squares, Finacard shredded. Both are recycled from the leftovers produced during cardboard box manufacture. Both cheap and the large bales they come in last for months. We have found this to be the best substrate for keeping smells down till clean out time.

Check out www.ratrations.co.uk

Discovered this site a while back and we now buy all our food and bedding from them. Really good service and our ratties love the different food mixes they sell. Much more variety for them then just feeding the boring old nuggets or muesli from the likes of P@H!

the_devil_made_me_do_it

My gerbils loved Megazorb. It is a safe product and great to dig in

Soot2006

I never used bedding for my (21!) rats - just a corner litter tray on every floor of their house and a daily wipe with baby wipes. No smell, no mess!