Best Rat bedding?

lucyAM

Thanks for all suggestions - I'm trying out firs the Bio-litter from Bob Martin. If that proves no good I shall move on to the next suggestions.

Unfortunately can't not use substrate/bedding, as they don't like using a litter tray and prefer to toilet where takes their fancy in the cage. *rolls eyes*

Rovver125

lucyAM wrote: »

Unfortunately can't not use substrate/bedding, as they don't like using a litter tray and prefer to toilet where takes their fancy in the cage. *rolls eyes*

How old are your rats? Bucks or does?

It's well worth persevering with litter training if you can, we've managed it with all the rats we've ever owned and all our rabbits! Intact males will tend to scent a little but that's their natural way.

Our current two bucks are intact, had them from 6 weeks old and had them litter trained within the first week! Litter tray gets cleaned out every 1-2 days now and cage will usually go 2-3 weeks (with occasional spot cleans) between full cleans with the Finacard as substrate.

Bucks tend to be lazy, so if you have a multi level cage, having more than one litter tray dotted about can help

Croc_Mad

I used to give mine shredded paper. Old bank statements, etc. Money-saving and they always seemed happy with it.

Eeyore2009

finacard or hemp

lucyAM

Rovver125 wrote: »

How old are your rats? Bucks or does?

It's well worth persevering with litter training if you can, we've managed it with all the rats we've ever owned and all our rabbits! Intact males will tend to scent a little but that's their natural way.

Our current two bucks are intact, had them from 6 weeks old and had them litter trained within the first week! Litter tray gets cleaned out every 1-2 days now and cage will usually go 2-3 weeks (with occasional spot cleans) between full cleans with the Finacard as substrate.

Bucks tend to be lazy, so if you have a multi level cage, having more than one litter tray dotted about can help

They were sold to me as Male - but having had male rats previously, their "nether regions", shall we say, look more female than male.
They are just over a year old now. Had a litter tray originally but found they slept in it rather than used it as a toilet.
With my previous males they used the litter tray automatically so just assumed the others would too, but not sure how to encourage it.

I used to give mine shredded paper. Old bank statements, etc. Money-saving and they always seemed happy with it.

I used to use old shredded paper too for my first rats - but since read the inks were toxic so thought I should stop. :-/

krlyr

For litter training, all I ever really did was watch where they chose to toilet most frequently and put a tray (or trays) in those places. Sometimes scooping some dirty bedding up to place in the tray helped if they were a little slow to catch on.
The Rat Rations site someone mentioned do a good paper pellet litter. I used that in trays and cardboard bedding for a general substrate, that way the rats could differentiate between the two.

Rovver125

Yeah you can't fail to recognise an intact buck!!

To litter train all our animals we get a pair of gloves on and do daily checks of the substrate. Scoop any soiled substrate into the litter tray. Doing this regularly should discourage them from sleeping in it! Wipe any traces of pee down with something like diluted white vinegar to neutralise the smell. After a while they seem to get the hang of it and realise where their toilet is.

It's easier to teach good habits from a young age, but still perfectly possible at a year old.

Google it and you'll find numerous guides on the subject. www.fancyratsforum.co.uk is a good place to look for advice and help on a wide range of rat related topics.

I'd agree about not using shredded paper as a substrate, others may disagree but I'd also have concerns about the ink and have always found the contents of my shredder basket to be surprisingly dusty.