Post by candice on Sept 13, 2011 23:27:50 GMT -9
It may sound pretty boring, no big deal, right? Just grab a bag of wood chips and off you go, eh? Not so fast!! 
Bedding is SO important. What you use to house your rodents is critically important to their health, as well as their overall well-being.
First:
Cedar and Pine are TOXIC to rodents and should NEVER be used. Many small animals, particularly mice and rats are incredibly susceptible to respiratory health issues (mycoplasma pulmonis being top of the list) and Cedar and Pine will aggravate these issues and may even shorten the lifespan of your rodents. Please see these links for more information:
www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html
www.afrma.org/rminfo2a.htm
So now you know to avoid Cedar and Pine if you are looking at wood shavings. Want to know a natural wood bedding that will give you some bang for your buck? Aspen.
There are also plenty of paper beddings like Carefresh, Kaytee, and more...
BUT WE'RE NOT DONE YET
With ANY commercial bedding, wood or paper - you will need to freeze your bedding for a minimum of three days to kill mites/eggs in the bedding. While many commercial bedding manufacturers claim their beddings are mite-free due to heat processing, nothing could be further from the truth, so don't listen to this shameless advertising plug.
The reality is that all commercial beddings are very likely infected with mites (more people than I can count have found out the hard way) and to be on the safe side, you must freeze it before using. Believe it - a preemptive strike is a LOT easier than treating your small pets with harmful, unnatural insecticides for mites.
A word of caution about using Aspen wood chips - if you have hairless varieties of rodents I would urge you not to use them for hairless. There have been reports of wood chips frequently getting stuck in their eyes. This is still a risk with furred animals, but I have not heard of any reports with them. In addition to this, a softer, paper/tissue based bedding will be more comfortable for our furless friends as well.
Another note on Aspen: many bags of Aspen are filled with dust, which, when inhaled is irritating to everyone. Before freezing your bedding, one easy way to remove most of the dust is to poke small holes in the bottom of a bag and shake it out before portioning the wood chips into bags and freezing them.
There are other options such as shredded newspaper, though the ink is of a concern (find out if it is soy-based ink if you must use it) but one of my favorites besides the natural Aspen bedding is organic dirt.
That's right, organic dirt! (If you want to try this, make sure you only use organic, non-organic may contain unhealthful compounds and should not be used.) You can mix it with the aspen to provide a more natural environment when you want your pet to have a pseudo-outdoor experience. Just dry your dirt out before using it or it will often mold and produce a terrible odor faster if you do not.
CHANGING YOUR BEDDING:
Beddings/Litters need to be changed a minimum of once per week, regardless of species of rodent - some more frequently.
For mice and rats a thorough cleaning of the cage and dumping of the bedding I recommend a minimum of twice a week, for the sake of their respiratory systems - and yours! Bucks of both species may require more.
Ammonia is nothing to sneeze at (no pun intended!). By not cleaning the cages frequently enough, one risks creating irreversible lung damage in our tiny pets.
Don't our little ones deserve the best?
Bedding is SO important. What you use to house your rodents is critically important to their health, as well as their overall well-being.
First:
Cedar and Pine are TOXIC to rodents and should NEVER be used. Many small animals, particularly mice and rats are incredibly susceptible to respiratory health issues (mycoplasma pulmonis being top of the list) and Cedar and Pine will aggravate these issues and may even shorten the lifespan of your rodents. Please see these links for more information:
www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html
www.afrma.org/rminfo2a.htm
So now you know to avoid Cedar and Pine if you are looking at wood shavings. Want to know a natural wood bedding that will give you some bang for your buck? Aspen.
There are also plenty of paper beddings like Carefresh, Kaytee, and more...
BUT WE'RE NOT DONE YET
With ANY commercial bedding, wood or paper - you will need to freeze your bedding for a minimum of three days to kill mites/eggs in the bedding. While many commercial bedding manufacturers claim their beddings are mite-free due to heat processing, nothing could be further from the truth, so don't listen to this shameless advertising plug.
The reality is that all commercial beddings are very likely infected with mites (more people than I can count have found out the hard way) and to be on the safe side, you must freeze it before using. Believe it - a preemptive strike is a LOT easier than treating your small pets with harmful, unnatural insecticides for mites.
A word of caution about using Aspen wood chips - if you have hairless varieties of rodents I would urge you not to use them for hairless. There have been reports of wood chips frequently getting stuck in their eyes. This is still a risk with furred animals, but I have not heard of any reports with them. In addition to this, a softer, paper/tissue based bedding will be more comfortable for our furless friends as well.
Another note on Aspen: many bags of Aspen are filled with dust, which, when inhaled is irritating to everyone. Before freezing your bedding, one easy way to remove most of the dust is to poke small holes in the bottom of a bag and shake it out before portioning the wood chips into bags and freezing them.
There are other options such as shredded newspaper, though the ink is of a concern (find out if it is soy-based ink if you must use it) but one of my favorites besides the natural Aspen bedding is organic dirt.
That's right, organic dirt! (If you want to try this, make sure you only use organic, non-organic may contain unhealthful compounds and should not be used.) You can mix it with the aspen to provide a more natural environment when you want your pet to have a pseudo-outdoor experience. Just dry your dirt out before using it or it will often mold and produce a terrible odor faster if you do not.
CHANGING YOUR BEDDING:
Beddings/Litters need to be changed a minimum of once per week, regardless of species of rodent - some more frequently.
For mice and rats a thorough cleaning of the cage and dumping of the bedding I recommend a minimum of twice a week, for the sake of their respiratory systems - and yours! Bucks of both species may require more.
Ammonia is nothing to sneeze at (no pun intended!). By not cleaning the cages frequently enough, one risks creating irreversible lung damage in our tiny pets.
Don't our little ones deserve the best?
