Rat Bedding Materials

When looking for a suitable bedding material to buy in Australia for your pet rat, it can be confusing to say the least. The most readily available material is pine shavings, however this has been proven to irritate the respiritory tract of small animals. For more info on wood shavings, check out B.J's rat page devoted to this subject. After carefully scrutinising all of the cat/pet litters available in the stores, here are my personal recommendations. If you find another pet litter in Australia that you believe to be suitable for rats, please email me and I will add it to this page.

The one I use the most is called "Max's Cat and Pet Litter" in a 3kg blue coloured box. It's also got the RSPCA stamp of approval on it. It's made from a blend of plant materials from Australian rice farms, and is in granule form. It's recommended as a bedding material for mice, rats, guinea pigs, reptiles (eww), and other small animals.

This is quite grainy, and can be messy, depending on how you use it. My girls basically litter trained themselves (they would only "go" in the corner of the cage, so I only put litter there.), and I now put a rectangle plastic take-away container in the corner filled with litter. It's easy to remove to replace the litter. If you have it everywhere in the cage, I would suggest having some sort of lining in the cage that you can lift out with the litter in it. It crumbles when wet (without becoming dusty), making it obvious when it needs replacing.

The other litter I use is called "Breeders Choice" cat litter. It's made of recycled newspaper (similar to the American brand of litter "Yesterday's News"), it's grey, and is shaped like long round pellets, and comes in a 2.5kg thick paper bag. It works well at absorbing moisture, and remains quite odourless. The only thing I don't like is that after a couple of days, the fibres begin to 'fur' from the pellet, and I worry about the rats' respiritory tract possibly becoming irritated.

All of the other litters I've seen either clump (possibility of choking a ratty if it eats it), or are clay based and very dusty. There is also a pellet form of lucerene hay which works very well, although the smell can be a bit strong. The good thing about these litters listed above, is that both are biodegradable, are owned and produced by Aussie companies, and are available in supermarkets from about $2.50, up to $3.50.

The other option for bedding you can try is scraps of material. I use pieces of an old sheet, that I tore into rat sized squares, and put them in the rats sleeping area. They tend to urinate on it, so I change the material every night, and put the used ones in a bucket. Every week I do the rats washing! (as if I don't have enuff of my own to do!) Seriously, this is an economical and cheap alternative. I hope this has been of help to other rat lovers in Australia.

Carol, of the NSWFRMC, says this about her choices.
For bedding and cage litter, I use lucerne chaff that I get at the produce store, very absorbent, smells great, and it doesn't bother them if they munch it, plus its cheap!

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