How much Bedding?

[Oxyvince]

hello. i use carefresh bedding and ive been wondering.. how much bedding should i use? should the bedding cover the entire cage floor? how much inches thick?

and do i need to put bedding on the upper levels of the cage?

 

[trexgorawrrrrr]

what kind of cage do you have? if it's some sort of wire, you need to be covering the wire yes, but not with bedding. use fleece or terrarium liner made for reptiles (i can be more specific if you're interested since it's reuseable and most of the time doesn't get shredded). but it's important to protect their feet from the wires because it can cause something called bumblefoot, which is not good. very painful for your rats. the bedding i would say maybe an inch thick or so? i make sure the entire floor is covered with some extra so they can dig, push it around, do what they want, build nests, burry food, ect. do rat things lol. hope i helped.

 

[Oxyvince]

my rat cage is the Super Pet My First Home Multi-Floor, Large

thanks for the tips

 

[victoria]

You only need to use just enough to cover the bottom of the cage, which is about half an inch to an inch with Carefresh. If your cage has pans with sides on the upper shelves you can use Carefresh there as well, although I wouldn't if the levels are flat or made of wire because they won't stay. Most of us try to protect our rats' feet by putting fleece blanket on the upper shelves and levels but you can also use indoor/outdoor carpeting, needlepoint canvass, cardboard, felt, and/or towels. just keep in mind you'll have to change them and replace with clean ones each week.

 

[sketchi]

I wouldn't put bedding on the upper flat levels of the cage, unless you want a mess all over your room! :wink: you could cover those with fleece, if you wanted. your ratties would like that!

I also like to give mine toilet paper to play with, on top of carefresh bedding. they love re-arranging stuff, the more the better! :giggle:

 

[trexgorawrrrrr]

if you're going to use something on the floors like fleece i've found binder clips especially helpful. they keep whatever you're coving your floors with in place. even if my cages don't have wire floors i still like to put something down like towels, fleece, or terrarium liner to soak up the urine until i clean.

 

[pscychopomp]

I put just enough to cover the bottom. I recently switched back to shavings (aspen) so I've given them a bit more because it's cheap, but before I was using something similar to carefresh and I just put enough to cover the bottom. Mine mostly stay up on the levels, and they usually shovel the bedding around anyway (so no matter how much you put in there's bare spots), so I think as long as there's enough to absorb urine it's fine.

 

[lilspaz68]

just an FYI, bare wires do not cause bumblefoot, dirty conditions where a rat cuts it's foot and the bacteria enters, obesity, old age and genetics are the reasons some rats develop bumblefoot but most don't. A lot of my cages (Martin's) do not have covered shelves/levels...easier to scrub down. but when I do cover things I use stickdown lino tile. Your superpet cage has what a lot of us call Pee-river shelves, and will need to be kept very clean as the urine collects in those outside grooves...blech!

 

[pscychopomp]

Your superpet cage has what a lot of us call Pee-river shelves, and will need to be kept very clean as the urine collects in those outside grooves...blech!

This is true, my girls are in a super pet cage too and whenever I see a little puddle I wipe it up, that prevents them from tracking it everywhere and it growing into a big mess. Fortunately most of the time they do seem to actually pee in the grooves themselves, so it stays in a puddle.

 

[Moon]

When I had a super pet I clipped fabric to the shelves... makes your life so much easier.

 

[mamie]

I have nothing but fleece that they bring with them in their little boxes or tubes or hammock but I don't put anything on the bottom of the cage my boys are in a huge ferret nation cage and I find it much easier to clean, they do have a litter but I find that they poop more on the bottom of the cage where the litter is then anywhere else. so it's so easy...vaccum, then wash with water and vinegar bottle.