Why can't I find a Litter that I like?

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Hmmmm these wood stove pellets are intriguing me!!!

I need to buy a new bag of litter as I am out so I think I will drop by my farm store and grab a bag to try and if I like it then I will stock up. So if you had to guess with just the ratties...I have 16 personally right now divided between 2 FNs...How much do you think you go through? Like for instance when you stock up for a years time how many bags to you buy and how many of those bags would be used just for your rats?

Our winter is pretty long here so the pellets would be available for a while I would think. I have started to see them advertised last month and we still have cold weather up through March and April. So in the winter months I don't think I would need to stock pile any. Just come late winter early spring I would need to check with my supplier to see when would be the latest I could get any and then stock pile for the summer at that time.

I just like the idea of the price too. I prefer to spend my rescue dollars on vet care and spoiling the rescues then buying them expensive litter for them to just pee on and throw away. I mean honestly I don't even buy Charmine toilet paper for myself! LOL Generic all the way for me too!

Staci
 
Now that's a toughie.

Last year I stocked up for both BunBun and the rats, and Bun passed away late June. I have 13 rats, and if I had to guesstimate how much I use (not including the times when I'm out of aspen for the mice and use WSP in a pinch), I'd say probably 3-4 bags a year. I don't use too much litter at all. I put enough in their litter boxes to cover the surface, and that's it. I know that if I put anymore, it becomes a makeshift digging box :roll: I'd rather put a small amount in the litter boxes and change them more often, then using a lot and letting them go for a while, know what I mean?
 
Most certainly!

Bishop4.jpg
 
I use rabbit food, it is super cheap like $10.00 for a 50lb bag and it last me about a month and a half. The girls at first thought to eat it but after a few nibbles left it alone, rats don't really like alfalfa. It does a pretty good job of keeping the smells down and I sometimes use a kitty litter scoop to sift through and get some of the rat raisins out just to keep it a little cleaner in between cage cleanings.
 
My 6 Girls said:
I use rabbit food, it is super cheap like $10.00 for a 50lb bag and it last me about a month and a half. The girls at first thought to eat it but after a few nibbles left it alone, rats don't really like alfalfa. It does a pretty good job of keeping the smells down and I sometimes use a kitty litter scoop to sift through and get some of the rat raisins out just to keep it a little cleaner in between cage cleanings.
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I used to use Rabbit Food as well pretty religously however, my boys for some reason after a long time of me using it and them leaving it alone decided to start eating it. And it wasn't just a test nibble here and there. They were actually ingesting it which then made their poo start to smell horribly. I couldn't use it anymore. It was defeating the purpose of using an odor controling litter.
 
Mine always have to "test" the wood stove pellets. I have no idea why, it's not like they smell/taste/look any different from the last litter box change :roll:
 
Are the wood stove pellets available yet? I've been wanting to try them since spring. I'm allergic to wood beddings, but I figure to give it a try anyway.
 
They might be, Ratmom, but it all depends on your area. I usually don't get mine until October or so.

Jo - I've seen that warning slapped on many, many things these days :p I don't think it's necessarily because the things are harmful, but more because people are getting dumber/more silly. I think I last saw a warning like that on a box of nails.
 
I agree with you, SoA... I remember reading a caution on a hairdryer box: "Do not operate while asleep"
 
I'm finding the wood pellet thing interesting too. I'll have to schedule a trip to homedepot this weekend.
 
Well I will report in. I did try the wood stove pellets this time around. I got my bag at the local farm supply store for $4.50 for a big bag. They did not have much of an odor at all. I put them in the litter boxes in the FN and for the most part they are staying in the box. I also decided to put them in the entire pan of two of my smaller rescue cages and the rats seem to be doing fine on them. They are holding up very well and odor control is good. As long as this continues I think I have found my new bedding.
 
SoA said:
Staci - how are the wood stove pellets working out?

And Moon, were you able to locate any? :)
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So fa I am liking them. I have put them in both my litter boxes as well as ground cover in the entire pans of some of my smaller cages and both ways they seem to be holding up well. My rats are not sneezing at all from them. My only complaint now is that my boys have taken to hoarding small amounts of them around the cage but heck if that is all I have to deal with I can handle that. The rats do like to chew on them but I see that as built in wood chews so go for it. It seems to do fine at odor control as well. I will probably get another bag and keep using it and then make a decision from there. The real test will come here in a few weeks or so when I am scheduled to take in 10 rescues. So 10 rescues plus the 2 I already have in rescue plus my 16. We will see how odor control holds up!

Staci
 

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