Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've heard of others using them but wondering if anyone here has experience with using the small wood pellets sold for pellet burning furnaces as a rat or mouse bedding.

I'd give it a try but I still have 2 bags of Good Mews newspaper pellets bought on clearance from Petco. The newspaper pellets work pretty well but I think I had better luck and less smell with wood based pellets like woody pet or aspen supreme.

Unfortunately Woody Pet is not sold anywhere nearby and Aspen Supreme is quite expensive.

The stove wood pellets are 3.99 for a 40 or maybe even 50 lb bag, 3 blocks away at Menards. Can't get much more convenient, I just hope they work out. If anything they might be better than the wood pellets sold for bedding as most of those, like Woody Pet and Equi-Litter are made from pine. The wood stove pellets are made from hardwood, though I'm not sure what exactly.

I have been using them this year, amazing improvement over aspen, and a lot cheaper.
They do have a couple of downsides.
1. In enclosed moist areas mold will form. I tried using wood pellets as snake bedding and it works in aquariums, but not so well in tubs with a water bowl in the tub. I raise rats and mice in aquariums, and no mold.

2. Dust. If you have a digger, she can stir up enough dust to turn your screen top brown in a week, or a light brown dust on the floor and white walls/ceiling in a few months. It's not a lung irritation thing, it's an annoyance type thing.

3. Weight. It doesn't sound like much, but those trash bags get heavy. Cleaning day at my place entails carrying several heavy garbage bags to the dumpster. Aspen shavings are very light. Pellet bedding is not.
But there are enough strengths to make it worthwile for me.
1. Way less smell than aspen.
2. Easy visible signs that it's cleaning time. (Pellets break down.)
3. Very cheap to buy, but a pain to haul around unless you got a truck.
I got the idea to try it from this forum, and I love it so far, way worth the work.