Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been using drynest pine shavings for a while now and have had mixed results on it's usefullness. everyone screams about pine and cedar. I have 120 breeding females or 44 bins that need changing weekly. I can't screw around too mutch. I breed asf mice and mostly rats. I am WAY sick of mouse stench. I have heard good and bad on cedar, at least it would help stench. I was wondering if anyone uses carefresh or that recycled paper pellet instead? What alternatives is there to pine that are still semi cost efficient and safe for the rodents. I get a little URI and head tilt.

Avoid cedar at all costs . It is much more toxic than pine, and if you are already having issues, they will just get worse. I would also worry about the toxicity being passed on to the reptiles eating them.

A pelleted bedding will help a lot with the smell, but then asf should not be smelling much at all anyway. Rats don't usually smell much either unless they are overcrowded or kept in tanks.

For my mice and ASF breeders I use wood stove pellets, just a thin 1 pellet layer on the bottom. As it gets moistened it breaks down to a coarse sawdust but is not really "dusty" so no apparent respiratory issues. I get it for $4 for a 40 lb bag at Menards.

wood stove pellets... hmm. How far does a bag go? would it be around like fire place logs?

never heard of the other bedding. I'll have to go look. I get 12 cubic yards of pine for 10 dollars right now (price increase) But the carefresh was like 4.5 cubic yards for 12.50 I think. Thats a LOT more money. The mice is most of the stench. Rats is upper resp, but my mice are dropping fast too.

I'm working on a much smaller scale so can't really say how far it will go. Are you sure on those bedding quantities? A cubic yard is HUGE. Everything I have seen has been measured in cubic feet. Like the largest bale of Aspen I can get is about 4 cubic feet compressed and allegedly expands to twice that.

The wood stove pellets are just like any other pelleted wood bedding, such as "Woody Pet" , "Equine Fresh", but they are cheaper and much easier for me to find in stores. Menards is about 3 blocks away.

Other pelleted beddings sold specifically for the pet trade are MUCH more expensive. Aspen Supreme is $13-$20 for the same size bag that I pay $4 for. Yesterdays News recycled paper pellets sell for $15 for a 30 lb bag.

Pelleted bedding significantly reduces the mouse urine smell so it might be worth trying just for the mice. Though I doubt you will find anything comparable to $10 for 12 cubic YARDS.

Oh one more thing. Don;t even bother with the carefresh, that was the first thing I tried and it is absolutely worthless for controlling mouse smell. If anything it makes it worse.

eagle valley animal bedding is the best!!! i use it for my rats and it lasts 7 days than needs changing. i used care fresh and i thought that was good until i used this stuff and it blows the doors off of carefresh and much cheaper. go to there website and do a local dealer search trust me you will be happy! just google eagle valley animal bedding and you will find there site. good luck!

there is a dealer near buy I'll have to go looking...

sorry....
So with rats what do you do? Do you really pooper skoop it out? How long does it last?

i just cover the bottom of the tub with abm and keep 1.5 rats and in 6-7 days i just change out the substrate. its really great stuff!

What kind of bedding is eagle valley?
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Shannon in Reno
2.3 dogs
1.0 cat
Bunch O fancy rats and mice
50 something chickens
0.1 Black rat snake
0.2 Albino corn snakes
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
0.1 Rosy Boa
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Amazing Boyfriend

i think its for horse stables check there site!

How much do you pay for the Eagle Valley ABM? I found a sort of local dealer for it, though still quite a drive, but it's 5.79 per 40 lb bag.

Looks like my wood stove pellets for $3.99 at Menards 3 blocks away are still the best deal for me. =)

Who makes the woodstove pellets??

They are made by many different companies, but the ones I get from Menards are manufactured by Marth Wood Products.

http://www.marthwood.com/index.html

If you check their site, they also make animal bedding pellets. The wood pellets look identical.

i pay 6.99 a 33lb bag. i didnt know what menards was so i did a google and see its hardware store? where do you live? i wonder if home depot carries it?

I'm in the Chicago area...

Menards is a huge home improvement store, much like Home Depot but not quite as warehouse-ish.

I haven't seem the pellets at Home Depot but you could try asking them. Menards keeps them by the fireplace logs/fireplaces. They might even be a seasonal item, I plan on going tomorrow and buying about 6 or so bags to hopefully last through summer if they are a seasonal item.

I just googled the site. There aren't any in Michigan

Also, it's made from pine

Quig

We've got menards all over the place in michigan. I have 2 only 15 minutes from me in two different cities.

I swear by Equine Fresh. I didnt like the smell of the hardwood stove pellets. It was strong, but other than that they work the same.

I'd also like to know what other brands of pellets people are using and how much success they have. I'm always looking for others people's experiences and maybe save some money in the process.

The only down side for me with the wood pellets is that it seems TSC and menards switches it up every other month, so I never got the same brand twice.

Oh well, keep us posted.

I can speak for woody pet and equine fresh. The process they use to actually make the pellets effectively removes most of the harmful phenols, acids, tars and oils that scar the respiratory system.

I love the pellets, never going back!!! (and such good smell control!)

While it's not the cheapest alternative according to the input already given here, I've been using rabbit pellets (rabbit feed) for my rats for years @ $8 per 50lb bag. Absorbent, controls odor fairly well, and, it's environmentally friendly. Stove pellets are seasonal where I live except for one or two "Fireplace" stores, and it's not cheap there.

Rabbit pellets are my best available option as I live too far out in the boonies for much of anything else. Just though I'd throw in another option.

Good luck!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

I got a pelitised wood bedding from IFA thats I think kuntucky (typo) brand. trying that for a few....