Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, everybody! I'm going on a 10 day trip with my family and I'm worried about my rats' bedding not being changed during that time period. I have someone to water the yard and feed the cats but not to clean the five bins with 70 rats. I was going to freeze all except for a few before leaving but I want to grow about forty of them to a larger size for my pythons. If I clean and put in new pine shavings just before I go do you think they'll be OK until I get back? They are on an automatic watering system and my house sitter can throw food in the hoppers so that's not a problem. I usually clean the rat bins once a week and they're pretty ripe by then. What do you think? Thanks for all the info so far, your help has been invaluable! John

Well if you freeze half of the number per bin then the litter should last twice as long as your used to. If your really worried about it give them extra as it will take longer to become saturated to unhealthy levels.
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Wear Sunscreen

Thin them out would work too..since you already mentioned freezing half, spread the remainder 40 or so amoung your remaining bins. The less rats per bin the less waste. Using a thicker layer of bedding will help as well.