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Bedding for my pet rat

21 18:00:25

Question
Hi there, I wonder if you can help me,I have ten rats, five boys and five girls. I stopped using sawdust as all of them seemed to breathe very loudly, which I now know is respiratory problems. Also they started scratching very badly. The girls have scrathed themselves that they have bald patches on them, but the boys are fine. they are in seperate cages. They do not have mites. Since taking away the sawdust there has been a great improvement. But what can I use instead now I use newspaper and paper toweling but it starts to smell to soon so I am cleaning the cages every two days. I live in South Africa and you cannot get all the fancy bedding here.

Answer
Hi Julie
First, thanks for not using the sawdust anymore. It's lethal to rats and smaller rodents, because of the oils in the wood. You may notice ratties can't cough...so they can't get that stuff out of their lungs. Cloth bedding is fine, but when you wash it, be sure to use bleach so that the mites don't return as quickly. Mites and lice thrive in the fabrics. Newspaper is a great alternative, but if you have a microwave, zap it for a few seconds, to kill any bugs in there. Then you can put the paper in without worrying about new bugs. (Just 2-3 seconds is fine.)

To get rid of mites use ivermectin. Ivermectin is found in any shop selling horse care, or online, and runs about 5-7 dollars (american). It's not a prescription medication, so you can buy it right off of the shelf.

You'd just use a tiny bit, about the size of a grain of rice per animal. Its' very sweet so the animals like to lick it off of fingers, or even the end of a spoon. You'll have to use it once a week for about 5-6 weeks, and then the eggs and any sign of the bugs should be gone.

One more tip, if you clean cages at least weekly, try wiping down with white vinegar after you've cleaned out everything and just before you put bedding back into the cage. The vinegar serves as an antibacterial, and helps keep pets healthy.

I highly recommend visiting RMCA.org, for some other really wonderful tips. I hope what I told you helps, and it's nice to know there are some loving rat parents in South Africa!

Cathe