Bedding

Written by Rachelle Bish, Jellybean Rattery

I highly recommend a safe wood bedding such as hemp, kiln-dried aspen, kiln-dried pine, or kiln-dried poplar. Rats produce a lot of ammonia in their urine which damages their sensitive respiratory systems and can lead to infections and Myco flare ups. Safe wood beddings help neutralize the ammonia to keep it under control for a week until cleaning day. You can also use coco coir soil or even make your cage partially bioactive using coco coir soil, with the proper research and attention.

I strongly recommend against any sort of loose paper bedding like Carefresh, news paper, or fabric like fleece. They let the ammonia build up because they can't bind and neutralize it. Paper bedding also contains an abundance of dust particles too small for the eye to see, which are small enough to travel through their respiratory system and cause lung scarring over time. Even with frequent cleaning, the ammonia levels and dust sizes are a recipe for disaster for rat respiratory health. For fleece specifically, while changing it often will make it safe, it still doesn't meet the rats' need to dig, which is another important reason that 3 inches or more of safe bedding should be provided. Please note that clay, any scented litters, and cedar (even kiln-dried cedar) are dangerous to rats and beddings containing these ingredients should never be used.

Cleaning

Wood shavings should be replaced once a week, fleece covers every other day, and loose paper every other day to prevent dangerous ammonia buildup. Very deep wood shavings or reptile soil, 6”+ deep, can be replaced every other week if you have no more than 4 rats and mix it every 3 days or so. For cleaning, I personally use chlorhexidine diluted according to the label. It sanitizes very well, smells great, is harmless to the rats even if it isn't dry, and doubles as a wound wash if a rat ever gets injured.