[icedragon6669]

I dont tidy, but my dd's rat has the Taj Mahal! my hubby built it a great big... house that barely fits in its cage! it has a platform on top to sleep on, 2-3 "rooms" and everyone laughes that my hubby made it for the rat! its food tray is ceramic and non movable, and mostly it hides anything in the house, so i just leave it! it is fun to watch the rat storing food, if i give it a handfull of something, like pumpkin seeds , it will take them one at a time, and stash them , then sit and eat them.

When the cage is cleaned it is layed with paper then sawdust (stops the smell) then i put a handfull of shredded newspaper in. it then spends all day making itself a "nest", and won't stop until all the paper is used, sometimes when i do not put enough paper in, it will start tearing the paper lining the bottom of the cage into strips to use. I think they like to make their cages homely, and do deliberately change things to their likings.

[chaigirl]

The rat palace sounds adorable!

One quick health note, though - sawdust is actually toxic to rats. Any bedding product made from pine or other soft woods should be avoided. The only exception to this is products made only from aspen, as it doesn't contain the harmful oils (called phenols, I think) that damage the ratty respiratory system over time. Some suggestions for sawdust alternatives are alfalfa pellets, yesterday's news, biocatolet cat litter, any paper based product like carefresh (although some people think it's too dusty and makes the rats sneeze), shredded newspaper or cardboard squares, or corncob litter/bedding (which is what I use - I get it from the horsey supply store in big bags).

Keep on Truckin!
Erin

[icedragon6669]

Thankyou for the sawdust info! I deliberately was only getting non treated timber sawdust, but a lot is probably pine, i will go today and get something else. I will look at the cat litters, or maybe seeing what the local produce store has. paper products don't keep the smell down as much as i would like
( the rats cage is in our lounge room, and i like to keep the smell down. and not have to clean it daily)
I appreciate the info!

[chaigirl]

No problem Icedragon! I really like the corncob based stuff - I find that it does a good job of keeping the ratfunk at a manageable level, although it has a slightly sweet smell all its own that some people don't like. I have also used timothy hay in the past and liked the way it smelled (also sweet), but it is very dusty and takes a long time for me to shake the dust out so there aren't nasty little particles getting in the girls' lungs.

Keep on Truckin!
Erin