What is the best bedding?

[Number1Sticky]

Right now I’m using aspen wood chips. I know it isn’t bad for rabbits, but I’m sure other stuff (like care fresh, yesterday's news etc.) would be better.

Here is a list of different kinds of bedding I’ve gotten off of a few websites:
Aspen shavings
Care fresh
Cell-sorb
Crown animal bedding
Eco Bedding
Megazorb
Soft-Sorbent Bedding
Wood pellets
Yesterday’s news (or any other recycled paper)

I’m looking for bedding for the cage AND the litter pans. From personally experiences what do you think is the best bedding based on price/absorbent/dust etc.? Feel free to suggest other kinds of bedding. I just want the best for my rabbits.

I have two rabbits but they are housed separately.

Thanks!!!

[Nibbler]

for the littre box and the actual bedding you may want to use two diffrent beddings. I personally liked eco bedding and care fresh

[Jovie]

I used to use Care Fresh and it was terrible and now I've switched to Feline Pine, which is safe for rabbits, it's awesome, it's definitely better in comparison to care fresh so I'm gonna say that wood pellets are best as far as keeping the odor down and stuff like that.

[Jess]

I LOVE wood pellets for in the litter box... They work the best out of anything I've used!
If I'm out of wood pellets I'll use Carefresh, but it doesn't control the odor as well.


For outside of the litterbox, you can use towels, newspaper, linoleum flooring, or nothing at all. They are easier to litter box train if you only have bedding in the litter box, and no where else in the cage!

[Elliriyanna]

Def pellets for the litter box as for actual bedding I would stick with the aspen I use it for all my pets and LOVE it

[Purple-Hops]

Yesterday's News and plain old sheets of newspaper will probably be the cheapest and most environmentally friendly. As Jess stated, once they are litter box trained you can use nothing but regular floor. Always keep the litter in the box separate then the litter you use as substrate, otherwise they might never distinguish the two.
I have rugs, linoleum tiles, a shower curtain and table cloth as my floor protector. Acacia's litter is regular newspaper.

[Number1Sticky]

I would love to use carpet/blankets etc. outside their cage, but wouldn't they eat it? Or at least chew it? My rabbits eat everything.

Also one of my rabbits isn't litter trained. I got her when she was about two years old (she is about four years old now) and I tried training her, but she will literally only go in her litter pan when the outside of it is full. It's frustrating. At first I did use different bedding for the outside and litter pan, but now I just use the same stuff because it doesn't really make a difference anyways. But I can try to train her again.

One of the problems is she isn't spayed yet. I am going to get her spayed, but I just don't have the money to right now.

Also, my cousin (who had her before me) made her a hutch and put carpet on top of it, but she had to take it off because she was eating it. So I’m worried she would do the same if I put a blanket in her cage.

[urofan]

I use Sunseed fresh world bedding made from recycled newspaper and magazines. You can buy it at Petsmart.

[Purple-Hops]

Oh.. If she is unspayed then you'll have a difficult time training her. She still has her hormones and can smell your other bunny. I had the same situation, 2 separate females- one spayed one not. Akina (unspayed) never did get the hang of it... Nor did she care -_-

[Dragonrain]

I also use Feline Pine in the litter boxes. You may be able to find cheaper wood pellets to use as well. I get usually a 10lb bag of Feline Pine at a time and it lasts me a long time. You don't need to use a ton of the pellets in litter boxes. They expand as they get wet so a little bit can go a long way. I've tried a lot of different litters and this is the one that I've found to be the best so far, for inside the boxes at least.

For outside my litter boxes...well my bunnies have their own room lol. Their flooring consists of everything from fleece blankets to low pile rugs to Sisal rugs to linoleum to plastic mats. One of my bunnies won't walk on the linoleum though, it's too slippery for him.

If your bunnies chew regular rugs could you try low pile or Sisal rugs? Sisal rugs are made out of natural plant fibers so if your bunny chews them a bit it's not the end of the world. Or low pile rugs, I think often sold as indoor/outdoor rugs. The fibers in the rugs are really short so it's harder for bunnies to get their mouths around pieces of rug.

I use these in one part of my bunny room too...
http://www.amazon.com/We-Sell-Mats-A...2839049&sr=8-2 They are really cushionie and I'd guess good for the bunnies feet. My bunnies like to run around on and sleep on them. But you'd have to watch to make sure they don't chew them (mine don't, luckily, I provide them with lots of better stuff to chew on).

If you're just looking for something for the flooring inside a cage I'd recommend using fleece blankets. They are comfortable for the bunnies, and pretty absorbent if they do have accidents on them. Bunny poos you can just shake off the fleece and you can throw them in the washer to clean them or hand wash them too. Fleece isn't a stringy fabric like some others so there's no loose threads to get nails caught on or anything like that. You can usually get it cheap as well, try looking at a craft or fabric store in the sale or clearance section.

Wow I didn't mean to write that much, lol sorry about that.

[Jess]

I used to have carpet in Smudge's enclosure, but he would chew it at night when he get bored... He went through a stage where he believed that any and all carpeting should be destroyed LOL. So this is what I did to his enclosure:



I used an excersize mat for the ground, and I lined everything with pieces of pine trim. Since he can't get a hold of any endges, he can't chew it.

[Number1Sticky]

Thanks every one for your help. I got some wood pellets for their litter pans and I think I'm going to try fleece blankets for the rest of their cages.

[Purple-Hops]

Good luck! And just make routine checks on the blankets if you're afraid they'll chew it. If so, remove them.

[Sasami]

Jess, Smudge has the same water dish as my snake . And the same treat ball as my bunny.

I don't use any "bedding" because it just gets kicked out. I used towels and blankets in the past but Elvis started chewing on his. He's now free-range so I guess he has carpet as his bedding .

I use Fresh News in the litterboxes. It's like Yesterday's News but a bit cheaper and more absorbent in my experience. The pellets are also larger so they don't get tracked everywhere. I tried Feline Pine years ago but the scent bothered me and one my rabbits hated it and kicked it out of her litterbox. It seems to work great for other buns, though, and maybe I'll give it another shot sometime.