What kind of bedding do you use in your critter cages?

I have some mice and rats and sometimes my boy rats just make such a smell! The mice have a strange smell too What kind of bedding do you find works the best for your rodents?I think that I have tried just about everythingI would Love some advice on this smelly situation ,thanks show bunny

[Sassy]

Have you tried Care Fresh Bedding? It is made from the virgin pulp of wood. I personally think it works great with mice. I use it for my gerbils as well.

Thanks for the advice .I have not tried care fresh yet .I will look for it next time I go for more supplies. showbunny

The pine is nice I wish I could use it more I have added a little to the reg bedding ,but not too often.You sure can get it cheep where you live it costs $9.00 here Thanks for the info.Showbunny

[capnsweets]

I use Pine, but I am switiching to care fresh next time I need to buy some.

[PyscoFalcon]

I use Beechwood shavings on all mu hamsters, Gerbils and Mice.

You can never really get rid of the smell of fancy mice unfortunately, at least not in a safe and healthy way.

Male mice smell worse than females as they tend to mark their territory more and the more you try to disguise the smell of a male mouse, the more he will keep marking.

If your mice have a specific corner that they use for peeing, try placing a bowl of chinchilla sand in that corner and see if they will pee in it -- great for disguising urine!

Remove wooden items out of a males cage because when they territory mark a wooden item, the smell will linger even longer.

The floor litter I use for my mice and indeed all my rodents is 'Bob Martins' 100% paper based cat litter, it's a little like carefresh, but far smaller and more bobbly and very much less dusty.

Wendy

[Runt]

I found a pine shaving called American Choice.It is kiln dried and really soft.I use this on my hamsters

For my piggie I used to use Pine then switched to CareFresh but because of the mites (Vet says probably came from CareFresh) I use towels. Plus towels cost less and clean easy and you dont have to through away much. Unfortunatly you have to pay more for the water bills.

Towels ,never thought of that !I will rmember that if I every run out of the reg bedding.
I think with the rats or a couple of my lazier rabbits it might just work.Thanks

[Dena]

I have used every kind of bedding you could possibley imagin (except for cedar of course) I used to use Carefresh but I don't really like it. It doesn't control any oder which isn't a big deal but I didn't like its absorbancy at all! I would have to change the bedding very frequently and at that price it was getting way too expensive. Plus my chins didn't really like it. I have used aspen which I like, pine, walnut shells (before I knew better), Yesterdays News (made out of old newspaper) and All Pet Pine that I like the best. It is kiln dried and no chemicals are added. You can actually even flush it. The nice thing is I can use it on all of my animals and they seem to like it. It keeps all the moisture below the surface so my animals are more comfortable. My hedgehog however doesn't have bedding she gets a velux blanket and a litter box. She is extremely picky about what litter goes into it too.

[cdfarm]

Pine the #1 and only choice. Except cedar for dogs.

CareFresh is nice but there is a good chance your pet could get mites from it. My piggie has mites now and they think it was the bedding.

Dont worry, Bailey had a injection of ivermectin and will get another one in two weeks so that should kill the mites. Now that I use towels he shouldn't get them again unless from the hay.?.

Umm I don't think hay carries mites and if it did I don't think they would eat them but who knows!?!?! Eww you made me think of a different post where someone found a snake skin in the hay. Ohhh and the crikets and beetles yuck.!