Help with baby rat bedding!

Question

my rat is about to give birth any day. and I was wondering if it was ok to keep the normal kitty litter in there aswel as some paper towel sheadings or do i need to take all the kitty litter out?

Answer 1

Personally, my hamster prefers plain paper towels.

Answer 2

Even if the breeder gave you kitty litter it doesn't mean that it is an appropriate, safe bedding.  No competent exotic vet would every recommend a clay or corn based litter.  A pelleted paper product like Yesterday's News would be fine, and is often sold as kitty litter.

Personally, I would go with Carefresh or shredded paper towel.  It is completely safe, soft and will make a nice nest for the mom.

Answer 3

Dust is only one problem with cat litter. Most types of cat litter have a load of chemicals in there to help with its purpose, to be cat litter. Rats are not kitties. They will try to eat everything new to them. If chemicals are indigestible, an adult rat may become ill, and a baby would die. Don't take a risk like that.

For the babies, preferably use something like carefresh. It is soft, and safe. You can also throw in some tissies or paper towels, as well as some old clothing (that is made of smooth material, so their feet don't get caught!). Avoid shavings, they are too hard for babies.

Answer 4

well you should never use kitty litter you should use care fresh but that's expensive my baby rats love stuff called eco bedding much cheaper than care fresh but they are very similar.

Answer 5

Use some thing soft that's not scented.Never buy aspen or pine bedding for your rat.That could cause respiratory problems in the future.

Answer 6

You should NOT be using traditional kitty litter. The smell can make them sick. Also if it's the clumping kind it can cause major digestion problems if the eat it and they may not be able to process food.

Also ceder and pine bedding can cause respiratory tract irritation from residual effects from the phenol oils in the ceder and/or pine bedding.

I recommend:

Paper Towels, Shredded Paper, Pellet Bedding (Like: Yesterdays News, compressed aspen, wheat grass, and cellulose fiber), CareFresh, wheat litter, or aspen (no toxic phenols).  

Answer 7

my wife and I use news paper torn in strips. just put it in the cage the rat will do the rest.

Answer 8

...Why the h**l would you use kitty litter for rat bedding?  I don't mean to be rude, but do you know ANYTHING about taking care of your rat(s)?

Answer 9

You should NOT be using kitty litter!!!!!

The best thing to use is carefresh, NEVER EVER use kitty litter for rats.