im taking care of my friends rat, and i usually use normal wood shavings that i get at a woodshop, but she uses store bought pine wood shavings....will i hurt her rat if i begin to use the stuff i use on her rat??? (ive heard changing their bedding type can affect them???)
2007-05-16 09:59:40 · 13 answers · asked by Aubrey O 2 in Pets ➔ Rodents
I have had rats for many years and have used all kinds of different kinds of bedding. They way I look at it is wood shaving are wood shavings! LOL It won't hurt the rat though....just make sure that you keep the cage very clean and also make sure that the shavings you are useing do not contain a lot of dust particles because this can give them repiratory problems. Make sure if the cage allows it to keep the food seperate from the shavings....this will help with sanitation. I think the rat will be fine :-)
2007-05-16 10:14:35 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
well sometimes such a change can surprise or harm the rat. It is better to get certain kinds of bedding for your rat to remain healthy. I recommend, to be safe, to go with the stuff your friend is using. She would know! Plus, sometimes wood shavings from a wood shop are not good! they could have bacteria and other stuff that could make the rat sick on them. Not a good idea. Hope I helped.
I just did some research and it said to not use the pine stuff!! It is not good for rats.
2007-05-16 19:02:04 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
DO NOT USE WOOD SHAVINGS, they can be very harmful to rats, expecially pine and cedar. Any vet or person with knowlege about rats will tell you this. Use carefresh or any other bedding you find at a petstore that does not contain pine or cedar. You will deffinately hurt and possibally kill your friends rat by using wood shavings from the woodshop.
2007-05-17 15:21:45 · answer #3 · answered by Spartan Mike K 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Both kinds of wood shavings are not good to use. There is dust and oils that can be harmful for the respiratory system. Between the two, the store bought is the less harmful, because there won't be chemicals, as much dust, or bacteria present. Do not use woodshop shavings for bedding!
2007-05-17 09:43:20 · answer #4 · answered by erinn83bis 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Alright, firstly your friend needs to know that she is shortening her rats lifespan by using pine shavings. The stuff that makes them smell good to us are called phenols and are dangerous to rats very sensitive respiratory systems. If you must use wood, aspen is a readily available alternative that is safe.
It depends on what type of wood shavings you usually get as to whether or not they are safe.
So the best bet is to spend the $3 or 4 and get a bag of aspen shavings at Wal-Mart or Petsmart.
2007-05-16 23:50:31 · answer #5 · answered by shellsomers 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've heard that it is NOT good to use pine wood shaving or cedar wood shavings. I have a rat and I use shredded construction paper. The rat can easily move the paper around and fix their little house however they like it.
2007-05-16 19:12:28 · answer #6 · answered by Catrina 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You really shouldn't use wood from the wood shop...there could be alot of things in the wood that could harm the rat...
The best bedding is Aspen wood shavings that you buy from the pet stores...its safe for the rats and it's not that exspensive...
Changing their bedding type only hurts them if you give them bad bedding...
Hope this helps...GOOD LUCK!!!
2007-05-16 19:53:45 · answer #7 · answered by KaylaByrd 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i own a pet rat, and everything i have ever read online, or anything i have ever been told about rats is that cedar or pine bedding is really really bad for their health. something to do with their respiratory system.
use anything but cedar or pine bedding
2007-05-16 19:42:38 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
rats have a hight intollerance to dust etc. i use kittylitter, but the clumpy stuff. you should never every use dusty litter, wood shavings etc. i can do alot of harm to their little lungs. try anyhting that says hypo-alangenic. (sorry for the spelling errors.)
2007-05-17 11:16:39 · answer #9 · answered by the person who is talking 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i just got pet rats and i changed their bedding and they had no effect on it that i could tell sometimes if the bedding is dusty it mike make them sneeze more than usual hope this helped a little
2007-05-16 19:51:11 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋