Thoughts on carefresh

[Wilcox_87]

Hi all,

I would like to know what people think of Carefresh as a bedding?

I have always used it for my rats in the past but I have noticed the last couple of batches have been a bit dusty, my last girl had life long resp problems and while I know that Carefresh was not the cause, I am not sure that it was the best thing for her looking back My new babies have been on Carefresh for nearly two weeks and have no problems whatsoever, not even a sneeze but I am still not comfortable with the amount of dust in it. I have read very mixed reviews about Fitch, some swear by it and others say it is very dusty. Does anyone have a trusted dust-free bedding that they would recommend? I

[bazu]

I use Premierbed and haven't had any problems with it I previously used Finacard, and while the bedding itself was very good it gradually got dustier and dustier by the bale, so I gave up on it - then, when they announced an all-new extraction method that "ensured" it was dust-free, I tried it out again, found they had significantly improved, and then it got dustier again So in short, I wouldn't recommend that one!

Green Mile comes quite highly recommended too, from what I gather - I did use it previously, but found that my mob at the time seemed to prefer squares instead of strips, so the decision was made for me!

[Wilcox_87]

Thanks for the advice!

I was looking at the Premierbed on ratRations but was not sure how cosy it would be for them, although they only really go down to they floor to eat, drink and poop and spend most of their time in their hammocks/tubes. I really like the fact that it is compostable, much greener than the Carefresh which just goes to landfill

[bazu]

My lot drag it up into their hammocks and tubes to use as nesting material, as well as building little bowl-shaped nests\dips at ground level, so it can't be too uncomfortable!

[cyber ratty]

Some years ago, a new pet home that my kittens had gone to found that they were sneezing on carefresh, it stopped when they changed to something else - I think it is (or at least, was) perfumed in some way, so not good for most rats.

I use finacard, and have never found it to be dusty - it does work better than squares for burrowing and foraging.

[bazu]

I use finacard, and have never found it to be dusty - it does work better than squares for burrowing and foraging.

The bales I had got so bad that the dust was affecting my asthma - I must've had some seriously bad luck on the bales or something!

I agree that the strips types overall tend to be a better substrate than the squares though; as I said, in my case it was just the rats' preference.

[starstar]

I was an avid fitch user until recently when I found it had become very dusty, a very fine powdery dust. I have changed to shredded t-bags, you can get the more expensive sort that has had the bits of tea leaves removed, but you still do get some. I have been using the cheaper sort and give it a good fluff up and shake before transfering it into a large bag, which I shake again making most of the tea leaves drop to the bottom. I have found it brilliant for our elderly rats, hamster and the ferrets.

[Wilcox_87]

Thank you all for your great advice!

I am going to get a 1kg bale of finacard, premierbed and green mile to test and see which one I/the boys prefer. I have been creating a rat rations wish list sonit gives me a good excuse to splurge

[acapae_wolf]

I am going to get a 1kg bale of finacard, premierbed and green mile to test and see which one I/the boys prefer.

That sounds like a great idea

don't talk to me of RR wishlists, mine is far too long