Wood pellet bedding question

[maherwoman]

For those of you that use wood pellet bedding, I have a question...

I have found a place near me that has horse stall wood pellet bedding, but the pellets are quite large.

Do you guys break the pellets up to put them in your buns' litterboxes,or is it fine to leave them whole? I ask because it lookedlike some of the pellets were about an inch long, and it seems quitebig for buns.

When switching bedding, do you have to do a little at a time, like withcats? Or can I just use the new stuff and leave some dirtylitter in there of their previous type of bedding, so their smell isstill there?

Also, with wood pellet bedding, does it get stuck on their paw fur oron their bums? Will I have to keep an eye out for that?

Yet another question...my buns love laying in their litterboxes likelittle beds...will this prevent me from being able to use the woodpellet bedding?

And yet another...with them sleeping in the bedding, would it be betterto try out Yesterday's News? Would I have to break up THOSEpellets?

Thanks for answering all my questions, guys!

 

[MyBoyHarper]

When I used bedding, I used cardboard chips,which is exactly what it sounds like: cardboard cut into littlesquares. I bought it by the 50 pound bail at a feed store, it's made byAirLite Animal Bedding. I did have my bun on Carefresh at one time, buthe began to eat his bedding. So then, I switched to the cardboard,since a vet told me if he was going to eat any kind of bedding, thiswould be the safest. But, my bun is not always the brightest bun, andhe ate that bedding too. Needless to say, he ended up giving himself ablockage, but he's fine now.

Until he started eating the bedding, I loved the cardboard chips, andstill use it for all my other animals (hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, and2 rats).

Bun now has no bedding in his cage, just a smooth bedding-less cagebottom, Lol. Except for the cardboard chips that I use as litter in hislitter box.

As a side note, my bun must really be weird. He never did care much forbedding. He always either kicked it to the side, or out of the cagecompletely, so he could lay on the smooth bottom of the cage. :shock:

 

[Andrea]

I'm useing the firematser wood stove pellets for my buns litter pans. $5 for a 40lb bag i can't go wrong.

My buns don't eat it, it dosn't get stuck in their fur and it kindabreaks down when it gets moist. My buns to like to sit in their litter,though for one I encourage it while he eats hay, as I am 'still' littertraining him.



I've not seen the horse stall ones you are mentioning, how long are the pellets?

 

[maherwoman]

Question...where can I find wood stove pellets?

Andrea wrote:

I'm useing the firematserwood stove pellets for my buns litter pans. $5 for a 40lb bag i can'tgo wrong.

My buns don't eat it, it dosn't get stuck in their fur and it kindabreaks down when it gets moist. My buns to like to sit in their litter,though for one I encourage it while he eats hay, as I am 'still' littertraining him.



I've not seen the horse stall ones you are mentioning, how long are the pellets?

 

[naturestee]

The pellets I use are fairly big. Feyand Sprite used to sleep on them until I gave them towels and a strawmat, so they can't be too uncomfortable.

Last time I did a big switch in bedding, from Carefresh to woodpellets, I put the new stuff underneath and the old stuff ontop. Then since I had two litterboxes in the cage, I had oneall new stuff and the other half and half, then a few days later I wentto all new stuff. I did this because the texture and smellwas so different and Mocha wasn't littertrained much in the firstplace. I didn't want to upset them and have them go outsidethe box more often.

You can usually find wood stove pellets at places like Home Depot inwinter, but I've heard that you often have to stock up. Somefeed stores will carry them year-round if you ask. If youdon't get cold weather in your area of California, you probably won'tbe able to find them.

The other thing with wood stove pellets- check the packaging.Some brands add an excellerant and are not safe for animals.This will be listed on the package though.

 

[Andrea]

maherwoman wrote:

Question...where can I find wood stove pellets?

I buy them at Rona.... I think it's Canadian though....

I'd try any Stove/BBQ or Home hardware store.

 

[BACI]

I switched half and half, but I don't think youhave to. I guess it depends on the bun. We have tried a few brands sowhen I tried carefresh (i think thats the name) Delilah startedsneezing and dug all that brand out of the box and then would only usethe wood pellet litters. The horse pellets are larger but she sleeps onthem. They are also very absorbant so don't fill the litter box toofull, they break up but expand upwards if that makes any sense. I lovethem though ... no odor or dust. Good luck, hope you have the samesuccess.

 

[Pipp]

Note that I use this for litter, notbedding. (My bunnies aren't caged). I'm still notconvincedthat pine bedding (especially for unneutered males),is all that safe.

I buy pine horse stall pellets in big (big) bags, and they're big (big)pellets, but Ifill up a spare litter tray or pail to abouthalf full and pour hot water on them. They fluff up to twicethe volumeand break down into sawdust and smallpieces. I cover the bottom of the bunnies' trayswithit and puthay on top, or at leastononehalf of the pan so they can do their thing andmunch away in they process. (It helps them eat morehay).

It's surprising not very messy at all. The sawdust neversticks to their fur or gets tracked out of the box.

At least not until Dill or Darry decide that it's a LOT of fun to digall the litter out of the box onto the floor. :disgust:

Hope this helps.

sas and the warren :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I got Firemaster lastyear, which was available fromRevy, and Home Depot. I didn't care forthem, because of the strong pine smell which gaveme headaches and smelled up the room.
I use Woody Pet and DragonMountain (Home Hardware) now.But different brands are always switchedwhen the stores bring in new stock.

The largest piece of pelletI've seen so far is lessthan 1/2 inch.However the size wouldn'tbother me as it does break downwhen it gets wet. Pebblesdoesn't get into the litter asI use a screen tocover the pellets as you cansee halfway down my thread......

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=9548&forum_id=6&page=4

Rainbows!

 

[Pipp]

I should add that I don't like Yesterday's News,it's too dark and bulky to see the proper colour of the pee or the sizeand shape of the poops. (And I don't like the smell, but thenagain I like the smell of pine, which Pet Bunny obviously doesn't, soit's a matter of taste).

And with the horse stall bedding, I just dump the whole litter box andrefill it. If I"m in a hurry, I'll just throw more dry stuffon top. The stuff is pretty cheap and easy to handle.

If my bunnies were caged, however, I wouldjust use hay -- hayon top of newspaper and just dump that out and refillit. It's easy to handle, very healthy and thebunnies love it. They'll sleep on some of it, pee and poop onsome of it and eat some of it. And unless you don't give theman option, they won't eat the stuff they pee on, don't worry aboutthat.

And hay bought by the bale is really cheap. In BC, it sellsfor$12 for a 90-lb bale, which will probably be good for theyear, even with all those uses.

sas and the hay happy warren :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[maherwoman]

Ok, cool, guys! Thanks so much for allyour advice about it! We'll probably start switching withinthe week.

Thank you!

 

[JimD]

maherwoman wrote:

For those of you that use wood pellet bedding, I have a question...

I have found a place near me that has horse stall wood pellet bedding, but the pellets are quite large.

Do you guys break the pellets up to put them in your buns' litterboxes,or is it fine to leave them whole? I ask because it lookedlike some of the pellets were about an inch long, and it seems quitebig for buns.

I use Woody Pet for litter, but am familiar with a few ofthe other brands. The Horse Stall wood pellets are similar to Woody Pet.
One of the recent issues with the Woody Pet is that the size of thepellets have become considerably smaller and has evolved into a productthat the manufacturers refer to as "crumble". Same stuff, just asmaller consistancy. Wether it's the larger pellets or the crumble....Iuse it as it is for the litter pans.

maherwomanwrote:

When switching bedding, do you have to do alittle at a time, like with cats? Or can I just use the newstuff and leave some dirty litter in there of their previous type ofbedding, so their smell is still there?

I change and clean the litter pans every other day. I dumpthe whole thing and put in new. Some member perfer to just scoop outthe soiled litter and add in some new.
As for bedding....I don't use any, but if I did I probably would changeit all. The only time I've left some soiled litter was when I waslitter training them.

maherwoman wrote:

Also, with woodpellet bedding, does it get stuck on their paw fur or on theirbums? Will I have to keep an eye out for that?

It does, but it's like sawdust by that time. Benji get's"Woody-butt" all the time, but it just brushes off. No worries about itcaking or matting into the fur at all. First binky and it's gone

maherwoman wrote:

Yet anotherquestion...my buns love laying in their litterboxes like littlebeds...will this prevent me from being able to use the wood pelletbedding?

No. I have several buns that sleep/lounge in their litterpans. IMO...the wood pellets are what keep those buns from gettingstinky and matted.

maherwoman wrote:

And yet another...with them sleeping in the bedding, would it bebetter to try out Yesterday's News? Would I have to break upTHOSE pellets?

I've used Yesterdays News. Very expensive compared to woodpellets, and doesn't perform as well as far as odor control &absorbsion. I didn't break up those pellets either.

~Jim

 

[mambo101]

Did someone say Woody Pet!!:bunnydance:

 

[maherwoman]

Ok, great. Thank you so much for theinformation, JimD!! Sounds like wood pellet litter is justthe right solution for the expense CareFresh has been building to benow that we have two buns instead of just one.

One more question: How long does wood pellet bedding store?Is there any point where it's not safe to put in their cage, even if Ikeep it in a dark, dry place? I can't say how long a big bagwill last us, as I completely clean out all four small cat-litterboxsized litterboxes every other day. But because there are onlyfour, it might last as long as a couple months. Is that toolong...will it still be good?

 

[mambo101]

I use Woody Pet. As long as you keep it in acool, dry place it will last a very long time. Just make sure you justline the bottom of the litter tray with the pellets, as they willEXPAND the more your bunnies pee. How often you replace the litterdepends on how much your bunnies poop and pee. I end up changingDanté's about once every four days and Ziggy's every three days, eventhough he is younger, he drinks more water.

You may also want to consider getting one of those big plastic storagebins to keep your Woody Pet in. It's much neater. Between the tworabbits, I usually use one 30 pound bag every three month. That's muchmore economical than anything sold in a pet store.

 

[maherwoman]

Ok...that's a great idea about keeping it in astorage tub. I could also get a scooper thing to get it outwith.

Thanks, guys!!