Respiratory problems are common and can be severe in pet rats and mice. These include infections such as mycoplasma as well as allergies and irritation. There are many things you can do at home to reduce the chance of your rodent becoming unwell, or to reduce the severity of respiratory disease. One of these is using the appropriate substrate.
Substrate is the covering that we use on the bottom of the enclosure. An ideal substrate should be easy to clean, dust free, non-toxic and comfortable for your ratty or mousey to walk around on and sleep on.
Appropriate substrates include newspaper, towels, fleece, Vetbed, recycled paper pellets, paper towel, shredded paper, tissues and artificial turf. A combination of substrates can be used to provide an interesting environment for your pet to explore, as well as specific areas. Something soft is best for the sleeping area such as fleece or towels. Something absorbent should be used for the toileting area.
Inappropriate substrates include saw dust, wood chips, wood shavings, cedar shavings, soil, sand and anything dusty. These materials can cause respiratory irritation, allergies, foot irritation and possible harbor infectious agents.
One factor that influences air quality greatly for rodents is the ammonia build up that occurs from uncleaned urine. Ammonia takes 24-48 hours to volatilize, after which it can be inhaled and can severely irritate the airways. For this reason we recommend changing the cage bedding daily and doing a detergent wash of the cage once to twice weekly. A lot of our rodent clients will have a pile of fleece blankets, vetbed, towels etc. that are for the rodents so that they can easily take one out to put in the wash and replace with another daily.
Here is a rat cage with material substrate that is easy to clean, and dust free!
Materials can also be used to make hammocks for your rats and mice! You can also buy purpose made rat hammocks in our reception area!
