litter

[boots081692]

Is wheat,corn,pine,pellet, and paper all good litter to use in a ferret litter pan? is baking soda safe for ferrets if its in a litter?
Thank You,
Melinda

[melcabral]

Many people here use any and all of those. I myself use wood stove pellets. I buy four bags for less than $5 each at winter time and it lasts- $20 a year! It tracks a little because the pellets break down to sawdust when they get wet, but for some reason I find it also somehow keeps the poops from sticking to the sides of the box which means less washing of the box!

[boots081692]

i was just looking on petsmart.com so i can start a list of things to get for the pair when i get them in 2013 or 2014. and trying to get an idea of the price everything will cost.

[Sherry]

Right now, I'm using Swheat Scoop. If it wasn't for cost(10 ferrets and 4 cats go through a LOT of litter!), I'd be using World's Best Cat Litter! Best stuff I've ever used
For cost factor, go with either hardwood woodstove pellets, or horse bedding pellets I believe it's called. Basically the same thing.

At the moment i am using Breeder Celect. And im looking into buying stove pellets when these are all finished.

Im using wood pellet horse bedding right now and will prob be using this for a very long time. It's so cheap that I dont feel bad just dumping the whole box when I clean it out. No scooping, no sifting, just dump and refill. I have on occasion sprinkled some arm and hammer litter deodorizer in there. Not really sure if it makes a difference. Baking soda would be fine too, but I'm thinking with this stuff once it gets wet it's not going to help a whole lot. Still, it smells nice going in lol

[laurel]

I'm a wood pellet user too, for all the reasons listed above. I'm very happy with it.

[1badmonkey]

I couldn't stand the tracking of wet litter when we used pellets so we recently switched to walnut shell clumping litter and I love it. Like, L O V E I T! Smell is controlled, the only stuff that tracks is minimal and clean, its very dark brown so if I have a surprise house guest and the litter box isn't clean, they can't tell, poops blend in! The litter itself smells nice, not a typical litter smell. I use less litter because we're scooping clumps not dumping a whole box. Its also a bigger grain, like a small grapenut cereal or coarse sand, so I don't have to worry about Loki inhaling some of it. Lastly, so far, zero dust.

Aside from one temper tantrum Loki hasn't played in it or dug it out either.

Only possible downside is price. For us, this is completely negated by the fact we are using so much less.

Here's the one we're using:
www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12758438&lmdn=Brand&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo

~Kelli

[quixoticwhit]

I tried the wood pellets, but, besides the price, I didn't like them. I'm still finding sawdust in places and it just got everywhere in and out of the cage. REALLY good price, though..

I use Yesterday's News. I like it and the ferts took to it nicely. I was using Marshall's for a long while because it's made for ferrets and my ferret books pretty much said cat litter is bad (well, that's what I got out of em). I've found I can get it for half the price at WalMart compared to PetCo--when you do find something you like, watch where you buy and keep an eye out for sales.

Galinda came with some Feline Pine and I didn't like that at all. It smelled weird and tracked like the regular wood pellets. Also, I caught her eating it.

[boots081692]

i'm thinking of using Arm & Hammer® Natural Double-Duty Clumping Cat Litter when i get a pair of ferrets. it says its made of natural corn fibers. would this be a good litter to use?

[melcabral]

Thatt is another kind I have used for my guys. It smells GREAT but it tracks a LOT. I still use it for my cat. (he tracks it too unfortunately) I guess it depends on what's most important to you.

[kpaz]

Where do you guys get this wood stove pellet stuff? I really need to get my cat some better litter (not wood stove pellets, or would that work?) I have some Swheat scoop but the smell of that stuff makes me so nauseous.

[Yurei Avalon]

Wood stove pellets can generally be purchased from any hardware store.

[keri]

Living in the south, you may only be able to find them during the colder months. Up here we have stores devoted to pellet stoves and pellets open year-round, but even Wal-Mart has the pellets during the winter.

You may have better luck finding them packaged as horse stall bedding.

[Sushi La Fuchi]

I use wood stove pellets as well. I buy mine at Menards. Most around my area only carry it during the winter months, but a few towns over (about a 15 minute drive) is a particularly HUGE and fancy Menards and that one carries it all year round. So I don't have to worry about stocking up during the winter time. If you're unsure whether your local Menards carries it or not, you can go to this link: www.menards.com/main/heating-cooling/fuel/40-lb-premium-wood-pellets/p-1463989.htm

On the right side where it says Store Availability type in your zip code, then select your closest location. If it says "Special Order" to (store location you picked) then it's not available, but you can click on "Check Another Store" and it will pull up a list of all the Menards around your area and list whether it's available in stores or special order. It's how I found out the bigger Menards a few towns over carried them year round even in the summertime.

I personally love Wood Stove Pellets and don't seem to have any tracking problems at all. Then again, it could be that my little girl is particularly clean and doesn't snorkel or dig in her litter while cage raging. I add baking soda to the bottom of the litter and on top of the pellets and give it a good mix with the poop scooper to make sure they're all coated to help with the smell control. If you're not fond of tracking you can look into buying a Sifting Litter Box for wood pellets. When the pellets get wet and break down into saw dust they'll just fall down into the bottom of the litter pan while the dry litter (and pooped on litter) stays on top in a separate, higher level. Easier clean up and helps control tracking. I'm currently on the search for one that I can fit inside the cage. I know they sell Covered Sifting Litter Boxes for cats, so I'm thinking of heading over to Walmart to use those kinds of litter boxes for outside the cage during play time.

Anywho, just my two cents worth of what I use and plan to do to control any tracking. Hope I helped.