Martha StewRat Holiday Crafts!
© Jane Adamo
You found out that rats have WAY different nutritional needs than hamsters. And you should house them in a cage instead of a tank because the air circulation is better: this means less chance of a myco outbreak because of dust and ammonia build up.
And now you know that you should never use aromatic wood shavings as bedding for rats, or for any rodent, or for lagomorphs (rabbits), either. The phenols in the shavings irritate the rat's respiratory system and, again, will bring on mycoplasmosis. Bed with (among other things) aspen, Carefresh, Yesterday's News, paper towels, clean cloth rags, etc. But never pine or cedar or any aromatic wood shavings.
Cedar Shavings can be A GOOD THING. As long as they aren't anywhere near your rats.
I found myself with a bag of cedar shavings when I adopted two hams. Hating waste, I endeavored to find out what a newbie can do with the bag of shavings the kid at PetGear told you you hadda have. The Ratlisters sent me a bunch of nifty ways to use them up. In fact, I gotta tell ya: some of them are SO NIFTY, as gift ideas, that you may buy a bag just for crafting purposes.
1 Put shavings in old nylon stockings and hang in your closet. Smells nice. Maybe it keeps moths away. Or make gift potpourri's: Make pretty bags from tulle or wide (but tight mesh) lace. Stuff with cedar and tie with wide pastel-colored satin ribbons to a hanger. Include a little gift tag explaining how to use the bags.
SUPER GIFT TAG FOR YOU DIY-ers! It's a little bookform called the Hot Dog Booklet and it's the neatest thing you ever saw! It yields an adorable little book with a cover and 3 pages with NO SEWING OR GLUING! Also - if you want to make multiple copies: the printing is only on one side of the paper, so you can make a booklet out of an 81/2 x 11 sheet of paper, and run as many copies as you want off in the copy machine! Load the machine with pretty paper! Click here right now!
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