Safe Bed is a soft, recycled paper bedding which is safe if chewed and swallowed. We use it for our igloos/nestboxes for both adult rats and newborn kittens. It provides the rats with material to play with - which adds to the interest in the cage and encourages natural nesting behaviour. We avoid fluffy "cotton wool" type beddings as the fibres can wrap around toes and it is very difficult to notice until the toe becomes swollen/infected. (Some people also believe that fluffy beddings can cause blockages if swallowed.) Safe Bed is available from petshops and comes in various pack sizes, so it is easy to choose the best one for you.

Biocatolet is a 100% recycled paper cat litter, available from Sainsbury's and some other supermarkets and pet shops - the bag says that it is suitable for small animals. We use this in our rats' litter trays. It is also one of the permitted litters that may be used in show tanks at NFRS shows (the other being plain shavings) - for this reason we always keep a supply of it. We like this litter as it aborbs moisture quite well, although it is best in a cage with a fairly deep tray as it does tend to be kicked around. It works out fairly expensive if you have a lot of cages, although is definitely worth considering if you only have a few rats.

We use this shredded cardboard litter in the base of our rat cages. It comes under many names depending on supplier, and was originally manufactured for horses with respiratory problems as it is dust-free. This also makes it ideal for rats and other small pets, which are also prone to respiratory problems. Some manufacturers have now realised this, and market it for small animals as well. It absorbs mess and controlls smells surprisingly well, and it is very popular among rat breeders. Most types are chopped into half-inch squares which limits the mess that rats can make by throwing their litter around (it doesn't easily fit through the cage bars), and any that does "escape" is very easily vacuumed or swept up. An additional bonus is that it is very cheap, at around £7 for a 20kg bale, which for about 7 cages lasts about a month. We buy ours at a farm shop locally or share a pallet of approx 24 bales with a friend (delivered direct from supplier). If you order directly from a supplier's website, you'll have to pay a delivery charge too - even including that, it still competes very well with woodshavings etc for price.

Carefresh is a soft, natural litter that is available from many petshops, especially the larger ones and it is becoming generally more easily available over time as it is suitable for many different species of animal. It is suitable for small pets and also reptiles. It comes in a condensed pack which lasts longer than you might expect. We have used it in the past for a hamster and were happy with it, although it would be quite expensive for a large number of rat cages.

Megazorb is another horse litter, which can be purchased from many horse/pony supply shops. It is similar to Bob Martins in texture, providing a soft and fairly dust-free cage litter. It is quite cheap, and is available in economical ly sized sacks. We have bought this in the past and found it to be a good litter. As it is quite lightweight and easily kicked around, it is best in cages with deeper bases.

Bob Martins is similar to Biocatolet in many ways although the pellets are smaller, softer and lighter - so like Megazorb, is best used in cages with deep litter trays to avoid mess. It is slightly cheaper, and can be bought in petshops and some supermarkets, such as Asda.

Yesterday's News is another litter made from recycled newspaper. The pellets are large and dense, so is suitable for cages with shallow bases. It is ideal for litter trays and absorbs smells well. I haven't yet found a regular source for this litter locally, but it is definitely available in many petshops and it seems to be increasing in popularity.

Wood shavings are the "traditional" litter used for many small animals, from rabbits and guinea pigs to rats and mice. However, they can often be dusty and the natural oils they contain are believed by many to irritate the lungs/livers of small animals if they are kept on them for any length of time. I certainly find that they make me sneeze, and I don't have to live on them 24 hours a day! The scented varieties (pine, strawberry etc) are even worse, and whether or not they are healthy for pets, I believe it is unfair to keep animals which have a sensitive sense of smell on a strongly scented product - if we can smell it, it must be overpowering to them. Shavings are cheap and readily available in petshops, but they are also messy and tend to spread all over the house easily. We would not recommend using shavings.

We don't have a great deal of experience of using hemp litter, as have only ever had one "trial size" bag. It is a lightweight litter, so is a little messier than some of the other options, but it is an attractive light colour and during the fortnight we tested it, seemed to keep fairly fresh between cage cleaning sessions. It is available in some petshops.

Some breeders believe that rats cannot do without hay (to eat and sleep in), while others worry that it may contain mites and other parasites. We trialled it in small quantities with one cage of bucks for a while, and they certainly seemed to enjoy playing with it, and they didn't catch any parasites. It is something we will probably test more comprehensively in the future.

The pros and cons are very similar to wood shavings, but the finer nature of the product makes it even dustier. We do not believe that sawdust is a good litter for any small animals.

There are many cat litters available, but other than the 100% paper ones detailed above, they are not suitable for using in the cages of small animals. Most contain clays, which are very dusty and dry the respiratory tract. They can create such a dry environment, that the rat develops dry skin or even ringtail (a condition which damages the tail). The perfumes that are often used in them can also cause respiratory probems in rats prone to them, and "clumping" litters may be dangerous when swallowed. These products are obviously fine for cats, which only spend a few minutes a day in close contact to them, but are not suitable as a litter for rodents and other small pets.