hehe, yes, you called it right, Barbie! It is not an industrial shredder but my boyfriend bought it for me specifically for making litter, newspaper shreds at the time. It’s a Fellowe’s heavy-duty one. It says it can take 12 sheets of paper at a time and I put the cardboard through in small single sheets.

that’s part of the reason I got the shredder. we have to take our trash to the landfill and the less waste we have the better. By turning boxes into litter I end up composting it and we have less bulk trash.
this shredder was just under $100 so I have to make a lot of litter to make it pay for itself.

The odor issue has improved for me since I changed my set-up. The rabbits love the big litter cage and it is attached to their pen where my laundry corner is; it smells soapy there most days and covers the bunny scent. I hope the rabbits don’t mind.

Posted By Elrohwen on 02/10/2010 11:13 AM.

I like that it’s dust free. Whenever I’ve used carefresh I’ve ended up with papery cardboard dust all over everything.

 

I found this comparison of litters as far as dust goes:

(from Ecobed’s website http://www.ecobed.co.uk/)

This is an extract from the table of data produced by University of Liege Belgium when using EcoBed.

Respirable dust particles by litre of air and viable spore concentrations (colonies forming units (cfu)) in 1.5 cubic foot of air of Aespergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus), Faenia rectivirgula (F. rectivirgula) and Thermoactinomyces vulgaris (T. vulgaris) in different types of bedding and supplement (Mean ± standard deviation).

Respirable dust A. fumigatus F. rectivirgula T. vulgaris   Particles/ litre of air cfu/42.45 litres of air cfu/42.45 litres of air cfu/42.45 litres of air Wood shavings 31492 ± 12910 710 ± 124 53 ± 29 79 ± 59 Good Straw 11571 ± 4897 402 ± 214 18 ± 17 33 ± 17 Flax Straw 9251 ± 1776 104 ± 23 10 ± 9 60 ± 13 EcoBed 6744 ± 1925 1.1 ± 1.9 0 ± 0 0.1 ± 0.4 Values with no common designations are significantly different (p < 0.05) (Mann-Whitney statistic test).

I am surprised you found Carefresh dusty. I have never used it but their website claims it is free from dust. 

I found another co. that makes a similar litter to Ecobed. (It is kind of crazy to see ripped newspaper to buy. )

Their products are really clean by the sounds of it, they vacuum up any dust prior to baling it. Plus, they say the cardboard is new, not used.

http://www.finacard-uk.com/index.php

The advantage of the manufactured litter like CritterStrips is that they are made from pre-consumer waste. Who knows where the cardboard has been that I used? Boxes travel.
Zeolite can only be used under a grate, though.

Keeping in mind that my house is very dry and cool this time of year, after 24 hours there is no smell, even close to the litter. When I have used newsprint shreds I usually have some smell by now. The cardboard strips, being small and corrugated, absorb much more liquid than newsprint or Aspen shavings. I should get some Yesterdays News and compare it too that. — Anyone here got some YN and is willing to do an experiment? I want to put some of my strips into a glass and see how much water they will absorb; I’d like to compare it with YN since it has such a small particle size also and is paper-based.
Karla, I think once the cardboard is broken up into shreds with the corrugated edges exposed, urine won’t stay on the surface for long as it would on a flat piece of cardboard.

I will keep making this litter even though the boxes I have are from packaging. I give boxes to play with and rip up anyways. I think if your rabbits are healthy it should not pose a a risk.
So far I am in favor of this material. Neigey and Mops both slept in this litter this morning apparently approving of its softness. I trimmed Mops’ skirt so the strips won’t stick to him. The strips are very diggable and Mops is crazy about that. they don’t fly out as much as wood pellets do.
The grid cage I still use, too, on the other side of their pen so they don’t forget how to use it. I don’t use any litter under the grid now so I can keep an eye on their waste pruducts easily; it is hard to see anything in a mess of cardboard and hay fines.

Yes, I am already thinking I won’t have enough cardboard. I will enlist a friend who lives in town to collect for me.
If you lived nearby Sarita I would shred for you
You might get a nice shredder at a liquidation place. Or is it the space for it you don’t have?
I have a back-up recycling crew. My dogs beat cardboard boxes to flat bits. I have cardboard all over my yard, it is actually time to clean it up today.
–How can I tell if cardboard is infested with cockroach eggs, anyone know?

Yes, roaches turned up in an apt building even here, but the people that brought them came from the soouth. so maybe I need not worry. I just want to know how to tell if cardboard is clean. I just asked my neighbors, nice clean people and they will collect boxes for me.
sarita, I have never seen your place but I live wiith the most persistent clutterbug on earth. It is a struggle. If I want to toss something he will take is aside and say “let’s put it here for now” and it stays there. I woud like to trade basement for garage by the way….
We could test the Wood Pellets too, Karla. Let’s do it if you feel like. You do things in liters? If you would measure 1/4 of a liter of litter (pay attention to the ‘t’s) and see how many ml of water it will hold without letting any liquid run out. Take pictures if you can.

No rush. I am still looking for members willing to test the absorbency of other litters too.

To circumvent the conversion confusion from ml to oz. and imperial vs U.S. why not measure litter volume and water volume in equal parts. Like you make rice, you know?

Posted By Sarita on 02/11/2010 12:04 PM
Okay Professor Petzy – I have Lone Star Bedding which is a pellted pine – do you need that tested? If so, can you give me the instructions again on how you want this done?

Are you making fun of me? –I can take it….

I will post my absorbency demonstration today and make instructions clear. I hope.

*It would be a good idea if several members tested the same material, too, so yes, please test the Lone Star brand litter if you are up for it.

That would be great, mocha.  Really anything you can use for rabbit litter that is safe, soak it to see how much water it will hold and post here.

I tested some litter.

I used 2 cups of lukewarm water and 2 cups of cardboardstrips pressed into the measuring cup tightly.

I added the water. So it was 1 part cardboard strips to 1 part of water

I let it sit for 5 minutes and then poured off any excess water. I collected 1/2 cup of excess which means my 2 cups of cardboard strips bound up 1 1/2 cups of water, that’s 75% their own volume.

I did the same procedure with newspaper shreds the same size as my cardboard strips.

I had lots of excess water, the newsprint held less than half its own volume in water.

I tried kiln–dried pine shavings I used to use under my grated litter cage. At first they seemed to hold their own volume in water but after a while it trickled through and pooled at the bottom. I give this litter a Fail.

the cardboard strips got drier the longer they sat

Oh my. The pelleted pine really absorbs the water. Looks like it could have taken in another 2 cups.
It is the small particle size of pressed saw dust that is so absorbent.
I say Lone Star Litter is in the lead…

The pelleted litters are definitely superior to cardboard strips. I doubt anyone will want to waste 2 cups of Yesterday’s News for this thread but I imagine the paper pulp pellets would have more absorbency than my strips also. I will stick with the cardboard though, it is cozy and warm for my rabbits and fills a large litter tray economically.

OK, Carrot Lane!! Thanks! That will complete this ‘study’
~’Professor Petzy’

I just looked up he Sun Seed bedding because I didn’t know about it. It is a pelleted paper litter so similar to Yesterday’s News. However, it says on the bag that it has baking soda added for odor control and so I would recommend Yesterday’s News over the Sun Seed one, just in case a rabbit decides to eat a few pieces. Especially young rabbits eat litter material sometimes.

There is another type of pelleted litter available. It is by Oxbow and is made of wheat straw.

http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/…D.vipa-05b

Poor Otto; what a lousy xmas meal!
–even some rodenticides are the same shape of pellets. I wish they weren’t.

I noticed some companies specify the weight, not the volume, of liquid their litter will absorb as compared to its own weight. In terms of that I can say the cardboard leads. Wood pellets are very heavy.

TARM, thanks for adding to my discussion here. Did your rescue discontinue using the cardboard litter because it was too coarse? The livestock supply store here does not carry it. When I changed my rabbits’ litter today Neigey binkied through the strips. This is major bunny approval.

oh, thanks averyone! I am so surprised about Yesterday’s News. I thought it would absorb way more water.
Kim, I wonder what those pieces were you found??? That’s really weird and bad!

Interesting point, BB, about the swelling up. Please test the YN, too, to see if you come up with similar results.

I still really like my strips of cardboard. They stick together when wet and so litter-change is quick.

I have some that I kept for bunny toy boxes and for other purposes, like when we change the oil on the car etc. So it’s just boxes from packaging I collected. I will run out now soon b/c of this litter. I asked other ppl to collect for me and I will go get some from a store too. You could check with a local business in your town to ask if you can have some of their cardboard that goes for recycling. It has to be the brown plain stuff, though, no gloss on it.

I can smell ammonia pretty strongly with my cardboard strips once they have been peed on. I try to keep the layer pretty thin and change it often.

I do believe YN is the best in odor control because they infused the litter with an ingredient that eliminates odor on contact. I wonder what that ingredient is. Does anyone know?

Neigey really likes the shredded litter:

Kim, I suppose the odor control ingredient in YN is a secret. LOL.
–Yes, I now only have this cage for litter for my 4. I started out with four litter boxes and then gradually decreased as they accepted Neigey more and more.

mocha, no, the cardboard is bad for odor control. I have used wood stove pellets in the past and even they did more for keeping the stink down. The smell is a definite draw-back of the cardboard strips.

it’s a secret…
I will email the co.

–no secrets: no odor controlling ingredients in YN rabbit litter. They said it is just the density of the pelleted reclaimed wood fibers that are absorbing the smells. Reclaimed wood fibers are from newspaper, magazines, kids’ homework etc. This might explain why someone on here posted seeing “pieces of plastic” in it. The paper gets stripped of inks and such as much as possible, though.

Plain cardboard is not as dense obviously as pelleted wood fibers which is why I am getting some odor with my cardboard strips..

well, Elrohwen, Neigey gets real rabbit food not paper pellets in his bowl (like some rabbits, for xmas)

OK. My compromise is to continue making the shredded cardboard litter but to keep the ammonia smell contained by partially covering their littercage. I don’t think it will be a problem since there isn’t a lot of dust in the strips.

Garlic? I think I prefer ammonia! — It is fitting, though, especially since intact rabbits’ manure has an onion scent to it.

I found out much of the ammonia that I was able to smell came from the hay that gets soggy in between the cardboard strips.

I was able to go 5 days without changing my quartet’s littercage. The cover definitely keeps the barn odor from any peed-up hay in. I have also noticed that my rabbits potty habits have improved, possibly because of the new litter. I can’t say. I’m just happy to have less clean-up work.

I took a photo to show that the cage bottom under the strips stayed completely dry even after 5 days and 4 rabbits using it.

It is in urine, has a pungent odor. It becomes a gas quickly hence the strong smell. If you let your rabbit pee on hay it becomes noticeable right away.

Posted By BinkyBunny on 02/19/2010 09:03 PM
Oye! I need to get on this! So sorry for my delay. The cups full of the litters are still sitting in my kitchen waiting for this very simple experiment. Geesh! My husband thought of a good idea to test the odor as well – add the same amount of garlic to each and see which one is more garlicy after.

So we’ll try to do this Saturday!

I am imagining cups of litter sitting in your kitchen… I worry you might accidentally cook with it, LOL.

I know you run a busy site, BB, but did you do the stink test yet?

I stuck with my strips of corrugated cardboard. It turns out to be very sustainable.

Can you photograph the eco animal bedding up close/ I am surprised it is thin. Corrugated cardboard is rather thick.
I don’t have any problems with smell as I discard the layer of hay often that inevitably falls on top of the strips. But I don’t mind cardboard scent!

I am familiar with DE but I have to wonder what food grade DE is. Diatomaceous earth as a substance is a sedimentary rock product. Any rock, no matter how finely ground, isn’t digestible for rabbits and can cause blockage in a rabbit’s GI tract, especially if sprinkled on regular, edible litters such as papar-based ones or shavings. I do agree that it controls odor well, but it should only ever be used under a grated litterbox where a rabbit cannot reach it.

Posted By jerseygirl on 03/06/2010 05:45 PM

 

I meant to add this pic earlier. I thought might inspire you to make a larger version. Now, I don’t think rabbits would use a wheel so maybe you could use a manual  treadmill & the dogs to power the shredder…

This is getting to be very David Suzuki… however, your idea is adding fuel to the fire around the eco footprint of pets. –I feel if only I could build this treadmill for my dogs to power a shredder to produce litter for my rabbits out of used cardboard, that I can then compost and use as fertilizer to grow grass for the rabbits to eat…

wow. Jersey, you and I together might solve global warming

LOL!

Posted By jerseygirl on 03/07/2010 11:44 PM

Eco Animal Bedding. I’d say they are on average 1/2 inch square pieces. This isn’t Ecobale company by the way.

 

These are way large pieces. No wonder absorbency was poor. It is the inside corrugated part that has the ability to hold liquids.

They use it for dogs to control parasites, even internally, but dogs are so different from rabbits. I would like to ask a vet if ingestested food grade DE really would be dangerous for rabbits. It is heavy fiberless and turns sludgy once wet. I just wouldn’t want that in my rabbits’ gut, you know.

I found this litter comparison table in the HRS articles http://www.rabbit.org/journal/1/liver-disease.html

LITTER COMPARISONS

*Vesell, E.S. (1967) Induction of Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes in Liver Microsomes of Mice and Rats by softwood bedding. Science. 157, 1058

Diatomaceous earth, even the food grade kind, is composed of 90% silica, which is also the main component in sand. I doubt that sand would make a safe rabbit litter unless used under a grate. Food grade means that no harmful substances were added or used in processing the DE. It is the DE itself, in its purest form, that I would consider harmful to rabbits because of the risk of GI upset, much like bentonite clay.

Posted By Barbie on 02/10/2010 11:32 AM
  (…)One thing though (and this may not matter to you anyway) I wonder how rough the cardboard is on your shredder…. I mean, obviously that’s what the shredder is for, but since cardboard is much thicker than just paper, I’d think it would wear out the shredder blades faster.

I have made my own litter now for a while and I found that cutting the cardboard into longer but narrower pieces makes it easier on my shredder.  The other thing I noticed is that the pieces go through my shredder fast and easy if I feed them in with the corrugation grooves perpendicular to the shredder blades.