Cage cleaning routine

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Suzi13

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Aug 30, 2014
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Hello everybody ! :wave:

I am a new rat owner, got my 2 boys 2 weeks ago (so they are now 7w old) and they are great :) But I have a problem about the infamous cage cleaning ! Hope people with more experience than me can provide some help ;)

So far, I have been cleaning their cage every 2 days. I usually take everything out, wash everything plastic (toys, stairs, bottom of the cage, etc) with soap and water, and spray the hammocks and the vetbed with an animal stain+odour remover spray (the same I used to clean my dog's "accidents" when he was a puppy). I also replace the kitchen papers they have under the vetbed. But... it stinks !! (and so do the rats, they really themselves smell of pee).
Maybe I should mention I am trying to litter train them too, so the cage has a vetbed, and they have a corner litter with cat litter pellets. It's a lot of poo in it, and while I still find some outside of it, I think they poo mostly there, but I don't know about peeing (but the kitchen towels under the vetbed seem to indicate they pee everywhere at the bottom).

Today will be the 1st "big clean", since Im going to do a laundry with the vetbed and hammocks (I do laundry every 2 weeks, it's just the way it is since I live in a building with a communal laundry). I also planned on soaking the whole cage in the bathtub with some white winegar.

I've been reading around a lot and saw a lot of things. I don't actually do a daily cleaning, and had never thought of washing outside the cage, so the wall and floor, etc. But then I also read you shouldn't clean too often either, so is it a good idea for me to get equipped with baby wipes, and clean the cage wires, stairs, floors as well as the wall around every day (and vacuum the vetbed)? Also while I do laundry every 2 weeks, I have 2 vetbeds, so that I could rotate every week with a clean one.

So yeah, basically wondering if I should change my cleaning routine to:
- a daily baby wipe in and around the cage + vacuuming the vetbed (and changing to a clean one every week)
- a quick cleaning of the toys, beds, vetbed, etc every 2 days as I do now
- a deep clean in the bathtub every 2 weeks + hammocks and all in the washing machine.

It just seems like a lot and I read cleaning too much can be just as bad as cleaning too little so ...:laugh:

And last but not least... should I give my rats a bath?

Well I see I wrote quite a lot hehe, but hope you guys can enlighten me a little :-D

Have a nice day !
 
Hello. Hope you are enjoying the wonderful adventure of rat owning. It's great that you are coming here to ask for answers.

If you are going to be using any kind of fabrics including the vet bed they must be washed more often then every two weeks. If this is not possible then you may need to look for fabric alternatives. I replace my liners every 3 days. Hammocks are dependent on when they start to smell but never longer than a week.

My guess is this is why your rats smell as rats themselves are very clean animals. They have very little smell. Smelly rats are often indicative of poor cage hygiene.

Most if not all odor removers and animal stain sprays are not appropriate to be using on things going in the rat cage. Rats are prone to URIs and other respiratory issues. For this reason no chemicals should be used around them. I like to clean with vinegar.

It is true that if you clean too much that could cause problems in itself. This is my cleaning routine.

I spot clean daily. Meaning I clean up any messes. I clean the food bowl and water bottles. That kind of thing.

Every 2 days I change the litter box.

Every 3 days I change the liners.

Every 6-7 days I clean the cage and their playpen.

Before giving your rats a bath I would recommend improving cage hygiene. If they still need a bath they can have one but most rats clean themselves much like a cat. They won't need baths often if at all unless special circumstances warrant it.

Also I thought I should mention most cat litters are very bad for rats' sensitive respiratory systems. Pelleted paper based litters are best such as Fresh News and Yesterdays News. Eco bedding is another popular choice.

It's great you are trying so hard to be a good rat owner. Hope this helps.
 
Hey!

Thanks for your answer ! It helps loads ! As far as the litter and the animal spray, I had checked them and they should be fine for rats :) I live in Sweden so we have little different products and more rat-friendly options it seems :)

Guess I just have to step up with the cleaning hehe ! Maybe focus a bit less on cleaning toys and all, and a bit more on a more daily, quick clean. And switch the vetbeds and hammocks more often. It should be fine to manage an extra laundry during the weekend, so if the 2 vetbeds can last the week then that could fit perfect into a cleaning routine :)

It's good I guess that I bought waaaaay too much for their cage so I always have stuff not in use and can rotate quite often !

Hopefully the rats will feel (and smell!!) better. One is actually quite ok and doesn't smell very bad, but the other one is a stinky. I noticed when I give him a treat, he goes to the litter to eat it ><
 
have been cleaning their cage every 2 days. I usually take everything out, wash everything plastic (toys, stairs, bottom of the cage, etc) with soap and water, and spray the hammocks and the vetbed with an animal stain+odour remover spray (the same I used to clean my dog's "accidents" when he was a puppy). I also replace the kitchen papers they have under the vetbed.

In my experience of having rats for 2 years, this is your problem. You are cleaning WAY to much. Here is the cleaning routine that works for me and my rats. I have 7 female rats in a double critter nation (holds up to 10-12 rats) and 2 male rats in a single critter nation (holds 4-6 rats). I mention that because if your rats are in a cage that is too small they will smell a lot worse. It might seem odd at first, but often a bigger cage is easier to clean than a smaller one! My cleaning routine:

Friday:
-remove everything from the cage except hammocks
-clean everything (except hammocks and cage bars) with a vinegar/water 50/50 solution
-dump the litter pans (my girls have 4, boys have 2) but I don't wash them
-refill the litter pans with aspen shavings
-place new newspaper or fleece on the bottom of the cage
-put everything back in the cage
-clean the floor around the cage (tile floor)
-clean the wall around the cage if they have peed on it

*So everything is cleaned except the cage bars and hammocks, and the litter pans are dumped but not scrubbed. This leaves their smell in the cage which is really important. If the cage smells nothing like them every 2 days they are going to pee everywhere to make it smell like them. Also I've found that leaving the pan dirty sometimes reminds them were to go because they can smell it (I can't).

Wednesday:
-dump any litter pans that are stinky, wash them and refill them
-sniff test the hammocks if they smell, take them out and wash them
-wash the cage bars with vinegar/water

Daily:
-wipe the pans down with a scent free, sensitive, harsh chemical free baby wipe (Honest Company)
-wipe any houses they like to pee on with the same wipes
-sweep the area around the cage to get shavings that have been tossed out

And it starts all over again. I have gone weeks without washing my hammocks. But my crew doesn't pee on them, though my elderly boy has started to recently. So you can go far between washing but not if they are being peed on. Liners get washed weekly because those do get peed on.

In regards to litter training it can be 100% successful, 0% successful or anywhere in between. Getting your rats to pee in the litter pan is very hard and hit or miss. I have 7 girls, there is never a poop outside the pan, however some pee in the pan and some don't. They are 18 months old and it took quite a while to get them to this point. Then there is my 2 boys. The one boy has always been 100% poop litter trained, but he pees outside the pan. The other boy has only started pooping in the pan since his brothers passed away (who refused to be litter trained at all and passed at almost 3 years) but pees outside the pan. He has only been pooping in the pan since July. Now he poops in the pan about 90% of the time. Both pee in the pan sometimes, I would say 50% of the time.

I use aspen shavings in the litter pans because I find it works best for me. I have used pelleted cat litters like Yesterday's News, Harlan Teklad and two others that are identical to those two. They are made from recycled paper and are considered very safe. I personally found they did nothing for the smell. However the pieces do swell up when they pee so you can tell if they are peeing at all in there. It is not safe to use clumping or clay cat litters.

For the smell... You do need to clean the area around the cage as well. They can throw out bedding and poop, pee on the floor and walls, etc. I wipe the area down with a all purpose natural cleaner once a week.

Don't use chemical based products in or around the cage. They are very harsh on rats respiratory systems (even if they say safe for small animals, it's just a marketing scheme). Get a spray bottle and fill it with 50% vinegar and 50% water. Use that to spray hammocks and the area around the cage. When I use to have many more rats and they smelt awful I would spray the room with that solution 3-4 times a day and the smell was completely gone. Everyone was surprised how well it worked.

For washing fabrics I use soap nuts and wool dryer balls. There has been research showing regular detergents can cause cancer in rats. I use the soap nuts for my own things so it works fine. Don't use any detergent that is scented, most baby detergents are scented as well. I keep Purex Free & Clear Unscented and Hypoallergenic on hand for smell stuff, the rats and my own.

And last but not least... should I give my rats a bath?

I only bath my rats when they really need it. Rats are extremely clean animals and spend more time grooming than my cats do. However, sometimes they get smelly. I have bathed my 18 month old rats a handful of times in their whole lives. If you do decide to bath them don't do it often and use a safe shampoo. Do not use any shampoos made for humans or small animals. Even most baby shampoos are not safe (for rats or babies). I use a oatmeal rinse for them. And be prepared for them not to like it. They will try and get out, climb your arms and poop everywhere. Make sure they are completely dry before you put them back in the cage.
 
Wow, thanks for taking the time to give me such a detailed answer, its great !:love7:

So yeah basically, I should probably spend less time on my "every 2 day cleaning" and more on a smaller but daily cleaning. Today when I washed the vetbed it really smelled awful, so definitely I will rotate every 3-4 days between the 2 that I have, and vacuum it every day.

So today I went out and refilled my pantry with some more white vinegar and stocked up on baby wipes :p Hopefully this will give some better results than what I have been doing so far, and they will not have to go through a bath !

For the litter so far, I have been throwing away only half when I clean, so they end up with a half clean/half dirty litter. I had read somewhere that this should help them get litter trained, since it always smells bad, to them at least. I don't really expect them to be fully litter trained to be honest hehe, just thought it might make the cleaning a little easier if at least most of the poo/pee is confined to a small place :p But yeah, one of my rats thinks it's such a cozy place... I have seen him eat/nap in there a few times. It's funny how different they are. One is a bit shy and a little fat, while the other is skinny and a daredevil.

As for the cage I have the "Savic zeno 2", which is 20 x 31.5 x 27.5 inches, with an extra shelf. Thought it seemed decent enough for 2 rats.
Putting up a picture of my 2 boys ! (well, 1 rat + 1 tail really... they are not very easy to photograph).
 
Babies smell more than adults - they pee more and fabric smells worse then paper liter (carefresh, etc) Don't spray anything they are going to be laying on. We too pull the trays out and clean with vinegar/water solution and wipe the liter pans with baby wipes (unscented). We clean the whole cage once a week or so, but will spot clean through out the week. We have 3 DCN cages and another one since we have 17 boys currently so they do not all get cleaned at the same time. You do not have to soak your laundry in vinegar just add it to the wash and make sure your using detergent with no additives and no fabric softener. We put our stuff through a double rinse cycle.
 
Sorry if it's already been said, but you could try putting a "pee rock" in their litter box. A flat river stone big enough to fit the rats whole body on it should work :)
 
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