Cage clean question

[Deph]

I got the double critter nation but iIhad the prob with the single. ImI'having trouble keeping the smell down. I've been cleaning it all with cleaning vinegar every couple days and the smell seems to come back within a day. Fairly strong. I've tried shavings but they all end up in my floor with this cage. Any tips or suggestions

 

[SQ]

Many people use corner litter boxes in their cages with a different type of litter in it …. such as an unscented paper based kitty litter (no baking soda etc) such as yesterdays news.

An air purifier with a permanent hepta air filter and replaceable carbon filters will help
If you over clean it so that it no longer smells like them, they will work very hard to scent mark it so many will not do a complete cleaning at any one time (also make sure the cage is well rinsed after cleaning)
http://ratguide.com/care/environment/cage_cleaning.php

People use various items in their cages such as fleece, unhaul blankets, baby quilts, paper, and hardwood shavings.
Some people also use a deep pan from home hardware that will sort-of fit the bottom level of the CN, other people purchase bass pans that are made to fit CN cages - I do not know where you would purchase them.

btw it would help if you put your country and the area/province/state etc where you are

 

[Megan Fleischman]

My single critter nation was stinking pretty bad even though I change litter daily and wash all bedding and fleece liners weekly. I finally found a spot where my girls were peeing that was dripping down the wires of the cage but very hard to see until I pulled the whole thing out and deep cleaned. It was gross, like hardened stalactites of pee. I ended up putting up a “pee shield” so I could wipe it more easily and adding an extra litter box in that location (since they were using it that way already ). Seems to have helped a lot!

The “pee shield” is thick clear plastic fastened with zip ties. Hasn’t been nibbled a bit.

 

[Deph]

I am from North Carolina. Or did you mean to tell in my profile? And thanks for the info I will look into the yesterday's news and start cleaning sections at a time. And thanks for the advice on the bars. I honestly have been cleaning the heck out of everything but the bars. Makes sense maybe thats what it is. I was starting to wonder if they were in a fart war trying to out scent the other one on everything

 

[ViciousCurse]

I don't see that this was mentioned, but I have intact male rats and I very rarely have a smell (it's usually from their little pool since they use that as a litterbox, unfortunately), and I use pee rocks. I have three large litterboxes in the places my boys poo and pee frequently, and then I just got regular old rocks and put them in my litterboxes. I see some pee outside the litterbox, but it's definitely helped. They'll pee onto the rocks and into the litter.

Another way to combat smell is get rid of wood or cardboard hides! Those are marked to high heaven and they STINK and FAST. I used to have a lot of cardboard and wooden hides (for chewing purposes) and they got stinky very quickly. I do use cardboard boxes, but those are changed out once a week, regardless of the condition. It's not worth buying any hides unless they're plastic!
I personally don't use vinegar (mostly for the smell because it irritates my nose), I use dawn dish soap and then wash it down afterwards.

When it isn't a deep cleaning week, I use unscented baby wipes to wipe down ramps and the platforms. I also wipe down their plastic hides.