Help for that rat smell?

[Rattie Kisses]

Every 2-4 days, I take my cage outside and shower it down with the hose on jet, and wash it with vinegar and rinse it. I also wash all of their plastic toys with vinegar and rinse when I wash the cage like that. I change the beds/hammocks/liners every 2-3 days. I spot clean daily. My 4 girls are somewhat potty trained. Somebody please help, its driving me nuts, not knowing what I'm doing wrong!

 

[SQ]

Try cleaning the cage and their stuff on different days or leaving something uncleaned in the cage.
After you clean, it no longer smells like them so they need to scent mark it.

 

[Rattie Kisses]

Thanks SQ, I'll certainly try it.

 

[lilratsy43]

This may just be me, but when I cleaned my rats with vinegar the smell was unbareable. But I do not like the smell of vinegar, so that could just be me.

Also if you are cleaning them after just two days they are working twice as hard to get their smell back. If you only have four girls in a good sized cage, they should be fine for 5-6 days.

 

[rat.charmer]

I've used this before and it seems to help http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2753296

 

[Moon]

I don't like the Clean Cage stuff. It smells lovely, but that's exactly the problem, I worry the smell is too strong.

I have had no problems using vinegar, and find the smell rinses away completely.

 

[Rattie Kisses]

Okay, so this is what I'll start doing:
Cleaning different things on different days instead of one big cleaning day
Use bleach instead of vinegar when hosing it off

Sound good?
My mom says she thinks I have too much fabric in there. I only have a few hammocks and liners.

 

[Arkeld]

Also, make sure you clean every surface they run on. Most of the time, the smell doesn't even come from the cage. I've had times when I thought "Where's the smell coming from, I've cleaned everything" and it turned out I'd forgotten the windowsill or under the table etc.

 

[Moon]

I personally react much worse to the bleach smell than the vinegar smell. But that's a point of personal preference, I guess.

The other thing being that you have to be much more stringent about rinsing off bleach.

 

[DarkBlade]

Fabric is the worst. I do agree. The blankets of my rats are always smelly pretty fast and when I get them out, the cage already smells much nicer.

 

[MumsyRat]

Humans feel at home around familiar objects. Rats feel at home around familiar smells. Constantly cleaning a rats cage is like making your rat move into a new and strange place every couple of days. They run around peeing on everything to try and make it smell like home and then just as it starts to be OK, YOINK! Their home is gone and they are in a strange place again! So they start again.

You definately need to leave a couple of things in the cage that still hold the scent that gives them comfort. And wash some things down with just plain water. Rat urine is very soluable and water actually does an excellent job of cleaning it off.

Most people have been raised to believe that animals are dirty and smelly and I think most of what you smell is the psychology of your upbringing.

 

[Fidget]

If you use bleach be sure to rinse really well!
I agreee with SQ that the more you clean them the harder they have to work at scentmarking their space.
What are you using for bedding? Is it deep enough? I use newpaper sheets, no problem until a kid shreds thu to the plastic cage bottom, pee sitting on something unabsorbant smells really bad really fast. Are your kids maybe moving the litter away in one spot?
As Arkeld says often the smell is not coming from the places you clean, but the places you don't. The odd rattie can and does turn their butt to the bars and spray it out, it can be on the wall or the floor or on the back of a stand. My worst smell problem was when I made levels for a cage and covered them with thick plastic, the pee had plenty of places to hide. I wash the cages in my tub with a sprayer on a hose, but pee gets anywhere and without dismantling the cage any one part against another will create a microscopic space where pee can be and even a powerwash might miss. So if you have removable levels be sure to remove them and clean all parts separately. And outside of the cage - check the walls & the flooring and the cage stand....

 

[Rattie Kisses]

Nevermind not using bleach, I'm scared to use it now, lol. Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Rattie Kisses]

Most people have been raised to believe that animals are dirty and smelly and I think most of what you smell is the psychology of your upbringing.

No, I have not been raised to believe that, nor do I think that way. My nose smells it, not my mind. But thanks for your help. :thumbup: