Ratty Smell HELP!

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Ollie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
495
Location
Southwest ON
I am just wondering how people cut down on the rat smell. I clean my cage every day. I throw the poop out and wipe it down thoroughly. I'm not sure why it is still smelling through my hallway to where my bedroom is (my rats are in the bedroom).

I wash my fleece liners as well every 4-5 days.
I don't know how much cleaner I can get with them.

Any advice????
 
Try cleaning with vinegar and then let it air out really well. Also maybe try baking soda.

I agree that Towels smell alot better then fleece, my picky room mate doesn't notice if I use towells, vs, she starts to complain if I use fleece.
 
Ok I will give that a whirl right now then. If anyone else has any tips or ideas please let me know.

I was using unscented baby wipes.
 
depending on what cage you have, using traditional bedding is probably the best solution to keep smell down vs using any type of fabric.
 
I had this same problem with my SIX INTACT boys. Putting towels underneath the fleece will and definately use vinegar in addition to your detergent. I also use an off brand of YN and work on my boys about getting litter trained

Although my boys poop outside the box on purpose so they can escape when I'm trying to clean it up lol.
 
The more you clean, the more heavily they scent mark, to get it back to smelling like them. If you are using fabric covers of any kind, don't change them every day. Don't wipe everything down every day. Drop poops in the litter box, and when you change the litter leave a little bit of old litter/poop in there so it still smells like them. You could even leave one hammock when you change them over, so it still smells like them. =)
 
Just I worry because I don't want people to think I have an unclean home because its a strong odor. I have a Ferret Nation Cage so I mean a lot of air is getting at it.

Where does everyone keep their cages? Is the smell concentrated?

I left one hammock in there that smells like them. I was putting poop in their litter box but it was smelling so I cleaned it.

I cant use the traditional because they will kick it all out of the cage.
 
MomRat said:
The more you clean, the more heavily they scent mark, to get it back to smelling like them. If you are using fabric covers of any kind, don't change them every day. Don't wipe everything down every day. Drop poops in the litter box, and when you change the litter leave a little bit of old litter/poop in there so it still smells like them. You could even leave one hammock when you change them over, so it still smells like them. =)
Click to expand...

So basically it's because I am cleaning it too much? Will the smell go down?
 
I have our CN right next to the kitchen/door when people first walk in. We don't do anything special. I use carefresh though, not fleece. I clean their poo out often, but not all of it. Just enough to make it not get out of control. I wash their CN down once a week.

We don't ever notice any smell. I would assume cutting back on the cleaning (as odd as that sounds) would be your best bet. I've also heard of people keeping baking soda near by? But never tried that.
 
I am also thinking of getting an air purifier to try and help.

How do you keep all the bedding inside then? Won't they kick it out?
 
I would prefer fleece because the carefresh is a bit messy. We just vacuum though. And Badger oddly likes to grab whatever bedding is near the edge of the cage and pull it in towards the middle (she'll even take it if I take a piece and put it juuust on the edge of the cage lol) so that helps.
 
Do you put the carefresh on the bottom or the top part?
I may just try care fresh for a bit on the bottom? See if it works, then go to towels. Oddly enuff they never poop on the top levels (area that the stairs go down). EVER. Just the bottoms also where the litter box is on the second bottom shelf.
 
I bought pans from Flower Town Chinchillas so I could use bedding in my CN. I stuck it out with fleece for a long time but I can't spend the time cage cleaning that I used to... the difference is huge.

A good air purifier can make a world of difference.
 
Ok, where they expensive Moon? We were looking at Costco air purifier, we may infact go pick one up tomorrow. Would you suggest one for the entire house or just for our room?
 
Ollie said:
Ok, where they expensive Moon? We were looking at Costco air purifier, we may infact go pick one up tomorrow. Would you suggest one for the entire house or just for our room?
Click to expand...

Just get one suitable for the size of the room where the cage is.

I got a Honeywell one from Canadian Tire. It was pricey but made a huge difference when we were living in a basement with poor air quality.
 
The biggest change for smell....I neutered my boys lol. The change was dramatic even though I didn't really notice the smell to begin with. I pick their cages every day (leaving some in the litter box) and change out fleece every three days. Hammocks are changed based on how often they're using them, if they're peeing/eating in them and if I want a change of scenario lol.
 

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