Smelly rats

[Superherorats]

Please help!

My rats STINK! They are two neutered males, I feed them Selective Rat food (seems to be the best you can get in UK). I have tried different types of bedding (aspen, wooden cat litter, and equivalent of yesterday’s news litter), aspen seemed to control it best out of all of them but definitely still a strong smell. I spot clean daily and thorough clean every week.

It seems to be if I feed them ANYTHING other than just there plain old rat food then the smell is really bad. But obviously I want to give them treats...when I say treats I mean fresh fruit, veg, chicken, nuts, that sort of thing, in small amounts obviously.

Is this normal? I had rats as a child and don’t remember them ever smelling.

Hope someone has some advice

 

[SqueakingJellybean]

How long have you had them? Some of our new arrivals have been pretty rank while they adjusted to the new and different food. After that, though, they were mostly pretty good. Too much fruit can make for diarrhea, and eggs can cause rat farts that peel paint. (Weirdly, one of our boys gets diarrhea from eating Rice Krispies. No idea why.)

If you think it might be the food, try taking something out of the usual treat rotation for a bit and see if it changes things. Keep going until you find out what it is. (You can reintroduce the stuff you removed once you're certain it's not the culprit.)

Not sure what your laundry situation is, but we use cloth bedding and wash it once a week. Not only is it more comfortable, but it's reusable-- When it's got too many holes to cover the cage floor, it can be torn up into nestcloth so they can push it around and sleep in it.

 

[Superherorats]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I’ve had them for 5 months now,and had managed to get the smell under control initially by changing food (they where a pet shops own brand when I got them). But then I start trust training them and did this daily and since I started this the smell came back (I assume because I was using treats daily). Maybe it is just a bit much for them? How much would everyone else feed treat wise and how often?

I used to use fleece and washed it weekly then switched to shredded paper because thought it would be more hygienic but now use a mixture of both.

They have two wooden hides, one is a bit small for them but they love it but I just took it out there and it’s pretty smelly in there! (the wood itself). So I’ve removed it in the hope they will take to the more spacious, newer one. And maybe it will help with the smell too

 

[Superherorats]

Also have witnessed the “after egg” poo/farts. It would indeed peel paint! Lol

 

[SQ]

Diet might possibly be a factor (noticed the mention of "egg farts")

The recommended diet is good quality blocks (low protein)
plus a variety of daily vegs
and occasional healthy treats such as a piece of fruit, berries, cooked grains such as oatmeal, baked squash seeds, organic pumpkin seeds, a piece of cereal, etc

no foods with added salt, added sugar or added fat
there is a forbidden foods list (the reference section has disappeared but you can use the search feature to find the forbidden foods list)

 

[jorats]

How old are they? Young rats have more odour but with time that will become less. But...rats have a natural odour, it's slightly musky, some smell like corn chips. I've noticed that my room would smell more if I closed the door since there was no air circulation.