SUPER STINKY CAGE! Help?

[abby3089]

I recently moved into a new apartment. In my old apartment, my rats were in a hallway which was separate from the rest of my studio apartment. In my new apartment (a one bedroom) they are in my living room. For some reason, they smell more now in my new apartment than they used to. I swear to god it's not just because they are in my main space rather than a hallway like before. My old apartment was smaller than the one I'm in now.

I do a super deep clean once a month (throwing litter plan and wire cage in the shower and scrubbing with vinegar, dish soap, sometimes a touch of bleach), and clean out the litter twice a week (and scrub the pan), and do wipe downs of the cage every other day. I also replace the hammocks once a week (though sometimes twice when a favorite hammock gets unbearably stinky). I used this system in my old apartment, as well as my new one so I don't know why they seem to smell more now. I know you shouldn't clean the cage too often, as it will encourage them to mark their territory even more.

My boyfriend first noticed the room smelling "ratty" (urine smell) while I was away for a week at the end of June. During the week he wiped down the wire platforms with baby wipes every other day, and did a litter clean in the middle of the week. He didn't replace the hammocks for the week. When I got back the litter and cage smelled generally fine, though the hammocks were pretty gross.

So I did my monthly super deep clean, plus scrubbed the table the cage is on and did a sniff test on the rats and the area surrounding the cage -- everything seemed fine. For the first day, the cage smelled great. But now the room is back to smelling stinky, especially at night when I close my bedroom door so I can't hear their wheel. It's bad.. You walk into the living room from my bedroom and its like WHOA, YUCKY RAT SMELL, even though the cage is across the room. I think this could be because it gets more humid (?!) -- about 68% (yuck) -- at night! In my old apartment, it was only about 35-40% humidity. I am getting a dehumidifier and hoping that it helps, but if not, I'm totally stumped! There's not one part of their cage or the rats that smells bad... it just a general stink around their cage that has spread to the room.

Any ideas for reducing smell? I am desperate to fix this quick since they JUST got over a URI that last months, and I don't want their respiratory systems irritated again.

P.S. I use Yesterday's News for bedding.

 

[dspch911]

I had that problem with our DCN and it turn out there was urine between the two levels. I had to seperate them and wipe between them. Is there any place you could be over looking? How about anywhere around the cage they could be spraying?

 

[abby3089]

That's actually what I was thinking... So I sniffed around their cage. The carpet seems fine (phew) as does the wall. I know they have peed quite a bit onto the wood table their cage is on. I have covered the table top with sticky drawer liner so its easy to wipe down, but I found some old urine on one of the wings that was folded against the wall this morning. I scrubbed it with vinegar, water, and dish soap, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference even though I'm fairly confident I neutralized the odor on the table. I thinking of covering the WHOLE table surface with the liner now, even though I don't use the wings. But I'm still not sure that's it -- it's such a small portion of the table that I feel like it shouldn't be making the whole room reek.

 

[abby3089]

Also... My rats are currently living in a Martin's cage. I am pretty sure they are spraying the table they are on and the wall, by peeing off of the second floor platform of the cage (I don't line the wire platforms because they just ripped whatever kind of liner I put down). One of the pieces of advice I've gotten is to take out the platforms completely and leave the cage empty with just hammocks (as "platforms") and toys and stuff. What do you all think about this? Could stop the projectile pee problem!

 

[Faint]

Is the cage powdercoated or galvanized? Galvanized metal soaks up the pee smell, that could be why its so smelly.

 

[abby3089]

It's powder-coated! :/ And the cage is easily wiped down/smell neutralized. I don't understand what's still stinking!

 

[littles]

Could it just be that you had better ventilation in your last apartment? Just a thought cause I know when I leave my fan on I don't notice it as much but once it gets hot and even with the fan there's no escaping

 

[abby3089]

Littles, that's what I'm wondering. Glad to hear someone else had this problem.

My other place actually had worse ventilation. Problem is that my new place gets really HUMID whereas my old place was really dry. I know dog and cat pee can stink way more when it's humid, so it's gotta be the same for rat litter right? Really hope this dehumidifier is the answer...

 

[SQ]

Humidity is likely a problem. Perhaps a dehumidifier might help as long as it doesn't make the air too dry
Also ... most people I know do a deep cleaning once a week, so you may need to do it more frequently.
An air purifiers with a permanent hepta filter and replaceable carbon filter will help if the right size for the room (do not use an ionizer as they cause health issues)

Also, please consider covering the wire levels in your martins. Wire floors are not great.
When I used martins cages, I cable tied dollar store dish drain trays (cut to fit) on the balconies
and used a thick piece of linoleum cut to fit on the full levels. These would need to be replaced over time but they worked well.

good luck

 

[littles]

Yup humidity and ratties are a stinky mix

 

[silentmagician]

I think humidity is also my problem. My boys are currently more odoriferous than usual with the hot weather and high humidity. I clean everything once a week, and as needed wipe down the shelves and replace bedding in high usage spots. I'm suddenly needing to spot clean every day and it smells again pretty quickly.

 

[abby3089]

So, you're all not going to believe what the problem was. When my boyfriend was rat sitting for me, he threw the dirty litter in the trash and didn't double bag it. Then, he left it there overnight. When he came back to my place the next morning and discovered my living room STUNK, he took out the trash and threw it out. However, the stink stuck to the trash can. So it was a stinky trash can! This explains why the whole room was musty uriney and not really the rat cage itself. I threw the can in the shower last night and scrubbed with lots of bleach. ALL BETTER! I also found a spot on the wooden rat table the cage is on that had some old urine on it-- I scrubbed really hard and then completely covered with sticky shelf liner to protect it in the future. Voila!


SQ, thanks for the advice! But I do my deep cleaning less frequently because I find it causes my girls to create a bigger stink if I eliminate their scents completely. I'm very careful to wipe down the cage regularly with water and vinegar to eliminate bacteria, in addition to scrubbing the litter pan in the shower once a week even though I don't do the whole cage. I choose not to cover my martin's wire levels because I found it to 1) be too much of a hassle, 2) whatever I put down literally gets destroyed, every time, regardless of whether it is fleece, zilla liner, lineoleum, plastic or otherwise, 3) my girls really don't spend any time on the levels anyways. My whole cage is covered in hammocks, and they are much happier hanging out there, and 4) I think there is an argument to be had about not covering the levels being very sanitary since it allows urine and feces to fall to the litter rather than collect in a pool on the level if it happens to not get absorbed. I think every rat owner is to each their own on this one, as long as the wiring is a proper rat-safe 1/2 inch, and the rats have a soft place to stand elsewhere in the cage, which mine do.