Two questions

[September555]

Ok one...any suggestions for light urine oder? I have a farily large cage with two female rats. I wipe the shelves down daily and spot clean the corners of the cage where they poop...and they use the litter pan to urinate so I clean that out daily as well. With that...I get a wiff of occasionaly smell...not total urine...just stink. I use carefresh bedding in the bottom. Any suggestions and what else to do? Its not a horrible smell and not constant...just when I walk by close to the cage I get a wiff of it once in a while.

Second...I rat proofed my room...so I thought. I let the girls out for at least an hour each night to run loose in my bedroom and play and do what they want. Have corners all blocked etc. Well..I have a chest at the end of my bed...that has a special quilt on it my mother had made...and I also have a home made quilt on my bed I use as a blanket from my mom. Well they have somehow managed to get in between the space and chew large holes in these quilts. I was devistated. :cry3: Both quilts mean alot to me. Of course you cant get angry at the little gals, it is only their nature...and I didn't think they would get between there and do so. Damage is alraedy done...but no matter what blanket I put there...it will happen again. Any suggestions on a way to make them not chew the blankets? I mean I can try and put something there so they dont get in there, but almost impossible...its an in between space they can wiggle up in when I am not looking. I supervise them while they are out...but we all know how quick they are...and if I say NO to them or pull them off something they aer doing wrong...the RUN back to it as fast as they can as if laughing at me saying haha you can't make me. So any suggestions to make them not CHEW my blankets. My quilts are pretty much ruint.

Thanks Paula

 

[jorats]

I know for me, I can't stand the smell of carefresh and urine. Can you switch to Yesterday's News or mix the two?

Those naughty girls! I really don't know how you can stop the girls from chewing. You could try putting some Bitter Apple on the blankets but I've heard some rats not being deterred by that taste either. Plus, do you really want to spray something on the quilts? Any chance of just removing the quilts when ratties are in the room? What about using a big plastic like for painting?

 

[shadowpaws]

I use Carefresh and I notice it really holds in the pee smell. You might need to clean out the bedding more often. If your using the white bedding, you can usually see where pee has been absorbed (the bedding goes yellowish, and usually clumps) and during your spot cleanings, maybe take out the "pee chunks".

I'm sorry about your blankets, your baby's didn't mean to do any harm! I've had homework ruined by my boys, trying to make nests... My teacher only let me off because I told her my rat's used it for a bed. :doh: Best bet would be to block off the opening, or maybe give them fabric to chew on while in their cage?

 

[September555]

I have not tried yesterdays news. I usually use the colored carefress, just recently started buying white, will have to look for that....maybe when the runs out I will switch to yesterdays news. I just bought a ton of the white, it was on sale so I grabbed several of them. I assume it wont harm them just switching from one to the other abruptly if I do?

Yeah I am at a loss with the chew thing. I slid boxes in between there tonight and that seemed to detur....for now. haha. Your right you can't get mad at them....no way...it's just their nature...then you look at them big beady eyes...and forgot while you were mad in the first place haha. I didnt think about platic over it until they are done playing. I just didnt know if anyone had any magic up their sleeves that would detur them from chewing. They have tons of chew toys in their cage.

Thanks!

 

[Moon]

The coloured carefresh is so expensive, and YN can be so cheap, especially on sale.

I noticed a HUGE difference when I changed from Carefresh to YN. When I had started using Carefresh I thought it was the best thing ever... boy was I wrong!

 

[Fidget]

I'm so sorry about your special quilts :wallbang: We've all had stuff chewed I'm sure and most of us know the devastation of something special being redecorated.. you look close, you close your eyes, you look again, you hold it so it so the chewed part disappears.. for a moment.. then you look again and try to figure out how to fix it (or get over it but that takes time).
(Apparently they make iron-on patches in all kinds of colors but not in Clear - how mindless is that? found that out looking to do a rat-repair)
I bought some of those $3 fleece blankets to put on top of my quilt and fold over double for a place they can go in and chew top or bottom and I put them there when they try to go under my bedding. You guessed it, not a single hole yet in 3 months :? (tho there are a couple under it on the new quilt)

I'm sure I'm no help, just enjoying the opportunity to vent about my last set of unchewed sheets, my brandnew sweater, my favorite pj's..

Far as bedding I use newspaper sheets. I find when there's smell it's coming from pee (it's never poo) in some small place that has no absorbent thing on it (like inside a hidey house, or between a level & the side of the cage, or even sitting on a small bare hole they scratched thru the newspaper). Have you looked really good to see if there's not a place at least one kid is using for a peeplace that has no bedding on it?

I'm really surprised your kids pee in the litter box but not poop. Mine are almost anal (lol) about keeping poops in the litter box but pee everywhere.

 

[September555]

ha Fidge..yep everything but clear....tried that too. Went to look at patches...all but that.
Not mad at the girls at al...just upset about my blankets, not just any ol blankets. Not their fault, I let them run free..and I know rats can "Seek and destroy" lol. I am going to try and get some cheap blankets from dollar store and put them there like you said folded up so they have to go through them first.

Moon...I do like the carefresh...haha I thought this is the coolest stuff. It comes in pretty colors, non toxic etc. The yellow when in the bottom of the cage looks like scrambled eggs haha. It is espensive...petsmart around here has it for 4.50 a block sometimes..that's half price! I am going to pick up some YN next time I go and just try it. if it works out, I can always exchange all that carefresh I got.

Well thanks again for the extra advice.

Paula