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KaraY

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
189
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
I haven't got enough hammocks to really designate a whole load of laundry to them, nor do I really want to mix pee-soaked stuff with regular towels / clothes, thus I'm going to be handwashing all my stuff. My question is; what type of detergent / cleaning mixture should I use? Does anyone have any special hammock / shelf-liner washing tips?

Thanks in advance everyone :D
 
Scent/colour free detergent. Honestly, you'll go through more fabric than you think (fleece blankies get pretty big) plus hammocks and rat rags/blankies and you may use some cloth to clean the cage as well.

I'd honestly just designate a load to rat laundry, and only do low or half water fill in the washer. Hand washing is a pain!
 
I too would say do "rat laundry". It's what I do, but then again I've got 33 rats so I've always got plenty of laundry to do! Haha.

By the time you factor in liners, plus a set of hammocks, and any "rat blankets" (we put blankets on the couch when the rats come out) it's enough for a small load. I'd recommend having two full sets of everything (liners, hammocks) at least, then when you do a clean you can just take out the dirty stuff, and put in clean stuff, then wash everything at your leisure.
 
Hehe, I suppose that's one perk to not using "real" hammocks -- I always just throw mine away on cleaning day, because I use old clothes (I'm really rough on my clothes come to find out and a pants leg can make two perfectly sized shelf liners lol).

I live in apartments with a laundromat, I wonder how kindly they'll take to my rat laundry.....
 
I live in an apartment building and use the laundry machines in the basement.
Good idea to shake out rat laundry well before washing and to check machines afterward.
But I doubt my rat laundry in any worse then baby stuff that is soiled with urine etc.

I used unscented laundry soap and vinegar to wash rat laundry with.
Rat laundry can pile up fast esp. if you decide to use fleece or cloth as bedding.
 
i always rinse mine in the tub then go the the machine as all the hair,poo,food dusts go out first before going in my machine, id rather not break them or have very dirty machines lol, i use to just do it in the machine but saw how yuckie it can get in there.

For soap i use unscented with vinegar or sometimes i do it with bleach but then i do extra rinse.

oh and i do not dry them in the machine(for some reason i find they stink after more :sick2: ) so i hang them even in winter in the washroom :giggle: fleece does not take long to hang dry anyways.
 
Trust me, one CN makes enough laundry to do a small load. 4 liners, 3-5 hammocks, and a few extras... it really does add up!

SQ is totally right, shake everything out really well!
 
fenshae said:
I always just throw mine away, because I use old clothes.
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I'm with you fenshae, when a piece of clothing is ready for the garbage, a large cut is made and they are washed for the last time. I put them in with ratties and everyother day, I toss it in the green bin. Perfect! Works great. :D
 
I do two loads of ratty laundry a week :D I use unscented detergent and bleach with a double rinse.

Just put the washer on a small load. Things will get cleaner this way and its much less work for you!
 
I run a small rescue and I've lost track of how many loads I do a week! A CN or FN can quickly fill a washer, especially this time a year when I give them lots of extra fabric to snuggle in.

I use a homemade degergent to wash the rat laundry in, and I absolutely love it! Everything comes out smelling amazing, it works better than any commercial laundry detergent I've used. I'm sure it would work for hand washing too.

My recipe:

1 fels naptha detergent bar, grated
3 cups washing soda
3 cups borax

Mix and store in a container over your washer. I used about 1/4 cup a load.

Pink
 
Pink said:
I run a small rescue and I've lost track of how many loads I do a week! A CN or FN can quickly fill a washer, especially this time a year when I give them lots of extra fabric to snuggle in.

I use a homemade degergent to wash the rat laundry in, and I absolutely love it! Everything comes out smelling amazing, it works better than any commercial laundry detergent I've used. I'm sure it would work for hand washing too.

My recipe:

1 fels naptha detergent bar, grated
3 cups washing soda
3 cups borax

Mix and store in a container over your washer. I used about 1/4 cup a load.

Pink
Click to expand...

This got me to thinking really hard LOL I have ordered all of the ingrediants to make this laundry detergent. I did some research and I found many people who swear by this and how it makes laundry so much softer and gets the worst stains out of fabric.

Thanks!
 
Yesterday someone sent me a link to Wikipedia, and apparently fels naptha has a skin and eye irritant in it. Seeing as I make my own laundry soap to avoid things like that, I'm going to try a different type of soap today. I'm surprised to learn about the irritant, as the laundry soap recipes are usually on blogs of people trying to do things more naturally. Usually they try to avoid increasing the chemicals in their life. Dove soap is also supposed to work really well. I used the last of my current batch last night, so its a good time to try something new. I will report how it works out!

Pink
 
I'm going to stock up on those ingredients Pink, and take everyone's advice and just do a rat load of laundry. Thanks so much for all the help!
 
Moon said:
Scent/colour free detergent. Honestly, you'll go through more fabric than you think (fleece blankies get pretty big) plus hammocks and rat rags/blankies and you may use some cloth to clean the cage as well.

I'd honestly just designate a load to rat laundry, and only do low or half water fill in the washer. Hand washing is a pain!
Click to expand...

i concur... we use a green brand laundry detergent... and some arm n hammer baking soda.. takes out the smell !!!! we used to use laundry detergent and vinegar.. but find the baking soda works much better. :thumbup:
 
Pink said:
Yesterday someone sent me a link to Wikipedia, and apparently fels naptha has a skin and eye irritant in it. Seeing as I make my own laundry soap to avoid things like that, I'm going to try a different type of soap today. I'm surprised to learn about the irritant, as the laundry soap recipes are usually on blogs of people trying to do things more naturally. Usually they try to avoid increasing the chemicals in their life. Dove soap is also supposed to work really well. I used the last of my current batch last night, so its a good time to try something new. I will report how it works out!

Pink
Click to expand...

The Stoddard Solvent is organic, so maybe that is why it's used so often.
 
We've been using a hand vaccuum to get rid of all the poopies, food dust, bits of chewed up whatever before we throw the fleece liners, hammocks, etc in the wash. It works pretty well for not gunking up the washer.
 
Has anyone tried Rockin' Green for their rat laundry? I've been considering it, but we don't have the budget for it right now. It's made by a work at home mom and marketed as a cloth diaper detergent - and I figure, if something works well enough to get out diaper dirties, and is gentle enough to not irritate baby butts, it would probably work well for ratties? Somebody check out their website and try it. =)
 
I bought a sample of the unscented Rockin' Green when you recommended it to me MomRat! I totally think it will work if it is good enough for a baby's butt. The scents sounded good enough to eat too, which is why I just got unscented. I didn't want to give my boys any more reason to destroy the fleece! :giggle:
I haven't gotten it yet, but I will let you know how it works for us :D
 

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