[Elliriyanna]

How do you keep your rats from stinking up the house? I am cleaning my cage twice a week and they have two litter boxes I cant use liners they shred them even with appropriate chew toys. I am cleaning my cages weekly at most usually twice weekly And my house still reaks What can I do? we are moving into an apartment soon which will be even smaller I dont know what to do. I love my rats very much but I cant stand all the odor even my male mouses scent bothers me Please any help would be great.

 

[Purple-Hops]

I think everyone I know with male rats has a scent in their house.. Females smell like kool-aid but the buck grease on males is kinda powerful. I know chemical things like febreze are out of the question, what about bowls of potpourri? Or those oil burners?

 

[Elliriyanna]

My male rats are neutered they dont have the grease that usually causes the scent.

We have candles we could do that but its really just masking it ... The scent is feces and urine not the rats themselves.

 

[BarkingPup]

You may be overly sensitive to the smell. My mum is the same way and constantly complained when I had rats, even now she tells me the Chalet smells (of what she can't say). I smell nothing (then again, my nose has been perma-blocked for years now).

Hmmmm, have you tried mixing baking soda with the litter? Maybe washing the cage with baking soda and water? You could even put those odor boxes by the cage. Getting an air purifier might help.

I would highly suggest doing what I call 'cursory cleans' every day (or couple of days). I do it to my bird because... well, he's a bird and is super messy. Basically, you take the vinegar and water spray bottle and wipe down the surfaces in the cage. Then I change the paper (you could scoop the litter) and voila, almost looks new. The weekly changes is where you wash every toy, perch, dish, etc. and do a major cleaning of the cage.

Other than that, and the suggestions above, I can't think of anything else.

 

[Elliriyanna]

I lived on a farm I dont think I am sensitive to smell my rats just reek

I think the problem is my shelves are plain plastic I just cleaned it yesterday and my house smells again GRR ... I will try the cleanings

 

[lilspaz68]

I lived on a farm I dont think I am sensitive to smell my rats just reek

I think the problem is my shelves are plain plastic I just cleaned it yesterday and my house smells again GRR ... I will try the cleanings

How often do you switch out your fleece and hammocks.

What are you feeding? What are supplementing your staple with?

What do you use to clean/wipe the plastic tray with?

 

[Elliriyanna]

They shredded the hammocks so for now we have none to switch but i use to wash them once a week and that was when I would switch them.

The Staple is Harlan 4018 and I supplement it with veggies meats pasta all sorts of healthy treats for them.

I clean the tray with original dawn and a sponge which I wash after each cleaning so it doesnt smell.

 

[Sasami]

Could it be the mice? In my experience, rats don't smell much but mice definitely do. Unfortunately, there's no way to totally eliminate the smell of male mice (which is why I don't have them, to be honest).

 

[Elliriyanna]

Nope my female mice are downstairs as well but do not smell at all only the tiniest bit when I get my face right next to the cage and Moki stinks but he is in our bedroom because his health problems. and Moki's smell is only bad on the top half of his cage which takes less than 5 minutes to clean.

I am just afraid that if the odor keeps up the landlord will make me rehome them ( once we move into the apartment) Plus the smell is not fair to my roommates

 

[jamesReid]

What do you have in the litter pan? We have 8 mice and we have cloth liners and cloth bedding in the cages. We use natural critter care in their poo poo platters ( in the litter pans.) We ran out of the stuff for a week and was using cardboard and we could really smell them bad.. in one day after cleaning the room would smell... with that stuff just in the litter pans we can barely smell them.. it really helps. We also clean the cages every other day at most... If we let it go 4 days.. wow what a mess that would be!! hehe.. anyway.. good luck.

 

[Elliriyanna]

I use yesterdays news this stuff is a Miracle after a week I still cant smell my male mouses tank.

I would like to use this in the pans for the rats but its too expensive and they would kick it everywhere.

 

[BarkingPup]

Since they're male rats they mark everywhere they go so I would highly suggest wiping everything once or twice daily and seeing if it reduces the smell.

It doesn't matter if you live on a farm or not, some smells are just more obvious to certain people. I can smell sesame oil from upstairs just because I'm sensitive to it.

So, I'm curious, and since you haven't answered. What is the rats litter, exactly?

For expense, here in my hometown there is a Yesterday's News knockoff. Maybe you could look for a similar type of litter and try it instead?

 

[Elliriyanna]

I actually did answer I use plain trays and yesterdays news in the litter pan.

I am not sensitive to smells I only notice it when I first walk in the house its others who complain about them and I am pretty tired of it

Petsmart has a cheap knockoff I plan to try.

 

[Elliriyanna]

My boyfriend and I were talking and we would be willing to save up for an air purifier/odor eliminator if that would work... DO any of you use anything like this?

 

[Nibbler]

i like this one but its just me,
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3124049

it can be bought at petsmart we use it for the cats and house hold odors we have two in our apartment they work well but u do have to change the cartaloge when it runs out, you could also just buy a big negative ion generator and eleminate the smells as well if u dont want to do a bunch of small ones

 

[Elliriyanna]

well we are planning on all the smelly cages AKA Moki and the Rats being in the walk in closet along with Emmas litter box being nearby so we would only need one but I would like more options than just the one

Evan is VERY sensitive to smell so he really wants one of these lol