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We have 2 pet rats in my preschool class but they stink up the room. We have gone threw 3 cages just to find one that would be easier to clean and not smell. We always keep the cages clean, but they still smell! I just put them in a brand new cage today, the top comes off easily so the bottom is very easy to clean, but I swear - it smelled after 5 minutes of having them in there!

They are litter box trained, but only for #2... they still pee anywhere they want and I guess that's the problem.

Any advise?? The kids love the rats but they'll have to go if they continue to smell stinky. (I mean the rats will have to go, not the kids, lol).

2006-11-09 09:35:38 · 18 answers · asked by Cranberry 3 in Pets Other - Pets

18 answers

Try this: the next time that you clean out the bedding, *completely* clean it out and wash the pan that holds it with baking soda to get rid of the odors. Then use high-quality bedding like CareFresh (very good for rats, Aspen is okay-ish, Pine should not be used with them at all) that absorbs odors. You can also sprinkle a little big of baking soda over their bedding.

As for the people that don't believe that rats are good pets, you obviously haven't done your research. Rats are considered to be the best small pet for children because they are social and they almost never bite. I've handled about a dozen and currently own three and have never been bitten, even though some of the rats were unsocialized and very scared. Also, you can't get rabies from rats because they don't have enough saliva to transfer it. Since they are social they will actually wait for their master to come home and play with them. My girls respond to any kind of movement and will cling to the cage until I let them out to play because they liked to be around people, whereas most other small pets really couldn't care less about humans. And as far as spreading diseases, they're no worse than any other small pet, or your household dogs or cats for that matter. Do your research before you assume things, you're probably just going off of misinformation related to people's "grudge" about the black plague, which was not caused by rats, but the mites on the rats. Any animal that is wild in the city and in close contact with other animals (including a wild dog) will probably get fleas or mites as well.

2006-11-10 01:24:11 · answer #1 · answered by Jezebel888 2 · 0 0

I'm not sure about rats... but back in the day, when I had mice... it was the males that were the stinky ones. They'd pee on the wires on front of the cage! Climb up and just pee, right there!

I would also suggest wood shavings, like others have. I've found them much more odor-reducing than other beddings (at least for our hamster, who doesn't smell much anyway).

So anyway... for now, I guess try wood shavings as the flooring/bedding in the cage. When these rats go to rat heaven... get females next time. They're much cleaner (at least in mice... I assume rats are similar).

2006-11-09 09:56:05 · answer #2 · answered by kittikatti69 4 · 0 0

I know this will sound weird, but I used to have this problem. What you do is just change the bedding, don't was anything else in there more than once a week. The more you clean the more they scent mark. Maybe you could switch to yesterdays news, or even aspen pellets or shavings. I am sure you know that pine and cedar are bad, but in case you didn't know aspen is fine. You could also try to litterbox train them, by putting the little terds into the little litterbox. Be sure to use different bedding between the two. Then if you get lucky you will only have to spot poop and place it into the litterbox. If this works just clean the litterbox out every 1-2 days, and clean the cage 1-2 times a week. GOOD LUCK

2016-03-28 00:44:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Make sure you are not using cedar or pine shavings not only do they smell bad when wet but they also cause resperitory problems and liver damage in small animals.

For the smell you can put baking soda under the bedding (air freshners and dryer sheets are a bad idea as the air freshners can cause resp. problems and the dryer sheets can as well but can poision them if eaten)

There is also a product available from most petstores called Bi-Odor that you put in their water and it works internally to remove the smell in the urine I have used it for my rats and ferrets and it does work really well, but it takes a week or two before you will really notice the difference.

Make sure your cage is large enough (at least two square feet per rat) as this will help with the smell alot.

Another option (much more expensive though) is if they are males you can have them neutered which will make them stop urine marking everywhere.

Good Luck!

2006-11-10 02:10:42 · answer #4 · answered by scarfiespudsushi 4 · 0 0

I had a rat, although I didn't have the same problem... I am wondering what kind of bedding you use. If they pee all over everything, try using a recycled newspaper product ( These come in pellet forms and fluff forms) which are very absorbant, and odor free. Yesterday's News is a canadian brand (I think), which I buy all the time for my ferrets (now were talking stinky pee!), and it comes in a fresh scent which is helpful. I think wood chip bedding not only stinks fast, but causes respiratory problems in many small animals - stay away from it at all costs!

Hope that helps!

2006-11-09 09:42:18 · answer #5 · answered by Let Love Be 3 · 0 0

Rat cages shouldnt smell that bad unless its too small or you dont clean them out enough. I have had 9 rats in one big cage and noone has noticed a smell until the cage is nearly two weeks late for cleaning. I would think its the bedding thats causing problems, wood chips are bad for rats as they are dusty and cause breathing problems. I use bob martins recycled paper cat litter and it clearly stops all smells. When I first got rats I used wood chips and they stunk a lot quicker than they do now.
Replacing the cage a lot and cleaning the cage with strong smelling cleaners will cause rats to mark the cage more as they have to re-establish it as their territory(marking wee smells bad the same as cats marking wee). I just use unscented baby wipes and hot water to clean my cages. That way what we can smell is gone, but what they can smell is still there.
Are the rats drinking enough? I can tell when my rats are getting dehydrated as their wee starts smelling stronger than normal. Rats drink more than other rodents. I always have at least two water bottles in a cage, even if there is only one rat in the cage. This is partly in case one bottle fails, but mainly to ensure that they all get their fair share of water. One rat can stop the others from drinking from one bottle, but he/she cant block all of them.
I also recommend that you keep air freshners well away from rats. The scent is strong for us, imagine how strong is to them. I have know breathing problems arise from air freshners being sprayed in the same room as rats.
Like someone else said it is possible to train rats to use the litter tray for wees, but it does involve a lot of one-to-one work and consistency, but I find that some rats just arent interested in weeing in the litter pan, they prefer to eat and sleep in them instead, even though they will still happily do number twos there!

2006-11-09 11:43:12 · answer #6 · answered by kiffie 3 · 1 0

Perhaps you need a bigger cage? and are you using wood shavings? Those keep the smell down rather well...other than that, I would have no idea. I've had an assortment of rodents in my day, and they never really smelled all that bad as long as you clean their cage at least once a week.

2006-11-09 09:39:13 · answer #7 · answered by Shaun 4 · 0 0

Here is some tips to keep in mind
clean their cages again using warm water and soap thoroughly
make sure all their food dishes and water dishes are clean as well
you can liter box train them for the 1 too but you have to work with one on one with them.
to get rid of the smell get some air freshener and put a pine tree freshener by the cage
use febreeze sanitizer to spray where the cages are at.
use hamster and gerbil bedding another method try putting a bag of popurri by the cage

2006-11-09 09:42:28 · answer #8 · answered by Melody-Lynn 3 · 0 1

I have a similar experience with my rats; I have three female rats in a large cage, and they really do smell, even though their cage gets cleaned out often. I hear, males smell even worse. It goes with a territory, I guess. Before having rats, I kept mice for years, and they do not smell in small numbers.

2006-11-09 10:46:09 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0 1

Most of the folks here have given great suggestions. As a last resort, I would have any male rats neutered as that can significantly reduce the smell.
Donna r domestic rats do not carry diseases any more than does the domestic dog. Many schools have pet rats; learning to care for a pet fosters many good attributes in children. Please educate yourself before making such foolish statements publicly.

2006-11-09 10:08:37 · answer #10 · answered by Gallifrey's Gone 4 · 0 1

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