The Rat Room

It’s getter warmer outside and this is about the time when people notice an unpleasant odour coming from their cage. Some cages are worse for this than others, those with powder coating and those with thick plastic shelves. During the hot season, you will need to be more diligent in how you keep your cage clean.
1. Change you litter to something like Yesterday’s News, it’s great for odour absorbency. Fill the bottom of the cage with it as well as placing litter box throughout the cage.
2. Don’t over clean your linen. If you have fleece in the cage, change it every 2 to 4 days, only change the ones that are soaked. Too much cleaning and the rats will go into pee overtime in trying to make the cage smell like them.
3. Don’t use vinegar on cages with powder coated and plastic shelves. It’s a smelly mix.
4. Toss any wood that’s been marinated in pee. There’s no cleaning it once it’s been washed.
5. Get an air conditioner for the room. (for the rich rat owner)
6. Get an air purifier.
7. Don’t place the cage in a confined corner of the room, you want to get the air flowing so it doesn’t sit stagnant.
8. Make sure your cage is big enough to house the number of rats.
9. Neuter your males, although drastic, it also has health benefits, less marking, less sebum (buck grease) and no more stress.
10. Keep your rats well hydrated.

There are a number of things you can try, don’t get discouraged, you’ll find what works. Keep in mind younger rats smell way more than adult rats so in time they will settle and not assault your nose so much.
Bathing the rat is not a good idea, it will only make him produce more skin oils. But keep the rats cool and that will promote grooming which is what you really want.

A good friend of mine Velma reminded me that a good scrubbing of the cage using bleach is also very important in order to fully disinfect the cage. Be sure to rinse thoroughly before letting the rats back in. You don’t need to use bleach all the time but every few months would do it some good.