Boys Marinating each other - yuck!

[crazylicious85]

I have always had two or three boys at a time and they have always given each other the old "fire hydrant treatment". But they also groomed each other . Sometimes obsessively, but sometimes they are kinda lax on the grooming. Do your boys groom each other much?

I've seen them groom each other a few times, but not very often.

 

[Riana]

Ho-boy! Do I know what you're talking about! I find it extremely difficult to keep up with the odor my boys produce! It comes from the places where they pee (which is all over their levels, never in their litterpans, and then they sleep in them!), not so much themselves. I found that their coats are less greasy since I've cut back on the number of Harlan Teklad blocks I put in and had them eat more of the Oxbow regal rat. They eat all the HT blocks, then they're left with the Oxbow, so more often than not they eat that before the day is out.

I have plastic trays in their cage (they're the marchioro ferret cage trays, if anyone knows of them), and while they do get smelly, I wash them nightly with a water/vinegar solution, and every three or so days put them in the tub and scrub them down.

But it never fails, just hours after cleaning the boys, the cage starts to reek again. My mother has threatened to have me get rid of them if they continue to stink, but I really am at a loss as to what else to do!

 

[crazylicious85]

Ho-boy! Do I know what you're talking about! I find it extremely difficult to keep up with the odor my boys produce! It comes from the places where they pee (which is all over their levels, never in their litterpans, and then they sleep in them!), not so much themselves. I found that their coats are less greasy since I've cut back on the number of Harlan Teklad blocks I put in and had them eat more of the Oxbow regal rat. They eat all the HT blocks, then they're left with the Oxbow, so more often than not they eat that before the day is out.

I have plastic trays in their cage (they're the marchioro ferret cage trays, if anyone knows of them), and while they do get smelly, I wash them nightly with a water/vinegar solution, and every three or so days put them in the tub and scrub them down.

But it never fails, just hours after cleaning the boys, the cage starts to reek again. My mother has threatened to have me get rid of them if they continue to stink, but I really am at a loss as to what else to do!

Yeah, they don't like the cage to be too clean! lol
I'm going to have to find something just to keep my room from smelling so bad. It's one thing if they smell (they are rats after all!), but my room is terrible & makes it seem like I never clean their cage.

 

[Riana]

I'm going to have to find something just to keep my room from smelling so bad. It's one thing if they smell (they are rats after all!), but my room is terrible & makes it seem like I never clean their cage.

Mine is the exact same. Normally it's not too bad right after I clean them, but overnight it gets very smelly. The past couple days I've been able to keep my windows open all day, so that's not too bad, and I have a fan that circulates the air out of my room, so it's better then, but it doesn't always work.

Hopefully some people here can give us some tips ;-;