E-book about rats - Antibacterial bleach???

missnikki · Feb 29, 2012

Anyone else read this? It's called RATS RATS RATS : http://ratsratsrats.com/

I recently saw an ad on facebook for an e-book all about rats. I wanted to see what kind of information this person was putting out there, so I downloaded it and so far most of it seems accurate; however, I was just reading their section on cleaning the cage and the author says to use an antibacterial bleach and water solution.
That just doesn't seem right to me, but I wanted to ask all my knowledgable pals here first ... is it safe to clean rat stuff with antibacterial bleach mixed with water? Also, I had no idea there was "antibacterial" bleach ... haha. Wouldn't all bleach be considered anti-bacterial then?

jorats · Mar 4, 2012

Bleach is actually the only way to disinfect and properly sterilize a habitat. But... I wouldn't do it. Not for pet rats. Unless you were taking in tons of rats and had tons of cages, it might be beneficial at that time but not for the average pet rat caregiver.

SQ · Mar 4, 2012

I just started to read that book, re your post.
So far it is pretty much correct but a lot of important info is missing,
for example it says to keep rats at around 20' but that isn't exactly true. There is a range of temperatures that are ok for rats and what is really important is not having temperature changes of more then 5 degrees within a day as it will stress rats, etc
She doesn't mention that at all.
Who is this person?
I don't think she knows enough about rats to write a book for others

Squirting water at your rat?
This is not a good idea for health reasons!

jorats · Mar 4, 2012

I hope she cites her research and papers to go along with her conclusions, if not, this is yet another layperson spreading any information which can be dangerous if it's misinformation.

Aida · Mar 4, 2012

Bleach is actually safe with things like pet bowls, dishes, and even baby bottles, etc. (says so on their website, I think), as long as the water bleach ratio(how much water you have with the bleach, i.e. 4 cups water one tablespoon bleach is 4:1) is small, and you rinse it off EXTREMELY well. I use it once in a while, but mostly stick with vinegar. I'd say if you're worried, use it only during extreme cleaning like gettting a used cage from somebody, or only once in a while.

http://www.clorox.com/products/clorox-r ... ch/how-to/