[ration1802]

Hi guys,

I currently have 15 rats in my mums living room, and needless to say it smells very ratty come the end of the week before I clean them out!

Can anyone suggest ways of neutralising the odour a little? I've heard non-scented candles get rid of some urine fumes. I'm not too keen on air-fresheners or the like, because a couple of my lovelies have very tempermental chests and the smallest things set them off.

I currently have them on a carefresh/wood pellet mix for bedding (mostly carefresh, and the wood pellets are meant to be good at getting rid of the smells) and clean them out weekly. I would clean them all out more often, but needless to say, having 15 rats in 11 seperate cages will cost a bit to clean out twice a week and take hours to do! (It takes me between 2 or 3 hours anyway at the weekends!) Lol.

Just looking for sugestions, if it can't be helped, dearest mother will just have to lump in

 

[Sparker]

Well, I actually just recently posted an almost identical post, so you're not alone. :wink:

I found that the more fabric you use in your cage, the better it absorbs smell.

Also, sprinkling baking soda in the dryer when washing rat laundry helps A LOT.

 

[ration1802]

Thanks a lot!

I've got towels in 2 of my cages (because of dust allergies) and although they seem to smell, they're easier to change and wash. Maybe I'll convert to all towels.

Note: Sorry mum's washing machine!

 

[BlueSkyy]

erm...
just wondering if it would be better to move as many as possible to one big cage, like a Ferret Nation? the initial cost of the cage would probably be less then the cost of taking care of 11 separate cages over time...

 

[ration1802]

I would LOVE to do that! The living room looks more like a zoo than part of a house! However, none of my rats seem to get along. If I put any of the boys near each other, world war 3 breaks out (I've tried sooo many methods of helping them get along) and although I have some of the girls together, I can't put them all together because, a) they don't like each other or b) they're too boistrous (sp?) and as some of the girls are hairless I'd hate for them to get in the middle of a big ole scuffle!

I think I've just pick the picky rat every time! Lol

 

[Forensic]

I can't believe that out of 15 rats you can only have 4 pairs...

Most rats will try and attack each other if one rat is on one side of the bars and the other rat is on the other side. Or at least, mine will. I don't know why. Foreign invader or something.

Although, the issue may be that you have females in the same room as males (which is asking for trouble, really). Smelling the females may make the boys more aggressive and territorial, hence why they refuse to abide by each other.

As for 'boisterous'... well... they wanna play!

 

[ration1802]

I've tried all sorts to get them to like each other! And I've contemplated long and hard about the boys/girls in the same room issue, and I think you may be right about it making them more aggressive, but even on neutral ground (upstairs in my sisters bedroom for example) they won't agree.

The grouping I have them in is;

4 girls - Sisters, they came togther and they have no problems
2 girls - Ivy and Daphne love each other, get on with the 4 sisters but daphne is so much smaller (and hairless) she always gets caught up in brawls and ends up getting scratched. Even if I separated ivy and daphne, I'll still have the extra cage anyway.
(I can add max (another girl) into the mix with all of the above while they are playing out upstairs, but max turns crazy when put in a cage with others! I don't know why)
I also have LouLou and Katie who get on fine, in cage and out, but Lou is monster sized and can get very fussy and aggressive sometimes withou t reason, and katie is a dinky hairless who's getting quite old now. Although, now Lou has lost her sister I'm going to try introducing them on a permanent basis. Problem is both of these girls hate all the others!

With the boys, they are all housed separately. They HATE each other. Just getting a couple out with me while I take a bath usually ends up with chunks being taken out of one of them. I used to have the two brother, Jack and Gus together, but after a fight and Jack causing Gus stitches, I've thought it best to keep them apart. But they do get on (generally) fine while outside their cages.

Please don't think that the housing arrangements are of my choosing, I'd love to have them all together. But, I usually find for their own safety, it's better keeping them apart as they are. They all get their love-and-hugs time though!

Oh! And I thought I'd add that I can't split them into boy/girl rooms. We only have a two bedroom house, my sister has a bedroom, my mum and dad have a bedroom and I have a sofa bed in the living room. Needless to say, my family won't take kindly to sharing their bedrooms with my furries!

 

[Sparker]

Jeez.

 

[ration1802]

Yeah. Tell me about it.

Sometimes, it feels like a kindergarten!

I hate going out for the evening and trying to explain to my mum who to get out at what time and in what order. In the end, I just end up spending my night texting her "Let LouLou out now" "Put Ben away"

o,O

 

[Sparker]

There has got to be a better way...

 

[ration1802]

A rota? Or a robot that can do it automatically for me? Self opening cages that supply treats as a 'come home' temptation?

Clutching..strings..

Seriously though, it's no skin off my nose. I enjoy looking after them all, and as I've told a mountain of people, I'd put them before me anyday.

 

[chrisstrikeagain]

Aww you sound like a great owner. 15 rats is alot of love.


Try litter box training them. Less poop all over. However it is hard to get them to pee in the box, and pee is a good portion of smell =[

 

[ration1802]

I might have to give that a try. Do you suppose it's easy to train rats (most of whom are over or coming up for 1 year old) to use the litter box? How would I go about it?

Unfortunately, I've been quite lazy when it comes to training. I've never had to train any of mine before, they're all quite well behaved and do pretty much what I ask them to (kinda...as much as humans and rats can communicate lol)

 

[simbakitten]

i dont know if it would really work, but you could try cleaning their caages with that deodorizing sterolizing thing.

 

[magickat]

Have you tried Natures Miracle? You can get it at most pet stores. Our healthfood store even sells it. We used it by the gallons when my puppy boy was learning to house train. Its just natural enzymes that eat up the odor causing stuffs. It has a light scent too. You could soak your bedding towels in it before you wash them as well as using it to spray down when you clean.

 

[ration1802]

Thanks very much for that idea! I'll have a look around and see if it can be purchased in the UK

 

[Sparker]

I love Nature's Miracle! Great idea!

 

[glindella]

I've never used nature's miracle but we can hardly keep it on the shelf where I work