Can you tell more about cleaning often but not too often, please? I clean my girls' cage every day, and they pee with no regards to my efforts
, inside their house, on the shelves, everywhere. Potty training seems not working for us with pee (works more or less with poop). This is exactly what I'm trying to reach - eliminate the smell by cleaning so often. I only have pressed paper cat litter in their litter boxes, and bare plastic floor everywhere else - so I can wipe it whenever I see a puddle. I guess I'm doing it wrong. May be litter everywhere would be better?
Some kind of shelf liners you can swap out will help. A lot of people use fleece, I tried and it wasn't working for me so I switched to the bathmats that have the little fleece nubbies on them. It's just another barrier between you and direct evaporation into your nostrils. I gotta say the only thing that helped my boys start peeing in the litterbox was me putting a brick in it. They want to pee on hard surfaces so the brick satisfies that. Even then though they're goblins that will still pee-mark everything they at least go there a majority of the time now. Before that I had a four inch round rock that they ignored. Guess it wasn't big enough.Can you tell more about cleaning often but not too often, please? I clean my girls' cage every day, and they pee with no regards to my efforts
Rats want their cage to smell like them (at least a little). The theory is that when you completely clean their cage, you're getting rid of their smell and they feel like they have to run around peeing on everything to mark their territory. If you clean to often, your rats will just mark more. There's probably some truth to this.
I'm not a fan of bare floors. It does nothing to control odors and ammonia and it's not hygienic. I'd do some research into figuring out what they can be covered with. Your options may be dependent on your specific cage. I use aspen shavings on the floor of my boys' cage and I make fleece mats with an absorbent inner layer (see link) for the platforms. When urine is not absorbed by bedding, your cage will smell much worse. Walking around through pee puddles isn't very hygienic and could lead to foot problems. Lying in pee puddles could make your rats stink.
Thank you for the reply. They don't lie or walk in pee, because I currently wipe all floors and shelves with wet terry cloth twice a day, and spot wipe every puddle I see throughout the day (I work from home during the quarantine). I thought wiping hard, bare surfaces would be more effective in controlling odors than liners or bedding. But I didn't take into consideration, that the more I wipe the more they pee
. For now I stopped religiously wiping the puddles with wet towel, I just absorb them with paper towel to leave some residual smell on the floor, but not humidity. I think I will try a liner on one of the floors, the messier one. I'm looking into pee mats on Amazon. I tried blue, thin, disposable liners, but the rats pull and move them around, so I need something thicker and heavier.I put a piece of marble tile for decorating bathroom walls that I bought in Home Depot. Funny thing, they were leery of the glossy polished (but beautiful) face of the tile, so I turned it the wrong side up, which is just dull grey stone. They like it and pee on it. They also like to eat on it, which reduces the crumb mess in the cage. So we have a toilet/dining space combo
. But they pee everywhere else as well. I'll try all kinds of liners, as you suggested.I do have an air purifier, I originally bought it when I just had two because where we were previously living because the home owner created a lot smoke indoors. I’ll check out the other stuff though thank you
I clean pretty regularly, spot clean poop everyday, wipe down the cage pans and clean the fleece once a week but I don’t clean more than that and I usually leave something in to smell like them. I mainly use fleece because I have a critter nation and fleece is a cheaper option for us. I do have an air purifier which my bf says has been helping. If it isn’t a particularly strong smell or we make sure the room is well ventilated during use are wax melts still bad?
Alright thank you I just wanted to double check
I agree with others who’ve mentioned anything with strong perfume smell, especially synthetic deodorizer, is bad for our little friends. After much trial and error, I discovered a shredded cardboard bedding called Back 2 Earth, by a company called Valken. I have 8 rats, and the shredded cardboard bedding has been an amazing improvement in odor control. I use non toxic paper pellets for their litter box, and the shredded cardboard on the cage floors. The shredded cardboard is virtually dust free, my rats have not sneezed one bit with it. But with 8 rats, there is very little odor and I don’t have to clean out the bedding as often. My 8 girls are happy and so am I!
