RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Mon May 30, 2005 4:07 am

Wow on cage cleaning day I never have left overs...how long did it sit in there? Also lime juice as any juice will eventualy ferment, however lemons take longer to do so..and concentrated lemon juice seems to never ferment..if you have left over its also a good idea to keep in a fridge. Shaz

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Mon May 30, 2005 5:53 am

kalynhanna, Hi, I have the same cage - I sealed the plastic shelves with a child-safe enamel made specifically for plastic after having smell problems.

I sweep poopies off the shelves and put them, ever the optimist, in the litterbox and wipe down the shelves every day. If you've got any fabric hammocks or anything like that it will smell up quickly, especially if you have marinators - so I have to change that too. Every day.

I agree with Jill -- I've got it down so it takes me about 10 minutes - but that's only because I sometimes stop to A. remove a rat from my head or B. smooch a rat.

Di

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"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f------g khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." ~ Tyler Durden

Mon May 30, 2005 9:29 am

I have the same superpet cage and find it is very easy to clean, and does not hold any odors. I scrub it with just soap (dawn dish washing liquid) & water. Then I spray it down with a pet enzyme cleaner (natures mirical or similar), and let it air dry. Works like a charm!

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paisley

Spike, Diamond, Elphaba, Rose, Octavia, A Cappella, & Nocturne

the cats: Trip & Phlox

the rabbit: Ripley

Mon May 30, 2005 9:35 am

paisley, pet enzyme cleaner? Shrug

I haven't tried that. What does it do, exactly? I wish I'd known about that for the cleaning, I've got the boys in the living-room, where we also eat, and my hubby allows them to stay in the room only if there is NO SMELL. I swear, if one of them poots, he can smell it, tell me who did it and what they just ate. LOL

I'll try it, Thanks for the info!

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"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f------g khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." ~ Tyler Durden

Mon May 30, 2005 9:24 pm

hi guys well my rat cage gets stinky very fast I mean one day it's smelling great and the next day it smells like horse dung! Confused

Well let me tell you about my cage it was originally a powder coated cage till we had a big escapee problem then we had to put a bunch of wire mesh on it. We have a 4 story Super Pet Ferret Cage that was hell to put toghther ( good thing my mom did it! hehehe

) with solid shelves and a hammock ( that is impossible to get off the cage so we have to just spray it down and squirt it with soap Confused

, bird rope,two boxes,tube,litter box,igloo,wooden cheese house, and Super Sorbent litter ( has no Pine or Cedar says on label), and only two spoiled rats live in this cage

! And the cage is in my room so then my room smells like rat pee.

Mon May 30, 2005 9:50 pm

As in - you clean it on day 1 and its stinky on day 2? Or you clean it and then suddenly after a few days it gets stinky, rather than getting gradually stinky over a few days?

If the surrounding wire is galvanised, and it's getting pee coated, that could well be the problem. Are you washing all of the cage furnishings, the plastic ones, and the ropes? The wooden house is likely another source of smells, as wood absorbs wee and gets quite stinky unless it's coated with something completely (eg, no gaps at the edges and so on).What are the boxes made out of, cardboard? How often do they get swapped, if so?

I don't know much about that litter, but maybe someone else does - but I do know that not all litters are as good at absorbing smells.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Mon May 30, 2005 10:15 pm

Hi kalynhanna, I think I have the same cage - mine came with a very thin hammock - I was able to get it off though. Little Willow is right: wood baaaaad stinky. Also, hammocks are like little wafty stinkerators if you can't wash them thoroughly, and I bet the ratties are peeing in it. If you can post a picture of the hammock, maybe we can suggest some ways to get that off the cage. Are the ratties going to get big enough so that you can take the galvanized wire off?

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"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f------g khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." ~ Tyler Durden

Mon May 30, 2005 10:54 pm

Hey guys thanks for the help. Well lets see the hammock doesn't really stink before cleanings it just smells like ratties. The bars are pretty wide and when they were squeezeing out of the bars they were about 5 months and really squishy( my babies just are really flexible like their mommy!

). I went to the dollar store yesterday to find a couple rattie things they had nothin' just soap for the cage and a couple of baskets but at that moment I didn't think about using the baskets and bought candy instead! Maybe I could try to put down an OLD towel on the levels so it could absorb some odor. One time I used a nice hand towel for litter for the litter box and my ma got sooooo mad good thing my rats just stash food in the litter box! Embarassed

Mon May 30, 2005 11:02 pm

Hmm.... well if you're going to need permanent reinforcement.... You can get wire powder coated (or get ready coated wire) - how far apart are the bars?

They're solid shelves, right - Do you wipe them down every day with a wet cloth?

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Mon May 30, 2005 11:12 pm

kalynhanna, You're right about the hammock just smelling like rat after it's washed. But once it's clean, as soon as you put your ratties back in, they might be up there peeing in it. If you're here in the states, you can go to Walmart, in the craft section and find the fabric remnants bin, where they put leftover scraps and find really good hammock material for very little money, that way you could change the hammock out sooner, and it wouldn't be stinky.

You don't have to know how to sew - go look where they keep the curtain-rods and such, and you'll find something called cafe curtain rings, they have little jaws that open up and clamp down when you squeeze them. You'll also find metal shower curtain pins that open and close (that's what they call them, but they're really shaped kind of like pears.) You just clip four cafe curtain rings to the corners of the fabric, loop the shower curtain rings through and hang them up. Let's see: I spent $2.50 for enough felt to make 8 hammocks, $2.75 for the cafe curtain rings, and about $1.75 for the shower rings - total $7.00 -- you can't even afford 1 cruddy Superpet hammock for that.

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"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f------g khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." ~ Tyler Durden

Last edited by SillyRat on Mon May 30, 2005 11:34 pm; edited 1 time in total

Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:47 pm

I have usually been cleaning my cages once a week and have been using aspen bedding. We have a play table which they are on for most of the day, and at night I put them in their seperate cages. So its one rat to one cage. When cleaning do I just use water and should I clean it more often? Thanks.

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Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:53 pm

I use hot water to spray off the bars and the bottom pan once a week. About every three days though I go in with a pet safe santitizing wipe and clean the wires to get the pee off and such.

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--;[Dannie/]
Ratties: Kina, Cessi, Nerissa and Dare

Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:59 am

I went to the pet store today and found some deodorizing cage wipes that I can use inbetween cleanings instead of a wet paper towel. They are made by Nature's Miracle and the "Yucca Enzyme Extract Makes it tough on Cage Odors". I used them today....they have an odd smell. They smell similar to Lucas, that weird nasty smelling mexican candy. It certaintly got rid of the odor by replacing it with the Lucas smell. Yuck

I can smell it wherever I go, on my hands, clothes, everywhere!

Has anyone else used these? It says they are "gentle to pets" but shouldn't be used directly on them. The ingredients are: water, formic acid, nonoxynol 9, and Yucca Extract. Sound safe? I haven't noticed my girls having a reaction to it. Shrug

If they are safe I'll probably continue to use them until I find something else with a nicer scent.

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--;[Dannie/]
Ratties: Kina, Cessi, Nerissa and Dare

Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:13 am

Try looking up plants that are poisonous/dangerous to pets, and if yucca is not on the list, you're safe I'd guess.

Those sound nasty, though. If you can smell it, it must be driving the rats bonkers!

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Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Sat Jul 23, 2005 6:42 am

My husband and I made a large cage out of harware mesh and a Sterilite tub base. Will the lemon/baking soda work well on the hardware mesh since it is not coated?

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--Suz

3 rats
4 mice
2 dogs
2 homo sapiens (my favorite)

Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:08 pm

It will do, I think, but it might cause some corrosion after a while (along with the wee etc).

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Fri Aug 19, 2005 5:47 am

any ideas how to clean a 20 gallon long tank with out mothing it from my third floor bed room? Confused

because its realy disguting and i just realized i can't move it (yes i just put it in, and yes i can't move it because its too heavy)

Fri Aug 19, 2005 5:49 am

I can't think of a way without without taking lots of water into the bedroom... tanks need thorough cleaning and rinsing regularly, so you'll really have to get it to a water supply somehow.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Fri Aug 19, 2005 6:20 pm

there is a sink about 25 feet down the hall (we live in a 19 century house) i'm willing to move it once to clean it th first time but is there a way to "lighten the load" like getting a litter pan the right size or somthing

Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:03 pm

Well that might help in between thorough cleanings, but I suspect that you're still going to end up with urine escaping from the litter tray down the sides of the glass, and underneath it, particularly if you're using a tank topper - and if there's nothing to absorb it, that's going to worsen the ammonia build up. I can't really think of a way around it - it's unfortunately one (or two) of the problems with tanks - the need for frequent cleaning and the weight. Maybe someone who's using a tank may have more advice.

However, as you were already considering a tank topper, it might be worth paying the little bit extra for a full cage and going with that, simply because it does make cleaning easier (it's lighter to carry around) and has better air flow. It's worth considering, anyway.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Wed Oct 12, 2005 6:44 am

Hi all. I am thinking about cage cleaning now, and I saw Simple Green lemon scent all purpose cleaner. Could I use that to clean the cage?

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Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:05 am

Hmmm. I'm not sure. If it has a lingering and/or strong scent, it may well upset them. I know that there are a few cleaners that also include orange or lemon oil to help with cleaning greasy stuff away, and that would be a no-no for the male rats. Because the ingredients aren't listed, some people have reported that the scent is strong and makes them cough, I'd probably say no, and it's safer to stick to something that you know isn't going to upset the rats.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Wed Oct 12, 2005 3:16 pm

Okay, I was now thinking about regular diluted Simple Green. I heard someone on RR say something like 15 to 1. I am right next to the bathroom, so I was also thinking about spraying in on, letting it sit for 10 minutes or so, then taking to the shower and washing it off?

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Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:45 am

I think that would be okay if you let it sit for a while to evaporate, but if I remember correctly you are getting male rats, right? If so, then I would try another light, diluted citrus free cleaner. Could plain bleach work if you let it evaporate?

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Rosie

* * *

I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat

Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:08 pm

Well, this is citrus free. I can get it really cheap, and a lot of people on RR use it.

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