RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:46 pm

Hi guys well my rats pee all over there cage (which is 4 stories) and as much as they pee its like 10 rats are living in the cage. Also i haven't recently been able to spot clean daily because i've had huge projects at school. And i was wondering if i could use those puppy training pads in there cage so their cage wouldn't smell so bad until i could clean it. And all i would have to do is take the puppy pad out every other night. I was thinking this might be a good idea. But i don't know what do you guys think???

Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:56 pm

Depends what is in the puppy pads. Chances are they will chew it, and if there is anything inside there that is super absorbant (like the gels you get in nappies etc) then I'd say no, I wouldn't want them chewing down on it, just in case they ingested some of it.

What kind of shelves do you have - solid ones? Is that why it's smelling so bad, because puddles of wee are lying around?

If so, then in reality, you will need to wipe down solid shelves at least once a day, no matter how busy you are because they will get stinky. But you can cover the shelves with other things - fleece, for example, which you can fasten down in a number of ways, and take out to wash once a day - that helps absorb wee rather than sitting in a puddle and going stinky so fast. But it still needs doing every day.

One other thing is that perhaps the frequent cleaning could be stimulating them to pee more - if you de-scent their cage very frequently, they may mark it more to compensate and that can actually make the smell situation worse. How often do you spot clean normally, and how do you do so?

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:54 am

Well the way i normally spot clean is by just sorta wipeing down the cage. And scooping out the litter. But my cage is not a normal sized cage. IT'S HUGE. Which should mean i don't have to totslly clean kt everyday. and i only have 2 rats. So i'll go to petsmart and see whats in them and if i'm not sure than i'll buy them and then post the ingredents on here.

Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:23 am

It might be better to take a pen and paper and write it down - that way it saves you buying something that's not suitable.

And no - you shouldn't have to clean the entire cage out every day for certain - and that's likely to make things worse because they may well compensate by marking more and peeing over everything as soon as it's clean. But the shelves themselves - if they're solid - will need wiping every day, and if you do put something over the shelves to absorb pee, then that too will probably need changing every day or so as well.

What is the cage made of - is it home made or bought? What are the shelves made of? Is the cage powdercoated wire or galvanised (bare silver) wire? Are there any wooden components in there?

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:44 am

the puppy pads are made of a cotton wool mixture....no gel

the rats will make good nesting material of them if nothing else

i cant see how they would be a problem but

and its a big but

just because your using puppy pads doesnt mean its ok not to clean...you will still need to change them often as the ammonia builds up in them

and this then becomes quite expensive as the pads are costly

can i suggest something else

go to your nearest material shop and get some cloths from the remnants bins.....use these instead of the pads and wash them every 2nd night and reuse them
better for the enironment and better for your purse....smile

or use old sheets or material you have in the house...even better still

goodluck

Deb

PS

i only do a total clean once a week...usually saturdays....and spot clean every night

ive trained my girls to put their rubbish in the litter box and thats cleaned nightly....smile...clever girls

_________________
Rosie Ginger Gypsy Bambie Beatrice Cassie Kira Shapelle Shelley kath Kim Corby Chloe kimmies bubs: Leelee Lilly Molly Morgan Jassie Jayjay Tess n Tammy
Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge

Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:49 am

well there solid shelves. and all the levels are solid plastic. which there are solid plastic. I might just use cloth but i just wanted to know if this would work. and i kno i would have to still replace them everyday. And i would still have to clean the cage but i just thought the pads would be more time sufficent.

Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:37 am

Well if the puppy pads are just disposable padding stuff (on a plastic back? I don't know, not having ever seen one) then yes, they would be easy to put in and then remove - but they probably wouldn't work too well insofar as they're likely to get chewed up, moved around and still leave bare shelves where pee can puddle - at least in my experience, that's what my rats will do if it's not tied down. Rolling Eyes

If it's ease and speed you're after, then perhaps paper or tissue cut to fit would work - you could trim it to fit, and then perhaps hold it in place somehow. I'm not sure how though. But although it might take a short while at first to sort out cloth covers (such as cutting them to size and adding fastenings) you can do that pretty quickly as well - take fabric that is twice the size of the shelf, wrap it around the shelf and tie or clip it together - a safety pin, especially the nappy pins with the head that helps preventing them opening would hold it in place, and could also hold the cloth to the bars to prevent them rucking it up. It won't take long to unpin and swap them out each day. If you are covering the shelves completely, you can also double up the fabric underneath to make it thicker and more absorbant, or even put newspaper or tissue paper underneath. That should make daily changing easier and pretty speedy. If you are really handy, you could even spend the time cutting the pieces of fabric to fit (I find fleece best as it's stretchy, soft, comfy, relatively absorbant and doesn't catch toes) and even attach velcro to the edges to allow a quick release and secure fastening system - then you can wash them and reuse them, and no worries over pins. Some people have even used carpet runner (which is perforated plastic) to pin down absorbant stuff on shelves so that urine can still run through and be absorbed but the rats don't pull the stuff all over the place.

Any of those options is probably much cheaper than the puppy pads, and possibly more effective too. Hope that helps.

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:42 am

I use puppy pads for one of my old guys with very bad bumblefoot. The pads pull the urine away from the surface, leaving it dry, and thus not irritating his foot further. But he does love to shred his puppy pads! The cheapest I've found is from Jeffers pet supplies. You can get about 100 for under $25.

but honestly, I think it's cheaper to find time to wipe down the shelves. I can't imagine it would take more than a couple of minutes a day.

_________________
Scout of Manitou Mischief Rattery