helping with whiffy rats!

[saz87]

i'm sure this is a well covered topic but, i have to move back to my parents house next week for a few months while i get myself back on my feet (i've just finished uni but the lease on my house is up) and obviously my boys are coming with me, but my dads not too keen on the idea because he forever complains and shouts at me about the smell, which i personally can never even smell when hes complaining its terrible
i was wondering from personal experience which substrates help keep smell at a minimum? I'm currently using megazorb, which i really like, despite the fact that it gets flicked everywhere, something that my mum hates!
my lads are litter trained, but i currently dont have 1in for them, but if i fitted 1 that may help slightly?
I've never really looked into tap a drop before, what is it? and is it effective?
I'm going to make a massive stock pile of hammocks so i can rotate them faster, so they can have a clean 1 every other day.
I have cardboard tubes in for them, do things like that retain smell, i could replace all of those?
Any other tips and ideas?
thanks

[vergo97]

My dad complains about my rats smelling as well sometimes but I can't smell it, so I know how you feel! Baby rats smell worse than adults so if they are young it could be their age. I found that tap a drop is amazing, and even though you only get a small bottle of it, you only need a drop of it on a tissue daily so it lasts ages.
If your mum doesn't like megazorb over the floor, maybe you could change to a cardboard substrate that doesn't fall out the cage. I use finacard and that doesn't fall out of my explorer cage, what cage do you have?
Adding litter trays would be really useful, especialy if your rats are already litter trained! My rat have two litter trays at the moment and it keeps their substrate really clean.
Changing hammocks regularly is a good idea, mine only have theirs changed weekly, but that might change with the additon of two bucks to my lovely clean ladys!
Cardboard tubes definatly hold smells and I don't like to have one in the cage for more than two weeks, so I would replace those.
How often do you clean them out? Cleaning them out to much is just as bad as cleaning them out not enough because they will scent mark more than they usualy do so it smells of them.
Hope they become less smelly soon!

[Reb70]

I have to be really aware of keeping smells down as my husband is not a rat fan, and complains if they they smell.

This is what I do..
Rotate lots of hammocks regularly, say twice a week. And put shredded paper in them, and change daily.
Use Ecobed (makes no mess) in 4 litter trays dotted around the cage. My boys are toilet trained and use them very well. These are changed daily.
Newspaper lining the cage with shredded on top for rootling in, remove shredded if gets dirty and replace as necessary.
Tap a drop on a tissue in the room daily.
Open windows wide daily, whatever the weather!!
Wipe shelf daily, and underneath.
Wipe bars weekly.
Avoid cardboard tubes and wooden houses etc as they retain the smells.
Tie bunches of fresh herbs in their cage. Eg, mint, fennel, basil etc.
Big clean once a week.

Hope that's helpful! It works pretty well. They are a bit whiffy 1st thing in the morning but once all of the above have been checked, the smell disappears!

[lpt100]

Hey,

'Tap a drop' i find is really good. I put some on my (wifes) car cabin air filter and it works a treat when rat moving. It is a small bottle of odour neautralising liquid, you put a drop on something that the rats can't get to and it will help mask the nasty smells

What sort of diet do you have them on? That can have an effect, there are various herbs and seeds you can add that will change/improve the smells, i think excess protien can give a more offensive smell?
We've also tried 'Hem Core' as a substrate, which has its own smell which is quite pleasent and works really well at keeping smells away for days, you could try that or Bio-cat-o-lit.

Limited experience but hope it helps! My parents and in laws actually really love our rats so, no problems there for us!

[saz87]

thanks for all the tips! i shall def get some tap a drop, and give that a try.
i chucked all cardboard tubes this morning, and shall create a massive stock pile of hammocks for more frequent rotations!

Tie bunches of fresh herbs in their cage. Eg, mint, fennel, basil etc.

i especially like this idea! i shall try this!!
I'm going to dig out my litter trays too and get them pooping in those again so its easier to keep on top of spot cleaning.
I don't think their diets too protein-y, i'm pretty obsessive about making sure they have a good and varied diet, they eat better than i do! I could cut the dog kibble because they have mealworms too, they're all a year old now, so i suppose a drop in protein is in order anyway.
i used to have fennel seeds, hemps seeds, basil etc in their mix, but i ran out a while ago and in the crazyness of final year i never replaced them, so i'll hunt down more of these.

me and my dad had an arguement this morning about them when i brought all my stuff home, i have 6 rat cages and 3 rats, i was trying to cram empty cages into the loft/shed/cupboard under the stairs and hes there shouting 'why do you have so many cages! you have 2 per rat!!'..... he does have a point....
(obviously all my boys are just in the 1 cage and i have 5 empty ones )

[lpt100]

Are your cage bars coated or bare metal? Hows the smells going?