# Help with smell!



## ratgrrl (Jul 18, 2010)

I have 2 girls in a medium-sized cage in my bedroom. there are two windows, so i get cross-breezes, but no sun on the cage. I try to clean it out every day( replace dirty bedding, wipe down shelves and bars) but no matter what i do, it smells horrible! my parents are getting really mad but i dont know what else to do! i've tried litter box training them but I was unsuccesful  Any ideas or suggestions about what to do to minimize smell is greatly appreciated! btw i use Carefresh bedding(i think the natural kind). Please I'm desperate!


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## CCMom (Jun 2, 2012)

I'm new to this too. But what are you wiping the cage down with. I find a water and vinegar mixture seems to neutralize the smell quiet well and does a good job of cleaning. Could it be the toys? I know we had a plastic igoo in our cage and one of my boys was peeing on that. So I need to wash any toys with the vinegar & water as well.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

My first girls were VERY smelly. I used a product called "Bi-Odor" in their drinking water, and it made a huge difference.

My next two girls after that didn't have any odor between cage cleanings, so I never used it again, but it might be worth looking into? I think the product goes by another name now. If you Google "Bi-Odor", you should be able to find out more.

As far as bedding goes, I've heard that the "natural" brown Carefresh isn't as good with odor as the white and colored versions, which are more expensive. I've never had an issue with aspen shavings, personally.

Have you evaluated their diet? It's possible that something is wrong/imbalanced and is causing them so have such an abnormally high level of odor. What all do you feed them?


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

Bedding can have a huge impact i think. My cages stink faster when i used shavings but not as much when i used recycled products.


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## shawnalaufer (Aug 21, 2011)

I found Carefresh smells awful when wet. 
I use a paper pellet type litter, the kind found in the cat department, such as Yesterdays News. Definately helps me!


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## starlie (Feb 29, 2012)

We use a generic cage deoderizer from Petsmart, and it works pretty well!


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## Lioness (Nov 11, 2011)

What kind of shelves are in your cage?
Plastic is terrible at holding in smells.

Their diet can play a huge role in their scent, too.
Try keeping a box of baking soda next to the cage to help absorb odor.


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

What I found is that the more you clean, the more they mark to get back to their familiar smells. I always leave some "according to human dirty" bedding in their newly cleaned cage. I do the same with the mouse cages and it does make a difference.


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## ratgrrl (Jul 18, 2010)

thanks for all of your answers!


> I find a water and vinegar mixture seems to neutralize the smell quiet well and does a good job of cleaning.


, i am just worried that the smell of vinegar would be too strong, but i'll try it. i feed them ordinary lab blocks from a pet store. the shelves in the cage are plastic, and they go to the bathroom on them which is a big pain to clean  i will definitely look into Yesterday's News bedding. i do try to leave a little dirty bedding in the cage after i clean. if you have any tips on litter-box training, those would help too!


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## laurali (May 20, 2012)

Hi, if your rats are peeing on the shelves why don't you take them out and replace them with litter trays. Remember with litter trays not to use the same substate that you use for the cage. Try to get a cat litter with no fragrance. I would also look at the diet as that can have a a big impact on smell.


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## JRMMJONES (Jun 13, 2012)

I have the shelf peeing problem too. I'm sitting here trying to figure out how the heck I can replace them with a litter box. I will have to go home and ravage the tupperware.


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

Or try stone ware cake pans. They won't be able to move or tip them over.


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## ratgrrl (Jul 18, 2010)

thanks again, everybody! does anyone know if _yesterday's news _cat litter would work...


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## shawnalaufer (Aug 21, 2011)

That's what I use when it goes on sale! Work fine for me


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

I don't if it's any cheaper but i buy a recycled product similar to yesterday's news but marketed for ferrets. I like it and my girls do too! I only have to clean the box half as often and its heavy so they dont kick it out as much.


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