# Help! My boy rats are really gross.



## Voltage (May 15, 2013)

I have three boy rats in a kaytee first home for exotics, its essentially a super pet my first home for exotics. And they poop more on the shelves than they do in the bottom. And the poop gets all mashed against the shelves from them playing. Sometimes they have poop in their fur or mashed on their feet. And its getting ridiculous. My girls aren't like that at all. And my boys LOVE interacting with me from in their cage or on a chair but once I get them in a big space and if I touch them too much they start getting really freaked out and will squeak when I so much as move toward them.

They aren't even from a pet store, they are from a rescue and I'm sure they were handled plenty, they were born at the rescue so its not like they were in a bad home prior to adoption.
I don't know if its my fault they act like this or not though. It is really just Hound and Lightning that do this. Jorah is pretty much cool with everything. My main concern is the pooping on the shelves bit though. Its really gross and I have to clean the cage way more often than I should have to. They are not very good about grooming themselves either so they've had like at least three baths and quite a few wipe downs with a wash cloth. Omgosh I just cleaned poop off of Lightning's foot and he was NOT happy about it. He started squeaking and freaking out. 

Why are they pooping on the shelves so much, are boys just naturally grosser?


----------



## Pixxie (Jun 3, 2012)

Yep, boys are gross. My boys will do the same thing in my cage, the ATL knock-off version of that cage. The only real solution is to wipe the shelves down frequently (I can get away with 2x a day) with baby wipes. I end up cleaning their cage twice a week, but if they aren't being super gross I can manage once a week. My boys also have respiratory issues, so I have to be super on top of it with their cage.


----------



## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

This is one of the problems with those types of cages. The shelves aren't particularly suitable and start puddling urine and caking feces very quickly.


----------



## steeve (Jul 9, 2013)

I don't have boys, but I really want to say laziness and habit are a big part of this. I know boys are usually more mellow and less active than girls, so they might be too lazy to go down to their litter box. I have a fatty girl who acts very boy-like and she tends to get lazy and not bother going down to poop. I took a small Tupperware container and put it on their usual sleep shelf (I carved two holes in the side and threaded a twist tie through to attach it to the cage bars so they won't tip it over. It was small!). They went there A LOT. I gradually moved it to the middle big shelf and eventually replaced it with a bigger box. They still pee on the sleeping shelf but no longer poop there. Sometimes I still find stray raisins on the middle level but I toss it all into the litter box.

Another reason could be habit. I run my rats on a blanket over my bed (with a travel cage with a litterbox in it) and the fatty boyish girl popped right next to the travel cage, near the wall on the blanket. As of then she's been pooping there or on the other side of the travel cage, too lazy to climb in. I've washed the blanket tons but it looks like she's gotten used to it. I try to catch her in the 'I'm about to poop right here' stance and put her in the litter box. Still working on fixing that behavior! It's work, but catching them in the act and moving them could help teach them (and judging from your story about your rat... Toast, was it? in your icon, you must know about the 'I need to poop' face). Try also wiping down the shelves with vinegar to get rid of smell?

Again, never had boy rats but my lazy girl is boy enough for me.


----------



## Lesti (Jun 25, 2013)

Stitch is really good about going down to the bottom level... I hope my new boy doesn't end up doing that  the only solution I can think of is to just wipe em down a LOT...


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Voltage (May 15, 2013)

steeve said:


> I don't have boys, but I really want to say laziness and habit are a big part of this. I know boys are usually more mellow and less active than girls, so they might be too lazy to go down to their litter box. I have a fatty girl who acts very boy-like and she tends to get lazy and not bother going down to poop. I took a small Tupperware container and put it on their usual sleep shelf (I carved two holes in the side and threaded a twist tie through to attach it to the cage bars so they won't tip it over. It was small!). They went there A LOT. I gradually moved it to the middle big shelf and eventually replaced it with a bigger box. They still pee on the sleeping shelf but no longer poop there. Sometimes I still find stray raisins on the middle level but I toss it all into the litter box.
> 
> Another reason could be habit. I run my rats on a blanket over my bed (with a travel cage with a litterbox in it) and the fatty boyish girl popped right next to the travel cage, near the wall on the blanket. As of then she's been pooping there or on the other side of the travel cage, too lazy to climb in. I've washed the blanket tons but it looks like she's gotten used to it. I try to catch her in the 'I'm about to poop right here' stance and put her in the litter box. Still working on fixing that behavior! It's work, but catching them in the act and moving them could help teach them (and judging from your story about your rat... Toast, was it? in your icon, you must know about the 'I need to poop' face). Try also wiping down the shelves with vinegar to get rid of smell?
> 
> Again, never had boy rats but my lazy girl is boy enough for me.


You have no idea how much joy and laughter your response has given me. 
I actually have absolutely no issues with Toast pooping where she isn't supposed to. She has never pooped outside of her cage and is very good about going to the bottom to poop. I just love to say she needs to poop because I'm immature and the phrase gives me great joy. 20 years old and still laughing at poop jokes. She is just my favorite rat since she was my first and has gone through so much. I can't tell you how much I cried when I thought she was going to die and I thank the stars for every day I have with her since. So I just like to put her on my boyfriend's shoulder and yell, TOAST NEEDS TO POOP HERE. And ask people if they will let Toast poop here. 
I just fund it crazy, the girls sleep on the very top shelves in their cage and they have like six shelves to go down because their cage is massive. It's 57" tall, yet not once has any of my four girls pooped on one of their shelves. The boys omg, its like one ramp is too much too go down so they just poop on the lowest shelf. But they still have so much energy, they are babies and they are just as active as my girls right now if not more.
The girls' cage doesn't even have ramps, they have to climb the bars up and down....well there is one ramp.

But omg the 'I'm about to poop right here' stance. I can't read that without bursting into laughter. You NEED to post a picture of her that displays her markings so I can draw her, I beg of you. I want to do the same thing with my icon cept it'll be her whole body and not just her head.
I also can't hold my laughter when I read 'I need to poop' face.
You have made my day, you really have.


----------



## Voltage (May 15, 2013)

I've been taking my whole cage outside and power washing it because its REALLY hard to wipe down these shelves because they have those stupid crevices on the edges.So much poop and urine gets stuck in there and they cage is really heavy for its size. Its become quite the hassle having to do this daily and then dry the cage n whatnot. 
I really hate this cage. You have no idea. I can't wait to get a critter nation, a cage where I will actually be able to access the entire thing without taking everything apart.

The reason this worries me so much though is because I'm going to be moving and leaving the rats in my boyfriend's care for a few months before I move him out there. And he can be pretty lazy and I doubt he'll keep up with that much cleaning.


----------



## JBird (May 23, 2013)

My boys are young, but so far much neater than my girls. Maybe I am just getting lucky, but they don't pee or poo on their cardboard box on the shelf or the washcloth on the shelves. I only see it down in the bottom corner, their cage doesn't smell at all, and the boys themselves smell like babies. It's kind of ridiculous, honestly. My girls are so nasty that I was prepared for the worst with these boys, but I've not noticed a stray puddle or raisin at all yet! We'll see when they hit the teenage months.... boys are gross in any species, so I'm sure mine will get lazy someday too, haha. 

For now, I'd cover the levels in something. Clip a washcloth or some fleece to it, that way the poo hopefully won't get mashed in there & you can just shake it out. Or, like someone else was suggesting, add another litter box. If they don't know how to use one yet, I feel they might stray towards it if it's placed on their poo shelves. Worth a try, at least!! Good luck, I know how gross that stuff can get.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I think boys like to just be bizarre. My boy Remus likes to climb up to the third level above their litter box, stick his rear-end over the the edge and aim. He will not poop any other place or way. It's pretty gross, because he missed pretty bad once and I had rat poo stuck to my wall.
For my girl, she poops while she walks at any given moment. I got some cheap squares of fabric and covered the levels with it, and can just brush the poop into their litter box if it's on there between cleanings. I used felt squares, because I had them lying around and they come in packs for cheap. It also helps with any smell, because I spray them with Tropiclean spray for ferrets. And, it seems the one type of fabric my girl is not intent on shredding.


----------



## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

Have you tried litter training? It sounds like you have a box... have you been moving the poop down there to show them that that's where it should go? 
I'm concerned that it's getting all mashed up. Do they have soft poops? I have two old girls that have started pooping outside the litter box, presumably from laziness, but the only reason I know that is because I find the dried out raisins when I'm doing my wipedowns. I have eight girls running all over the cage all the time so I'd imagine they'd be mashing poop all over the place if it was soft, which it's not supposed to be. What are your boys eating? It's possible that they need a slight adjustment to their diet to keep their poops from being soft enough to mash around all the time. That would solve a lot of your problems.


----------



## Mball77 (Jul 3, 2013)

My boys do have a nasty habbit of pooing on the wheel and then flinging it when they run right after... really weird finding poo on my wall one day. This tends to happen when they return from a long playtime session, I think they just need to make a mighty dump and care not where.


----------



## mameur (Nov 3, 2012)

I must be lucky my boys never poop and rarely pee on the shelves there is the occasional stray poop. my older crew wasnt bad with the poop either but they marinated in their pee.


----------



## Voltage (May 15, 2013)

They eat the same stuff as my girls and they don't have an issue with it. I'm currently feeding them wild harvest cause these are tough times for me. I plan on switching them to a much better food in the future.
I have a litter box for my girls but not for my boys yet. Their poops aren't exactly really soft, they just get all in the corners of the shelves and its really hard to clean it out without taking out all the shelves or flipping the massive cage upside down. I HATE taking the shelves in and out, I have major issues with them.
And its only once in awhile that they will have poop on their feet or in their fur.
But other than the wild harvest, they get strawberries and bits of ramen noodles, yogies, rice crispies and dog biscuits. I don't get to give them much a variety because there is hardly ever any good food here, The family I live with is VERY picky and only really eats processed food. They buy the strawberries specifically for my rats.


----------



## HeatherElle (Aug 16, 2012)

Are they babies? My boys were NASTY when they were little lol, but they've cleaned up a little as they've grown. I have 5 guys total- 3 in one cage, 2 in the other- the set of 3 refuse to use litter boxes so I gave up, bought them a deep pan for the bottom of their cage, filled the whole thing with aspen and took their shelves out altogether and replaced them with lots of hammocks (which they don't poop in or on). We're all happier and everything stays cleaner. My other two guys are very clean and use their litter box without issue so they get fleece liners.


----------



## Voltage (May 15, 2013)

My boys poop in their hammock unfortunately. But yeah they are like 2 months old. I really hope they get better about it than

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Lesti (Jun 25, 2013)

Wow, I guess I was blessed with clean boys. I didn't have to litter train either of them, they just do it. My new rat (5 weeks) knows not to poop on anything but bedding, so their cage is pretty clean. Except for pee  I already have a pee rock, but they just don't really use it... I hope your new guys have the same instinct about the potty as Beau and Stitch do (besides the pee-ing bit). Best of luck with your gross boys 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------

