# How often do you clean your cage?



## Pandorascaisse (Mar 12, 2014)

Alright, so, long story short, I have someone who might be considering rats as pets and I'd like to know how often you all clean your cages, how many rats you have, and maybe even what style cage you have?

I have four boys in a superpet deluxe thing (I don't know the actual name, I got it secondhand ) and they get cleaned weekly!


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## CatsRatsVeggies (Aug 18, 2014)

I have two boys in a SRS. Their fleece gets changed every 3/4 days and once a week I do a deep clean


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## Pandorascaisse (Mar 12, 2014)

Oh, also I wipe my bars. I know some people don't do that, but I've found it really helps, for some reason!


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## gotchea (May 4, 2013)

Bars I probably do every other day because my girls try and pee outside their cage.... I also clean the wall behind the cage and the floors around it. I clean it once a week.


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## Kitterpuss (May 9, 2014)

I've got a savic zeno 2 (similar to the jenny/furet plus cage) with three rats. I spot clean and empty litter trays every day. 

I wash the fleece that lines my shelves and pan every second day - three at a push. On the fleece cleaning day I wash out everything with baby wipes - inside the pan, all the cage bars, shelves and plastic toys/baskets etc.

I have a big corroplast plastic sheet against the wall behind the cage to protect the paintwork and that gets a wipe down too. So glad I put that there otherwise I'd be losing my deposit on my flat thanks to stinky projectile peeing rats! 

Hammocks that don't pass the sniff test get washed too - the favourite hammock usually gets cleaned every 3 - 4 days. 

I usually leave something in there that's smelly be it a hammock or a pee rock etc so the boys can still smell 'home'.

I'd like to do less cleaning - it sure takes up a lot of time! But I have allergies and if I slip up my routine I really pay for it.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I have three critter nation units and twelve rats. I clean every week with spot cleaning between.


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## Malarz (Sep 7, 2014)

Pandora, cleaning bars does help. My rats pee from upper levels and pee drips on bars. I take cage outside, spray with scrubble bubbles , and then shower with water hose like a boss!


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## ratsaremylife (Nov 5, 2013)

I have 4 rats in a DCN and I clean it daily because I think it helps to prevent them chewing the fleece. I also wipe bars daily.


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## Pandorascaisse (Mar 12, 2014)

Ratsaremylife, you don't use bedding, though, correct? I can't imagine cleaning bedding out every single day. That would be wickedly expensive (spot cleaning I can understand, but)


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Hm I use pee pads like for puppies. I later them twice as thick. I clean poop up from these every two to three days and change them every week. Sometimes I will put a fresh pad atop old ones if they've not urinated on it but only if it looks dirty from say berries. 

They have a litter box upstairs where they spend most of their time with a pee rock. 

Downstairs they've a bedding part of the cage that has aspen I clean every two weeks, stirring and spot cleaning it in between. 

Hammocks I clean by nose. I keep something in hammocks to absorb urine and change that out. Scraps of fleece, puppy pads, paper towels etc.


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## beaner (Jul 21, 2014)

I have a DCN and 4 girls, I deep clean once a week ( bars, hammocks, toys, houses ) and every other day I change the fleece and wipe down levels, and daily I clean the litter box. I find if i don't change the fleece every other day they start to smell a bit, but this cleaning schedule has kept everyone very happy, clean and non stinky.


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## Emma&Lexi (Sep 7, 2014)

We have a CN cage with two females. I use fleece liners and change them out every third day. Every day the cage gets vacuumed out and the bars get wiped down with baby wipes. On Saturday or Sunday, I take all the toys and plastics out and soak them in soapy water. Everything gets washed on the weekends. The litter box use to get changed every single day because of the smelly factor when I was using corn cob bedding but I started using ExquisiCat Naturals Paper cat litter and so far I am loving it. It gets poop scooped out every day but only changed about every 3-4 days. I am going to try finding a Pee Rock that everyone talks about to see if it helps cut down on them peeing all over everything else.


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## Ratpax (Aug 24, 2014)

I have a DCN with two girls. I use fleece and litter pans--both litter pans get spot cleaned daily, pee rocks cleaned every day.

I spot clean daily when doing the litter pans and pee rocks.

Change out the fleece to wash it every second or third day, wipe everything down good when I change the fleece.

If hammocks or beds don't pass the sniff and touch test, they get tossed in the wash, too, but I definitely change them out less frequently than the fleece cage liners.


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## gotchea (May 4, 2013)

Oh I have 2 double critter nation and 2 girls. Sorry I forgot to add that.


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## inod3 (Jun 13, 2014)

I have a Martin's R-680 with 3 girls and clean it thoroughly once a week. It goes to the shower and gets sprayed down.

Probably the type of cleaning is as relevant as the frequency of cleaning. My sister when she had rats would simply change out (most) of the litter in the cage and call that cleaning. It got quite gross. When I had a Ferret Nation I basically had three levels of cleaning. The weekly cleaning of cleaning shelves etc with a quick wipe down of the bars, a more monthly or semimonthly cleaning where I used a tooth brush to get out the "gunk" that built up at the rear corners where the wires are welded to the frame that I couldn't get easily with just wiping, and a more annual cleaning where I loaded the cage into my truck and took it to a coin operated carwash to hit it with a pressure washer.


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## ratsaremylife (Nov 5, 2013)

Pandorascaisse said:


> Ratsaremylife, you don't use bedding, though, correct? I can't imagine cleaning bedding out every single day. That would be wickedly expensive (spot cleaning I can understand, but)


 No, I use fleece.


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

Here's mine. It doesn't have a brand name like DCN or Martins, it's a double flight cage/small animal cage according to ebay. It gets deep cleaned every week and I vacuum it every day. I use fleece and carpet squares; used to just use straight fleece but the girls would rip it up within an hour of being back in the cage. They can't seem to figure out how to destroy the carpet squares yet !! I bought seven of them at the dollar tree (but I've only used four), trimmed the to size and secured them with binder clips. The levels are fleece covered and they never chew up those. I can actually wash the carpet in the washing machine set to delicate and dry them in the dryer. 

































The cage looks a bit bare but I've added more stuff to it since I took the photos.


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

Spot clean daily with 2 boys in a feisty ferret cage and 1 boy in a ferret nation. Deep clean once a week with fleece change.


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## LittleBird (Jun 22, 2014)

I've got 4 girls in a DCN. Spot clean daily, replace/wash fleece liners once a week or as needed. They have 2 litter boxes and really need a third. I clean those out weekly because I'm still potty training, which is going well. Finally not finding any poops anywhere else in the cage except maybe a few on the 1st level. (which is why I need a 3rd litter box)


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## Tesumph (Aug 12, 2014)

I've got 3 boys and 2 girls in a DCN (all spayed/neutered, they're rescues). I spot clean multiple times a day, which involves picking up stray poops and wiping down sticky spots with natures miracle. Litter boxes are refreshed every few days as needed, and all the fleece/hammocks are washed every 7-10 days. The bars/plastic toys/pans are wiped down at that time too.


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## LittleSparrow (Apr 14, 2014)

We have homemade cages for our 3 boys and 4 girls. I change the hammocks out daily and do a big clean once a week with a water and vinegar spray.


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## Jessiferatu (Apr 30, 2014)

I have 10 rats, 3 SCN cages and 1 DCN. I clean them once a week - wipe down, change out fleece, wash hammocks, etc. Litter pans get cleaned out when they need it, so sometimes more than once a week. Then I vacuum and mop the floor under and around the cages.


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## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

I spot clean twice a day since we're still litter training and I halfway empty the litter box every 3rd day. Once a week I wash the cage liners and the hammock, scrub toys with vinegar if they're gross, and scrub the pans with vinegar. Once a month I scrub down the entire cage with vinegar.


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