# washing rat beds and fabrics, what to use?



## Nari (Feb 27, 2012)

So I just got my first 2 rats about 2 weeks ago  So I need some help with this... I need to wash their beds and I am not sure what to use to wash those? Is it ok to use my regular detergent and fabric softener on rat stuff? I am just worried about exposing them to allergens or possibly toxic stuff. 
I was also wondering maybe I should start using fleece covers on the shelves of their cage instead of aspen shavings. Would save me money and might be easier to clean. But again, I am not sure how to wash these... 
How do you guys wash your rats fabrics? What do you use? Also I have a critter nation single unit cage and 2 rats in it, if I change to fleece covers, how often do you think I'd have to wash these? Once a week? Twice a week? Just trying to figure out how many cover sets I would have to get.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Some people will say to use hypo-allergenic detergent, or scentless dye free detergent, but I have always just used my regular stuff and put it on a heavy duty cycle so it gets more soak time.

Shake the stuff free of any poops or aspen, and wash it with ONLY other rat stuff. Unless you want your clothes smelling like rat lol. I find that no matter what you wash with, or how many times you wash the smell does not go away fully. Then again I also have a canine sense of smell lol.

if your rats are NOT major chewers, then fleece could very well save you money. Assuming you are willing to change it out a couple times a week and wash it in your machine.
If you have rats that are very destructive, (like me) I found that fleece was anti-cost efficient , and since I have anywhere from 9-20 rats at any given time it was not practical for me. Fleece hammocks are all I use. However if I had a smaller amount of rats, or rats that were potty trained and less destructive I would use fleece.

So even if you have 2 sets of liners, if you have rats that even chew a little bit (and liners are always taster then hammocks lol), you are eventually going to need more. if you can sew you can make your own easily.


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## JessyGene (Feb 27, 2012)

I just use my regular detergent but I use a small amount and do a double rinse. My rat is well potty trained so her things don't get very dirty or smelly.


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## sonicboom (Sep 3, 2011)

Don't use fabric softener.


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