# The rat cage cleaning thread



## Le Nicolas

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since I've logged on here, and I can see that the forum is still great!

Well, since my last log on, I've gotten two female rats! 

I haven't seen any threads on cleaning the cages, so I thought that I would make one 

To clean my rat cage, first i'll go outside and hose it down. then I'll come back inside and take it apart and clean it in the kitchen sink. I use some animal-safe soap and scrub scrub scrub the entire cage with a sponge. When everything is nice and clean, I'll dry it all with some super absorbent microfiber towels. I find that the best ones come from Microfiberhome... here is a link if anyone wants to see: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0031B4YU2


So how does everyone else clean their rat cages?


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## Nienor

Well, I am not able to move my cage one little bit - 80 kg are far too heavy  But i remove everything from the cage and put it into the rubbish bag. Then I use the hoover to remove all the dusty stuff and usually I clean with hot clear water - if you use soap or anything that's has a scent rats tend to do more urine markings in their cage. Hot water is enough for normal cage cleaning. If one of my rats seems sick or is definitly sick I use desinfectant ..
Well I wash the whole cage, dry it with a towel or two and then I put papers on the flor, towels in the Sputniks, branches and toilets with maize granule bag into the cage, their huts and some tissue and then the ratties back  I usually put in cartons with food inside into the cage, too. So they have something to destroy 

And this is the cage after cleaning of my five beloved friends : 










now you can imagine why I can't move it anywhere


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## noMoreFaith

i wanted to ask is dishwashing liquid okay to clean the cage?


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## Nienor

You must ask your rats. If they don't increase urine marking it might be fine, but it still smells different and changes the scent of their territory so they must mark it again and usually far stronger so they will be smelly sooner .. For normal cleaning, hot water is enough. Dishes, water bottles and plastic hut can of course be washed with washing up liquid  You can even put them into the dishwasher it is not toxic - otherwise humans might be poisoned too  I don't wanna know how many rats died for testing that stuff though


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## Jaguar

I have a double Ferret Nation with 4 girls and 2 boys residing in it. I clean the cage about every 4-7 days depending on how dirty they make it. Cleaning goes something like this:

(pre-step: put rats in travel cages)
1. Remove all toys from the floor and shelves
2. Vacuum the towels to remove any stray poos, litter, food crumbs, etc.
3. Unclip all towels and any dirty hammocks and put in the washing machine with hot water and mild detergent
4. Empty, clean, and refill litter boxes
5. Depending on how dirty they are, wipe down all plastic toys with disinfectant wipes, let them sit and dry
6. Put in clean towels and re-add everything in a different arrangement  
7. Refill food and water dishes and add rats!

Takes about 45 to an hour to clean the entire thing.

Every once in a while I will use a sponge with a bit of soap and wipe down the bars and such in the cage, but probably only once a month. In the summer months, I haul the cage outside every once in a while and hose the entire thing down. Daily things include spot cleaning, rearranging toys, refilling bathing water dishes, emptying litter boxes, refilling water bottles if needed, giving more food, etc


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## TamSmith

noMoreFaith said:


> i wanted to ask is dishwashing liquid okay to clean the cage?


Dawn original dish soap is good.


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## lilangel

I take out everything, put plastic toys,huts and all in tub with dish soap and hot water, wash them down.

Then i sweep up all dirt in the cage, take the pans and levels out in the tub wash them down with hot water and dish soap and of course all this get rinsed and dried.

Then the fabric,hammocks and all get washed in the tub also as i do not like the crumbs and little nuggets left sometimes in the washer machine(may clog up the tube over time), once i wash everything in the tub and im sure there is no more crumbs and nuggets i then put it in machine for a rinse spin and then outside to dry in winter i have those clothes hangers thingies and hang the fabric to dry in the house as fleece does not take very long to dry. I find the dryer brings out the stinky smell in the fleece yuck!

I use normal dish soap like dawn.

I do this every two days or so, i have Two full Ferret nations all this takes me about 2-3 hours to clean(breaks in between the two lol)


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## ema-leigh

At the moment I have four separate cages running. I empty all my litter boxes daily and sanitize the litter boxes themselves once a week. All hammocks are taken down and replaced (on a rotation system every 2-3 days. I wash first by hand, then throw them in the washing machine and let them dry naturally. I do spot cleans on all the cages everyday, some I have to totally clean every day. :-\ I have to vacumm around the cages daily, or every second day at the least. And my windows are open all day to air out the room, as its pretty warm here in Canada right now. 

Cage 1 - houses three adult males. Its has a large pan, and multiple levels. I have to wipe the metal shelves and ramps down daily as they are not covered with fleece, I keep disinfectant cleaning wipes handy  The pan itself has newspaper and this has to be emptied and sprayed down with diluted bleach every 2 days. I take the whole cage into the shower for a good scrub down once a week. There is also a rope toy which needs to be washed and bleached every 4 days, as they have taken a liking to peeing on it! (And for some reason I bought them a pure white one!)

Cage 2 - A maternity cage housing Stella and her babies. Its a metal, three level wire cage with a medium sized pan. We are currently keeping her on carefresh ultra (because she takes every last shred of any other bedding into her nest) She still pushes most of the carefresh into her igloo, resulting in several pooey peey puddles in the morning! Which smell just lovely and have been spread around a bit by morning. I have to clean out her cage thoroughly daily. I take it into the shower once a week to scrub down the bars.

Cage 3 - Large glass aquarium housing 3 adult males and 3 young males. I wipe down the sides of the glass daily, removing the newspaper bedding every 2 days. They have a bowl of water instead of a bottle, so I often have to replace soggy parts of the cage every morning. They also have the option of leaving the aquarium and have access to a shelf. Which I wipe down daily with a disinfectant wipe! 

Cage 4 - Very large homemade wooden cage housing two females. I wipe down the levels of the cage daily, taking out the nest box and throughly washing the sides with soapy hot water every 3 days. There is a large 27L pan which is completely filled with litter.


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## VictorianVanity

I use two double level CNs, which are easy peasy to clean.

Daily I spot clean and change the litter in their litter boxes, and sweep around the cages since they love to fling poo. I have a little hand held vacuum that makes clean-up in the cage super easy, and surprisingly doesn't bother the kids in the least.

Ever week or so (often sooner) I set the kids out somewhere like the bed or the couch and let them lounge while I take the pans out, wipe them down, and replace the fleece. I usually wipe around the base of the pans on the cage as well, as sometimes urine leaks down in there. I wash their accessories in hot water, refill food and water, replace toys as needed. Hammocks get washed on an as-needed basis. The kids almost never potty in their hammocks so as long as it doesn't smell and doesn't look too hairy/crumbly/etc. I leave it in. 

As needed I take the whole cage outside, hose it down, and give it a good scrub; maybe once a month.


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## lilangel

ema-leigh said:


> I have to vacumm around the cages daily, or every second day at the least


I forgot that part we also have to vacuum every day or so too hehe


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## MaysRattles

My rats are getting pee all over, even on the wall behind there cage and on the floor is there anyway to stop this? my carpet is knew and my boyfriend will not have this for very much longer. And quite frankly neither will i because it is disgusting.


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## ema-leigh

My boys have taken to squirting pee out of the cage too! Unfortunately I have found no sure way to deter the behavior. I added rocks to their litter pan and its helped for about 30% of their marking. I have just moved their cage to floor level, to a place where its easy to clean around every other day (tiled floor) 

At first though I had them on top of my desk right above my laptop. You can imagine how confused I were to what these sticky blotches were all over my laptop everyday hehe.


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## lilspaz68

MaysRattles said:


> My rats are getting pee all over, even on the wall behind there cage and on the floor is there anyway to stop this? my carpet is knew and my boyfriend will not have this for very much longer. And quite frankly neither will i because it is disgusting.


Put a small area rug under the cage that you can wash and toss out if necessary. Put coroplast behind the cage to catch the pee and then just wipe it down every week.


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## Psychowreckingpit

My cage cleaning process is....

1. Let all the little ratties out.
2. Take all the toys/housing out.
3. Take cage outside and hose it down.
4. Dry cage off to the best of my ability and let it sit out in the sun for a little bit.
5. Clean all the ramps/shelves in sink. Just hot water. 
6. Let everything air dry. 
7.And re-assemble.


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## Spoonrat

I clean my cages seperately the the process is basically the same for each one. Cleaning is done at least every 7 days though it often ends up being 5 or 6 and I spot clean during the week if they decide to pee and poop all over their shelves ;D

Step one: Put rats in hospital tank with snuggly igloo and something tasty.
Step two: Remove all toys, houses etc and take to bathroom.
Step three: Rinse all accessories (inc water bottles) with hot water from handheld shower - disinfectant used on anything that's particularly mucky.
Step four: Brush down shelves to remove debris.
Step five: Wipe down shelves with baby wipe.
Step six: Spray on pet safe disinfectant (Clean n Safe or Keep it Clean)and leave for a few minutes.
Step seven: Wipe down thoroughly with more baby wipes.
Step eight: Scoop out bedding (Finacard)
Step nine: Wipe down base with disinfectant as for shelves.
Step ten: New layer of bedding.
Step eleven: Toys are hopefully dry by now so go back in.
Step twelve: Blue dishcloths added to houses and hideaways.
Step thirteen: Fresh food in bowls.
Step fourteen: Ratties go home!

It takes me awhile to get everything done because I have so many tubes etc to clean lol. Usually about an hour per cage depending on how many rats/how much mess is made!! Shelves are taken out and cage bars wiped down as and when needed.


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