# Cleaning and odor advice.. FN



## december333 (Aug 9, 2014)

So I've been working on litter training my rats. My girls have been doing much better than the boys. I have to clean out the cage daily. I vacuum the levels every day and then scrub it clean once or twice a week. But I've found I can't get rid of the smell. I don't know where it's coming from exactly. I've taken out their hammocks and cleaned everything and still smells. And suggestions for getting rid of odor. My only guess is that they need baths themselves which I'm going to try today. It's only been a couple weeks since their last but they do like to lay in their boxes. I'm going to switch to the ones with the grate tops soon.


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## Malarz (Sep 7, 2014)

Hello fellow Marylander! I have a similar problem. Even after a thorough clean the cage starts to smell after less than 2 days. I have a wire cage and rats pee through wires onto the floor. Cleaning the floor around cage helped somewhat. I do not advise washing them. Take them out and away from cage and smell them. They should not smell awful unless they sleep in litter box 
Do you give them any paper tissues or cloth pieces to play with? Tissues soak in pee and smell bad really quickly. Rats love tissues, but I stopped giving them.


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## december333 (Aug 9, 2014)

they sleep in their boxes often. I bathed them today, and throughly cleaned their cage while they were out. the cage itself still smells. I cant figure it out.


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## darkiss4428 (May 31, 2014)

my advice if you have plastic bottom to your cage is mix a spray bottle half water half distilled white vinager spray it down and let it set while they free range and rinse it before putting it back in the smell may be in the plastic, and i dont think the mix will hurt them if you chose to leave it on


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## Kitterpuss (May 9, 2014)

Did you clean the bars? Or down the sides of levels where they meet with the cage bars? Maybe even check things close to the cage. I had a similar issue and it turned out some wee beastie had managed to projectile pee onto this floor standing decorative candle stick I had next to the cage. Old pee is the worst smell!


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

The CN/FNs have a lot of connection points and surface area for stuff to stick to and get smelly. Wheel it outside for a wipe down and rinse once a month or so if you can - if not, try spraying it down what you can with 50/50 vinegar and water and then wiping it clean with a wet cloth.


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## lovemyfurries (Aug 13, 2014)

darkiss4428 said:


> my advice if you have plastic bottom to your cage is mix a spray bottle half water half distilled white vinager spray it down and let it set while they free range and rinse it before putting it back in the smell may be in the plastic, and i dont think the mix will hurt them if you chose to leave it on


I was also going to say this: vinegar water mix and yes the plastic can hold on to smells. Not too sure what to do about that one. Another thing is, if it's the boys cage the better you clean it the more they mark it again to make it theirs! I experienced that after a thorough clean once and the cage smelled worse than before I had cleaned it. The boxes they sleep in? What are they made of? Boys also tend to 'pee in the bed' regardless of age


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## december333 (Aug 9, 2014)

lovemyfurries said:


> I was also going to say this: vinegar water mix and yes the plastic can hold on to smells. Not too sure what to do about that one. Another thing is, if it's the boys cage the better you clean it the more they mark it again to make it theirs! I experienced that after a thorough clean once and the cage smelled worse than before I had cleaned it. The boxes they sleep in? What are they made of? Boys also tend to 'pee in the bed' regardless of age


I'm going to try the vinegar/water mixture and see if it helps. its weird though because in the other cages I've had them in it did not smell as much but with the FN its so bad.
they are shallow plastic containers with paper bedding and large rocks. they are "supposed" to be serving as litter boxes, which they are, but they also sleep in them.. Dx


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

My boys like to sleep on the pee rocks...*sigh* I read somewhere that you can put down baking soda under the fleece. I'm not sure if its safe or not so maybe someone else can tell ya about it...I would be worried they would chew through the fleece and eat it. Its a natural antiacid and can hinder digestion so yea...not sure bout that one. I was also told puppy pads below the fleece helps to whisk away the pee and not allow it to touch the pans.


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## LittleSparrow (Apr 14, 2014)

Are they close to a wall or is their cage on carpet? Sometimes I've found my ratties have been able to get urine on the walls behind their cage and sometimes the floor. Try wiping the walls behind their cage down a little bit. You should also try cleaning the cage completely (including bars) with white vinegar and water. I always use this to clean the cages. If it's the liter that's smelling, you could also try sprinkling a little bit of baking soda on the pan, and then put the liter down on top of it. Since our animals are with us in the front room, I do that for both the rats and rabbits litter and it works pretty good with keeping the smell down.


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## december333 (Aug 9, 2014)

there bars are all covered with hardwire mesh so nothing can get out. im assuming anyway. I'm going to try the vinegar thing for sure!


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## rubysrats (Jul 28, 2014)

The hardware mesh might be the problem because it is not...(I can't think of the right word I keep thinking annondized and oxidized but neither is right). Is it silver untreated metal? If so it absorbs urine. The black coated metal does not.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Hardware cloth is galvanized (zinc coated) to protect it from damage. Urine is corrosive and eats away at this coating, leaving the bare steel exposed. Some say it then "absorbs" odor from the urine, though I'm not sure if that's true just a wives tale at this point. What it will do is get rough, chalky, possibly rusty, and just ugly looking. Maybe even smelly.


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## rubysrats (Jul 28, 2014)

Galvanized, that is the word I was thinking of 😃


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