# Can you use bleach to wash a rats cage?



## Elise-R-R (Mar 12, 2017)

My girls cage smells SO bad. I've tried vinegar, washing up liquid, a hot steamer etc but it still smells no matter what. 

I use fleece but they are litter trained so I don't know why the cage smells so bad. They eat the exact same food as the boys and I clean both their cages on the same days yet the girls stink while the boys barely smell! 

I change their fleece twice a week, spot clean every day, do a full wipe down once a week and do a deep clean every month. 

Would it be okay to wash it down with bleach on the monthly clean? I'd dilute the bleach of course. If not can anyone give me any suggestions please


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## charlypie (May 15, 2017)

I think it would be fine if you diluted it a LOT. If you let something washed with bleach dry in the sun that evaporates the toxins in bleach? That's my understanding from reading about cleaning out fish tanks with bleach and it is supposed to be safe for fish then so i'm sure it would be fine for a rat cage.


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## WelshRat (May 3, 2017)

You can buy rat safe disinfectants which kill bacteria and viruses. Johnsons do one called clean n safe. This might kill more germs than watered down bleach as the more water added to it the less effective it is.


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## Elise-R-R (Mar 12, 2017)

Thanks for your replies! I'll have a look for the clean and safe. I'm sure I've seen it in pets at home. If not I'll dilute bleach and leave the cage outside to dry after I've rinsed it off


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

I haven't used it myself but ratfanclub suggests to mix bleach with 15 parts water. Be sure to rinse thoroughly! When using disinfectants I suggest using sparingly, since overuse can over time lead to antibiotic resistance (not saying don't use it, just use it when it feels like it's necessary). Oh just curious, are the bars of your cage powder-coated? Otherwise the metal in the bars can hold odor no matter how much the cage is cleaned. Thought I'd ask just to rule it out.


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Try buying natures miracle and using to clean the cage. In my case, it always leaves the cage pee free and stink free after a spray down. (Here's a link to the product: https://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/... Small Pet,utm_campaign:GSC - PLA - Specialty) 

The above post makes a good point about coated bars. If the bars of your cage aren't coated, they will stink no matter how much you clean them.


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## Elise-R-R (Mar 12, 2017)

I'm not sure if the bars are powder coated, I tried to search it up but it's just talking about bird cages by the same make being powder coated. I'm thinking maybe not though as today I bleached the entire cage, hosed it down twice, wiped it down with hot water, poured kettle water over and then hosed it down one last time (I was really worried about the bleach, hence the over rinsing XD ) and then let it dry in the sun and the cage still smells!

Thankyou for the link but I'm from the UK so don't have a pet smart! However I'll search for the product on amazon and see if it comes up


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## Lara (May 15, 2017)

Whenever my pets' cages start to stink, I wash them down with Zorbx, and It's practically magic. Plus it's nontoxic, and it's nice to not have to completely rinse everything down every time your use it . I'm pretty sure they will ship anywhere, but I don't know how much it would be.


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

Elise-R-R said:


> I'm not sure if the bars are powder coated, I tried to search it up but it's just talking about bird cages by the same make being powder coated. I'm thinking maybe not though as today I bleached the entire cage, hosed it down twice, wiped it down with hot water, poured kettle water over and then hosed it down one last time (I was really worried about the bleach, hence the over rinsing XD ) and then let it dry in the sun and the cage still smells!
> 
> Thankyou for the link but I'm from the UK so don't have a pet smart! However I'll search for the product on amazon and see if it comes up


Do you think you could link the exact cage that you have? It sounds like cage itself has absorbed odors- vinegar has always been sufficient for mine and if even _bleach_ didn't work then there's definitely something going on.


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## Elise-R-R (Mar 12, 2017)

Yeah sure, here's the link to the cage (from the shop I got it from) https://www.therange.co.uk/pets/small-pets/small-pet-accessories/two-storey-animal-cage#481437

My sister also has this cage and when I minded her rats they smelt really bad too, at the time I just put it down to them not being litter trained but now I think it might be because the cage! 

I don't mind though as it's just a temporary cage until I can either spay the girls or neuter the boys. It's just that the cage is in the living room as the girls are still being watched cause they're still sneezy so it's stinking up the living room!!


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## Elise-R-R (Mar 12, 2017)

Lara- I'll have a look online to see if it's sold anywhere in the UK as I imagine it might be quite costly to ship over!! Thankyou


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

It's hard to tell but from the picture at the link, it looks like the cage is made from galvanized steel with no paint or coating. Are the wires just bare metal or are they painted gray?

If the wires are bare galvanized steel, the smell has probably soaked into the metal and I don't think there's any sort of solution. If bleach didn't minimize the odor, I don't know that anything else will have much effect either. Make sure the next cage you get has powder coated bars =(


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