# VERY smelly cage right after cleaning?



## sugar&spice_ (Jan 31, 2013)

So I have two stinky little boys, who have what I call a "rat mansion" LOL 
Its a very large, spacious and ventilated cage, but I've noticed that two or three days after I change the cage (And I thoroughly clean it) it begins to smell quite bad again.
Am I doing something wrong? Any tips on how to make the smell less strong?


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## Lightning (May 24, 2013)

Only thing I can suggest is make sure you are using a good bedding to control odors and also if if you have plastic shelves to wipe them out daily.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

It sounds counter-intuitive, but there is such a thing as too much cleaning.

If you remove all traces of their scent, males will go into overdrive to mark everything back up to make sure it's theirs again. More gentle cleaning gradually throughout the week as opposed to big thorough cleanings.

For example, change the bedding/liners one day. Another day, the hammocks/toys. The end of the week, the cage bars themselves.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

What does it smell like? Is it a urine smell, do they themselves smell strongly (the scent is best described as an old dorito smell), or is it a poop smell? Cleaning the cage more gradually will probably help a lot, but if its their stool it could be due to diet... poops from rats on a poor diet tend to smell quite badly and quite strongly. Urine can be a sign of overmarking, as mentioned above, and will be worse depending on your bedding. Carefresh tends to be especially bad about making ordors worse instead of keeping them down. Otherwise, if it's the rats themselves, they might need a good wipe down with an unscented baby wipe now and then.


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## RattieLove* (May 1, 2013)

I definitely have experience here, trust me, smell can be affected by the tiniest of things. First off, what type of bedding do you use? If its Carefresh, get rid of it ASAP. Carefresh is the absolute worst bedding in my opinion. It bothers me because it is so widely used and because of how horrible it is at absorbing and controlling odor, people think its the pets fault when it stinks so badly, and then sometimes end up getting rid of their pet over it. I really recommend Aspen bedding. It is amazing at controlling odor and because it is wood the nice wood smell really helps mask the other odors. Also if you are using fleece, it's not very good at controlling odor either, so if you can, switch to Aspen or something like Yesterday's News Cat Litter (it's recycled paper pellets). Another thing is, if you have anything fabric in your cage that your boys sleep in like hammocks or pouches, that can be a huge contributor to the scent. Just yesterday I was getting really fed up with the sudden strong urine odor from my girls cage, even though I just cleaned it a few days ago, and I realized it was a hat that I have attached to their cage for them to sleep in, it REEKED of urine and was stinking up my whole room. A quick trip to the wash and good as new. So make sure to wash any fabric items in your cage once or even better twice a week. Also any wood in the cage will absorb and trap the urine and if that's the case you'll need to throw any wood out that smells. If after all this it still smells, you can get spray deodorizers specifically for cages that you can safely spray straight onto bedding that will help with odor. Also be sure to wipe down all levels and ramps every day or other day. If you can order it, I really recommend a product called Nil-Drop. I haven't used it myself but it does work, you just put a single drop onto your rats bedding and it seriously helps with odor. You can get it from amazon. I hope this helped! I know how frustrating and gross odor can be. Good luck


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## zurfaces (Jan 16, 2013)

Every other day or as needed I change out the litter pans. My litter pans have wire over the top so they can't get in the pan so I sprinkle a tsp of baking soda in with the litter to help with toilet odors. I put a rock on top of the litter pan (see thread pee rocks) because for some odd reason they like to pee on rocks. *shrugs* I vacuum up stray raisins as needed because leaving those laying around can start a vicious smelly cycle of pooing everywhere other than the litter pan.
Half way through the week I wipe down all non fleece covered surfaces. The wheel the igloo the little tiles I have in every corner to help prevent fleece shredding. I give all boxes wood and hammocks a whiff and if they're smelly they go in their appropriate containers either the trash can or the laundry hamper. Two days later I replace half the fleece in the cage. My liners consist of three layers. The first layer is fleece beneath that is a microfiber towel and beneath that is baking soda sprinkled about. The next day I replace all the other fleece. This helps prevent all the extra marking from too clean of a cage. If their is any way they can get at the baking soda in the cage then do not use it. They will get those little sniffers going and sniff that baking soda right up and that will not be good. 


Also make sure pee isn't puddling beneath anything. Make sure the carpet and floor around it doesn't stink and keep a container of baking soda near the cage to absorb odor. 

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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

What I do when I clean my cage is I leave a hammock, cardboard box, or blanket in there just slightly whipped down. That way it still smells of them and they wouldn't become so stinky. Lol. Of course the hammock or cardboard ox I leave in there is the first thing they sleep in once the cage is clean. Then come cleaning day a week later I will leave a different hammock or box in the cage that smells of them and wash the other one.


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## sugar&spice_ (Jan 31, 2013)

All of these were very helpful! Thank you all so much.


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## WinonaGun42 (Feb 2, 2013)

If you use fleece or fabric in the cages, you can put white vinegar in the wash to help cut down on the pee smell that can linger. After a while, I had noticed that my rats were getting a bit stinky and it was actually their washed fabrics that were holding the odor. As soon as I had put it back in the cage, it was smelly a lot sooner than normal. The vinegar cuts the pee smell, that the unscented baby laundry detergent doesn't seem to remove well when washing on cold. (Washing in cold water and drying the fleece on the lowest dryer setting, or air drying, makes the fleece last a lot longer.)

If you have unwashed fleece or fabrics lying around, that can contribute to the smell too. I bought a cheap, smaller, "locking lid" trash can to use as a hamper for the unwashed fabrics. I line mine with a plastic trash bag to help keep it clean.

I'm with the change it gradually thinking as well. While the fleece gets changed about 2-3 times a week, due to my slovenly boy, and my shelves get a wipe down daily, I do tend to rotate out the toys, hammocks and ropes on the days I don't change the fleece. Only taking out a few at a time makes the urge to "re-scent" the clean stuff a lot less. Washing a few plastics every day is easy, compared to a major clean with all the toys/houses/litter pans, every week.


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