# My rats smell like pee.



## Lindsay (Aug 8, 2013)

I have three female rats. I use fleece liners but only on the bottom pan of the cage, the other three shelves are solid so I don't use liners. They have boxes to play with and a cargo net to climb, but the real problem here seems to come from their bed. They are also not litter trained. I have tried to litter train them and all they do is flip the litter box over and drag things in the litter box and continue to poop on every feasible surface, including all over my carpet. But you know, whatever. i'm not too bothered by them pooping on the carpet once in a while, i just pick it up. But the poop EVERYWHERE in the cage does get annoying. They spend about 80% of their time in their cloth cube i made for them, which is their bed and is ALWAYS filled with pee and poop no matter how much i try to clean it. They've chewed holes in the sides, whatever because that's what they do, so they poop inside the layers of the fabric, too. The main problem is that I'm trying to find a good cleaning schedule. Once a week is just a tad too long, it starts to smell and the rats start to smell because they lay in their excrement and urine and it's horrible. So I'm upping it to twice a week, but i still can't get rid of the smell of urine on their fur because they just love laying in their own pee. I know some of it is due to the fact that they spend all their time in their bed, but another is due to the fact that they like their own belongings to smell like themselves, as a sense of security. I almost never find any urine anywhere else, though. Sometimes on the fleece liner at the bottom, hardly ever on the plastic shelving. I just cleaned the cage yesterday and they're starting to smell a tiny bit better but, again, the smell of pee on their fur doesn't go away because they just lay in their wet bed. I wash the cloth cube and fleece with detergent and a little bit of bleach because of the smell.

The lady I got them from said she bathed them frequently, which I know is not really recommended but I figured they must have been used to it, so i tried it with one of the rats in a shallow sinkful of warm water with dawn dish soap (not above the shoulders of course) and that was not a pleasant experience for anyone involved. Then I tried baby wipes, but that didn't get rid of the smell. They are young, about four to five months old, so they are pretty fidgety. But all the same they don't really enjoy me handling them that much, the only reason they ever come to me is for the promise of food, lol. They run up to the cage wall about half the time when i walk in the room but i think it's just because of food, because if i try to put my hand in the cage, they sniff me and try to either run away from my hand or get out of the cage. Lol they're not interested in me. They don't like scratches or rubs from me in particular so bathing in any form is pretty much h-e-l-l. I'm running out of ideas!

Should I maybe switch to plastic hide a ways instead of cloth? Do you think it would help? Or no? Do you think maybe I should use cage liners for the shelves? Just need some more ideas and options. As a side note, I have lots of carefresh but i decided not to use it because the little pieces seemed to get everywhere, but maybe it's a good option for this situation because the rats haven't seemed to take to litter training?


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## Siringo (May 7, 2012)

What kind of litter box did you try? They shouldn't be able to flip it over, but you could try placing a "pee-rock" in the litter pan. Rats tend to like peeing up against things, so placing a rock in their litter pan MIGHT encourage them to pee there. They would still probably pee in the hammocks, but maybe less often. I know it can be frustrating when they don't take to pooping in the right spot and it's unusual that they poop all over, but just keep working at it. Be very persistent about placing all of their poops in the box. They will get the hang of it eventually and when they do it'll be a lot easier!

As for your rats enjoying your company and being pet, you should study the immersion thread. I know it can be hard to digest but go through all of the pages to make sure you're doing it right and again, be persistent (and consistent)! Good luuuck


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## Crezzard (Jul 20, 2013)

I wash all my fabric hammocks once a week in the washing machine, you need to do that. But the first step id make if i were you is to get a litter tray (2 if its a big cage) fill it with paper pellets, and put a poo sample and abit of the urine soaked fabric in the litter - id chuck away the hidey square since its eaten already. They should in theory start using the littler box.... dont replace the fabric beds because rats love them but id get plastic ones aswell im looking for one on petsupermarket because my wooden bed stinks


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## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

I did what other have said. I just pick up each poo and place it in the litter box. Do this constantly and eventually they should get the idea. It takes time but it worked for me. And none of my ratties has ever liked being handled. They like to run up and down my pant leg, in and out of my sleeve or the hood of my sweater, or sit on my head. That is all fine until I pick them up; then the squirming starts. They should enjoy playing with you if though, and not just because they think you have food. I know I would not enjoy my ratties if they did not enjoy being with me.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Pick poo and wipe down levels daily or twice daily as needed. Wash toys and hammocks once a week. 

Get baking soda, Nature"s Miracle wipes and a ferret descenting spray. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## Lindsay (Aug 8, 2013)

I was trying the litter training for about 3 weeks following the aforementioned steps, I got quite exasperated, lol. I wash my fabric items once weekly but it gets too smelly so i'm upping it to 2x weekly. I used a square tupperware bin, about 7" x 7" x 2". But I didnt really attach it to anything or anchor it, lol. I'm actually having to somehow find some new fleece liners because they've completely destroyed the ones I have, they've chewed holes inside the corners and play under the fleece... But that's a problem if the litter box is atop the fleece!! Also they poop outside the cage, and of course they drip outside the cage and i'm concerned about smell building up. Is that normal?

Any ideas as far as bathing goes?  or will they stop smelling if I (magically) get them to stop laying in their pee?


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## agirl65 (Oct 7, 2013)

I wash my fleece twice a week, once wasn't enough for me either. Also, are you putting a towel under the fleece (sorry if you said it previously and I missed it) that seems to work better because it absorbs, and my fleece is less smelly. My girls are pretty much litter trained for poo, just keep trying. Once I started washing my bedding twice a week everything started smelling better.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I wouldn't bathe them unless absolutely necessary, so mishaps with blueberries or something.

I am currently using puppy pads changed out daily while we get them back to litter training, so that may be worth pursuing. I got 50 at the dollar store.


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## agirl65 (Oct 7, 2013)

Puppy pads, what a great idea!! I never thought of that! Do they tear them up terribly?


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Some what, but they tear up fleece towels and bedding so I deal with it. I did have a nesting problem where they would drag them to shred up to make a nest, but I started putting hide houses and such on the corners to weigh it down.


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## agirl65 (Oct 7, 2013)

Great idea!! So that seems like it would certainly help with the pee smell.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

At the very least, it helps make cage cleaning go faster until I get them back litter-trained.

I also thought I would add for "pooping all over", try to see if there is a pattern to it. My rats enjoy pooping off ledges/perches. Put a stick over the litter box and bam. litter trained. I put the litter box where they pooped mostly as well. I am waiting to figure out where that is in the new cage though.


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## ilovemyrats01 (Jul 18, 2013)

I agree 100% wee wee pads ... also as for bathtime my rats personally loveeee it they have their bathtime their bathtoys. What I used when I first got all my babies was a large Tupperware bowl during free range I would sit on the bathroom floor with them nd put the bowl down with luke warm water with maybee an inch of water the bowl is rectangular the sides arent high nd of course they were all curious I put all their favorite squeeky bathtoys in some balls it took about 2 days I would say free ranging in the bathroom ... once they got used to being splashed a little nd goin to the bowl nd trying to grab their favorite toys. They were ready to move to the bathtub. They learn very fast. But with any pet their all different, they all have their own personality. Just have patience! GoodLuck

RattBurglarr)


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## agirl65 (Oct 7, 2013)

Oh my goodness look at that sweet, wet baby!! I haven't tried to bathe my girls, I think I'll see how they like a little water.


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