# How Do You Clean Your Cage?



## RattieFosters (Aug 8, 2015)

I'm getting my first fosters next week, and I was just thinking about cage cleaning, so I thought I'd ask you guys.

How do you clean your cage?
How often do you clean?
What products do you use?
Do you clean the toys and dishes and water bottles?

I'm interested to see what everyone's different process is like.


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

Litter boxes as needed-every other day on the most used ones.
Blankets if they get smelly or dirty-can last up to a week max.
water dishes a few times daily.
bottles daily
dishes with fresh food is taken after an hour or so

Every 2 weeks everything is pulled to be cleaned.
I use vinegar and/or natures miracle.

All toys, ropes, ladders, plastic sleep places ect are soaked in vinegar and water.

wooden toys are left to dry. I have a ton, so they are replaced till next full clean up.

toys are many times stored in litter boxes, so those ones are cleaned when litter pan is.

litter pans get baking soda at bottom of them and wood pellets on top.

I will clean off shelves and sometimes spritz them with a peroxide/water solution if they look or smell bad in between major cleanings.


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

I change litterboxes about every 5 days but I probably should be doing more often. Blankets get changed roughly every 5 to 7 days depending if they're smelly and I put newspaper underneath them. Once a week Inbetween full cleans I wipe down the cage with unsented wipes and clean any toys, hammocks, hideouts etc that smell. Then every 3- 4 weeks I do a full clean where I take the cage outside, take all their stuff out, scrub the entire cage and hose it down


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## lisa185 (Aug 15, 2015)

I don't use fleece as my rats won't leave it alone and make a right mess! I use litter from pet store and line the whole bottom with it. they poop in their designated places (chosen by them!) I clean everything with standard animal cage cleaner from the pet shop.I clean the cage twice a week, and wash all their hammocks once a week  mine have wooden perches, when they're looking a bit mucky I give them a soak in water and a bit of bleach then rinse thoroughly.


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## Sabatea (Aug 23, 2014)

I use a whole fleece blanket that's held in by binder clips, so I just pull those off and take the blanket out. That and the hammocks/other cloth items get washed weekly. My litterboxes also get changed weekly. I never use any products on anything except vinegar and water if I feel it's necessary. If they make a mess on the pans, I'll wipe them down with vinegar, let that dry, and then wipe it off with water and let it air dry. For any objects in the cage (Empty litterboxes, the food bowl if they marked the outside too much, the wheel, plastic/rubber toys, etc...) they get pulled out and brought into my bathroom, where I handwash them in the bathtub with warm water to clean everything off.

All that being said, please understand that my sense of smell might as well be nonexistent. I really can't smell very well at all, but I can smell a litterbox close up and after rinsing it in the bathtub it smells like nothing to me.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

I clean once a week. 
I empty everything from the cage- toys, food dishes, beds, houses, rats lol
I use fleece so I shake the fleece out and toss it aside, then I have a mini broom and dust pan that I sweep any stray stuff away.
I spray everything down with vinegar and water, wipe it up. On heavy cleaning days it gets in the tub or outside to be hosed off. 
I dry it & add clean fleece, clean litter box, get creative and decorate.
Dishes and water bottles get washed with dish soap by hand. Toys and houses get washed with vinegar and hot water.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

I clean once every 5-7 days.
I scoop all the poop out from that day. Then i throw all the fleece and towels in the washing machine. (I use tide free and gentle.)
Then i clean their hut if it smells really bad along with anything else that stinks. I rinse it down and then wipe it with natures miracle cage cleaner. Then i rinse them again and wipe them to dry.
Finally I add new fleece and i replace everything in a different spot in the cage to keep it interesting.


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## LilCritter (Feb 25, 2014)

I change litter boxes once a week, spot cleaning every day. Then at 2 weeks, I throw out all of the aspen and wipe down all of the pans with Whip-It cleaner (I dilute it to 1 capful/32oz water). I spray down their plastics with the hose (I'd love to do that with their cage, but my area is in a major drought).
I'm pretty lucky and no one pees in the fleece, so those just get changed when they get dirty.


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## blakeduhh (Aug 9, 2015)

Everyday I spot clean but not the throughly, change the water, give them more food.

Every Saturday I take out all the bedding and rinse the bottom of the cage. Then refill it. 

Then once a month I take it the whole cage outside, rinse it, and scrub it.

The only products I use are water, handsoap, and towels.


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## Mikiz (Jul 17, 2015)

I have fleece and just brush out the crumbs and poop every day or two if it looks messy, wash the actual bedding once a week.


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