Smelly rats?

Question

I've got 4 rats in the same cage, 2 are 6 months old, the others are about a year old, their cage gets cleaned out 3 times a week, and each rat gets a bath with special shampoo once a month (the recommended space between baths) and I have deodorising wipes for between baths, but they still STINK...It's them, not the cage that smells...Anything I can do?

=S

Answer 1

My Rat also smells.  What I have done is placed her in a cage with a wire floor and a tray underneath.  So that she doesn't touch any of the droppings or urine.  I change her house CEDAR SHAVINGS every 3 days and the tray CEDAR SHAVINGS once a week.  I use Cedar Shavings because they absorb the smell much better than anything else I've found.  Since You have 4 You'll probably have to change the tray twice or three times a week.  Since I've started using the Cedar and the tray She no longer smells like a used port-a-pot.  Hope this helps.

Answer 2

You might just wanna go ahead and give them an early bath. I know with my guinea pig if they start smelling it's recommended to dip their butt into the water a couple times and make sure you get in completely dry. Also, as with guinea pigs, you might want to look into building your rats a new cage, because if you have 4 rats sharing the same space, you might want to make a cage the size for 3 guinea pigs. www.cavycages.com should help if you choose to do that.

Answer 3

First of all, you DO NOT want a cage with a wire floor. It can cause your rats to get bumble foot which is VERY painful and can affect their capability of walking.

http://hometown.aol.com/RattLvrr/Bumblef...

Please get a different cage for your rats so they don't get that.

You might have too many rats in once space.

Your older rats might not be cleaning them selves as much or as good as they use to. When rats, just like other animals, get to old they don't take care of themselves as much as they use to.

Answer 4

is the cage small because the cage tends to stink if you have a lot rats in a small cage. if it seems to small get a new bigger cage. hope that helps!

Answer 5

Have you tried a different shampoo? Also, make sure they have a litter box, to contain some of the smelliness. You can dump it more often than you clean the rest of the cage.