ok, the rats need to stop smelling or they will be killed by angry wifey.

i wash them once a week with baby shampoo
i clean the cage twice a week

THEY STINK!!!!

they also have no idea about the rat loo and go all over the cage "you dirrrrrty rat"

can anyone suggest a tip to either:

make them smell nice
make the cage smell nice
make them toilet trained
make them die a quick and painless death (microwave?)

T

ps microwave is a joke......they would make it smell!

Stuff them with lavender? Then you can hang them on your rear view mirror. :D

Back in a bit with a serious answer...

Avs

Okay - first of all, they're going to smell because they're animals, just like we do. You shouldn't really leave them for more that 5 days without cleaning the cage out, so you're obviously doing okay there.

Hay is better smell-wise than sawdust, although you can buy scented sawdust (a concept I'm still struggling with) that comes in lavender or lemon.

If the smell still lingers, go with my first suggestion. :D:D:D

Avs

Lavender sawdust helps neutralise stinky animal smells. :)

You can get medicated sawdust too, which helps with the smell.

How about lining the bottom of the cage with cat litter? This will help to neutralise the odour.

My advice:

To make them smell nice, stop washing them, certainly don't use shampoo. Just allow their natural musky (male) or grapejuice (female) aroma to build. If you keep washing them, they'll scent themselves even more furiously!

To make the cage smell nice - what sort of cage is it? If it's wooden, get rid of it, you'll never get the smell out. What sort of bedding do they have? Only suggestion is to remove soiled bedding more frequently. NB Avoid all sawdust, I'd recommend Russell Rabbit bedding and/or Biocatolet, but it's a bit harsh on the feet.

To make them toilet trained. Pick a corner of the cage and move all rattie raisins to it. If you perservere, they should choose this corner as their future toilet area. However, they'll still pee anywhere and everywhere, especially if they're bucks!

To make them die a quick and painless death. You are allowed to euthanise rats at home if you do it humanely. However, the equipment to achieve this is not generally available to the general public - decapitation is not considered humane, for instance, and there are doubts over cervical dislocation. I'd recommend a trip to the vets to have them pts if you decide they deserve to die. Which you won't because they'll entwine you in their magical spell!

P.S. Have you been here?

http://www.quite.co.uk/rats/

Ratman
MY98 Wagon

Tiggs,

Try:

- kitty litter instead of hay or saw dust - use the sort that is shaped like little cylinders not the grit stuff. Sainsbury do one in a white bag with multi-coloured writing on it (i'll try and post the name tomorrow). And use the paper strip stuff as bedding, you get that from a pet shop.

- go to a pet shop and buy the proper anti-smeg shampoo for rodents

- if your rats are male and over 7-8 months old they should be big enough to have their balls removed - this stops them peeing so much and on each other, ie. no more scent marking!

Hope that helps, Alex

When toilet training Ratty we used to put him and his cuurants into the corner of the cage. He learnt quite quickly that the corner was toilet zone.

He did pee everywhere he wanted. It soon dried and didn't smell. But that's male ratties. We didn't want him neutered as he had such a character we loved him all the more for it.

We have bought Rodent wood chippings and sawdust from the local Petshop. You can also buy lemon fresh packets aswell.

We (Mum):D cleaned the cage every Saturday. His bedding in his box was changed every morning and night. Sometimes during the day aswell.

I would not suggest cleaning with baby shampoo. As Dr Evil says there are special shampoos to use.

We never washed Ratty as he never needed it. He hated water aswell. He never smelt bad, just his normal Musky smell. He was always cleaning and preening himself. If you do wash him too offen then IMO they will keep scenting themselves heavily. It's their identifying smell afterall.

If your worried about smelly currants then don't feed them meat. We found that with Lamb and Pork etc he would get very smelly poos. Grapes would make his poos very squishy. Watch what they are fed and act accordingly.