Your Questions | About Pet Rats Answers
QUESTION:
Hiya! Just a quick question, what is the best way to deal with the smell that comes with those little fuzzballs? I’ve noticed that even though I keep their cage clean as can be and even when I just cleaned it it still smells. It can’t be that it stuck to the cage because I have just gotten a new one ( like two days ago). Thank you!
ABOUT PET RATS ANSWERS:
That’s great you’re looking into this—-Many people mistakenly believe it’s normal and unavoidable to have a bad smell coming from their pet rats’ cage. This is simply not true! There’s no reason your rats’ cage should be smelly.
Here are some questions to help you figure out where your pet rat cage odor is coming from so you can eliminate it:
What kind of bedding are you using?
Besides using cloth bedding, plain newsprint is inexpensive and easy to replace daily which greatly helps to reduce (and even do away with) pet rat cage odors.
Do you have any wooden or cardboard objects inside their cage?
Both materials easily absorb urine. The only way to get rid of the smell is to get rid of the object itself. If you do use cardboard boxes and/or wooden toys inside your rats’ cage, these should be replaced regularly. I get rid of used cardboard boxes and add new ones to their cage on a weekly basis. Because wooden objects are so difficult to clean, I prefer not to have them at all in my pet rats’ cage.
Are there cloth items inside their cage?
T-shirts, hammocks and fleece floor linings can also absorb and retain the odor of urine. The healthiest way to keep cloth items smelling fresh is to add a cup of distilled white vinegar to each load of laundry. An alternative is to add bleach to the washing machine instead of distilled white vinegar. This will also cut any urine odors in cloth items. Also, be sure and use laundry detergent that’s labeled “Free and Clear” (i.e. No perfumes or dyes).
Are your rats litter box trained?
If not, this is a great way to both make cleaning up after them easier as well as to help eliminate your pet rat cage odor. Here’s an article on How to Litter Box Train Your Rats.
Are any of your rats males?
If so, are they neutered? Unneutered rats often have a musky scent. I actually love the smell, but some find it offensive. Unneutered males also are prone to urine mark. Neutering can reduce the musky scent. It also often helps reduce or even eliminate urine marking. 
Some male rats however, can actually be trained to stop urine marking. (See Scenario #2 in Got Urine?)
I hope at least some of the above questions help you figure out how to get rid of the pet rat cage odor you’ve been detecting. You’re probably already well aware that stinky smells can cause significant health problems for pet rats, especially if the strong aroma is due to urine buildup.
Remember, if YOU can smell anything bad, rat cage odor is 100X stronger for a rat’s finely-tuned sense of smell. Since rats can detect the scent of landmines and tuberculosis, just think how powerful the stench that you’re smelling is for your rats!
Best Wishes to You & Your Rats,
Jasmine | About Pet Rats
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Hi, my daughter has two young male rats. We have a good size cage, hence it has about 4levels (plastic) up from the bottom which has the litter so don’t think really using the bottom. We have washable mats on each level which we take out daily as well as hammocks if need but still noticing the odour, any suggestions please to help. Would newspaper on each level be better?
Hi Abbie,
Thanks for your excellent question! Odors are commonly caused by feces and urine on items inside the cage, the type of litter being used and whether your daughter’s rats are litter box trained.
The most effective way to minimize elimination odors is to litter box train your daughter’s rats. You mentioned there’s litter on the bottom floor—do the rats primarily use this area for urination and defecation? I’m wondering if they’re urinating and defecating on the other floors of their cage as well and this is what’s causing the odor?
The type of litter and the number of litter boxes are also important. Ideally, there should be a litter box on each level of the cage for easy access.
You mentioned your daughter’s rats are males. Some males give off a musky scent. In addition, males often urine mark. Neutering can lessen and even stop both of these from occurring.
Here are some helpful resources on my website. (Some of these are already referenced above.)
Interior Design for Pet Rat Homes
Bedding & Litter
Litter Box Training for You & Your Rats
Litter Box Literacy: The Finer Points of Teaching Pet Rats to Urinate in Litter Boxes
A Cute Cue: Litter Box Training Pet Rats
Cleaning Your Pet Rats’ Cage
Spaying & Neutering Your Pet Rats
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have more questions or need any clarification.
Jasmine | About Pet Rats
I have spayed females, a neutered male (with the females), and five unneutered males (brothers). I haven’t noticed that the unaltered males feces are any stinkier, though they do tend to be larger (because they themselves are larger). Their urine, however, does tend to smell stronger and they do “mark” a lot more. This means more frequent wiping down between cage bars, where they sometimes leave a drop or two when climbing — trust me, those few drops add up! If the smell is a urine smell and you’ve cleaned everything in the cage, there is another possibility…as unsavory as it may be, is one of the rats the source of the odor? Sometimes rats will pee on their cage mates, and some can be pretty bratty about this behavior, peeing repeatedly on the lower-ranking rat. It’s probably NOT the issue (you’d probably notice if one rat was scruffy enough from pee to smell bad), but it was worth mentioning…
Thanks for your comments and for sharing your experience. Those boy rats do add another “dimension” to cage odors, don’t they? Not only do they urine mark but unneutered boys (as mentioned above) can also have a musky scent. Because of your excellent, informative comments, I’ve added urine marking to the above post.
That’s also a good point about how dominant rats sometimes urinate on other rats. I think that the rats who are the “recipients” of the urine are pretty good at grooming themselves, though. Once they clean themselves up I believe the smell is usually eliminated.
Thanks again for sharing the information—Another good point you made was about male rats’ urine getting onto cage bars. It sounds like you’re doing a fantastic job of keeping your rats clean!
Jasmine
Two other causes of stinky cage that I’ve experienced:
1) unneutered male poop can be really stinky. I can’t recommend neutering enough.
2) some infections of the gastrointestinal tract can cause a putrid odor. One in particular is Giardia, a parasite. If obsessive cage cleaning does not get rid of the odor, you may want to get their stools checked by a vet–an O&P (ova and parasite)
Happy ratting!
Hi there Ferz’s mom!
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Great point about having a fecal test performed whenever stools are consistently abnormal—especially when there’s diarrhea and dietary causes have already been ruled out.
That’s interesting you’ve found that your unneutered males have had stinkier poop. I haven’t found there to be any smell difference in female’s vs. male’s feces, neutered or not. I usually don’t have my male rats neutered since there’s no real health benefit. The only reason I’ve ever neutered my rats is when there’s been aggressive behavior.
I wonder how neutering could change the smell of your male rats’ feces? I understand that various diets affect how an animal’s stool smells, but don’t see how neutering would change the scent. Neutered males’ skin smells different after neutering, however, since buck grease is then greatly reduced or eliminated. Buck grease gives them a muskier odor, which some people (including myself) actually like.
In any case, thanks again for sharing your observations. It’s always helpful to hear differing perspectives!
Best Wishes to You & Your Rats,
Jasmine | About Pet Rats