Why do they stink so damn bad?

[tiexecutioner]

Ok i attempted at breeding mice and it ended as a falure because of the horrible oder is this the same with rats? If so how can i suppress the oder? Im tired of going to the pet store weekly.

[matt71915]

i dont pesonally think that rats stink ass bad as mice do. You can use aspen and put vanilla in the water to help with smell. As long as you keep their cage clean their not bad

[SquamishSerpents]

they stink because the water they drink in turn makes them pee lots, which produces ammonia. ammonia is that foul odor you smell. a good solution is to breed African Soft Fur rats, or even gerbils. but from what i understand ASF's have MUCH bigger litters. you COULD breed regular rats and just clean lots, but that costs time and money. so i vote ASF's. there is a section on these boards about ASF's if you scroll down from the forum index

[matt71915]

if you want my opinion on asfs, i think they pretty much suck. They waste a lot of food and chew everthing. They take way to long to grow up so you need a ton of them.

[suzuki4life]

use baking soda under the bedding...helps a bit

I use baking soda, a light layer of equine fresh and then pine on any racks I have in my basement....cleaned once a week.

[suzuki4life]

if you want my opinion on asfs, i think they pretty much suck. They waste a lot of food and chew everthing. They take way to long to grow up so you need a ton of them.

I can't disagree... but they do work wonders on wc bp's.

[SquamishSerpents]

as for the wasting food and chewing everything, the solution is simple. get bins with no edges for them to get their teeth around. provide chewing blocks of wood, and use food hoppers so they cannot waste the food. i am going to build some hardware cloth enclosures for the water bottles, too. other than that, there's really not much else to worry about them chewing.

[tiexecutioner]

so asf rats smell basically like gerbils? Because i know they gerbils don't smell, but where can i get some in brooklyn ny? Will they work good for captive bred that have aten reg. rats or mice in the past? Thx

[tiexecutioner]

also what can i do about them chewing and wasteing the food, i herd if you put running wheels this will keep them entertained and not chewing everything.

[matt71915]

as for the wasting food and chewing everything, the solution is simple. get bins with no edges for them to get their teeth around. provide chewing blocks of wood, and use food hoppers so they cannot waste the food. i am going to build some hardware cloth enclosures for the water bottles, too. other than that, there's really not much else to worry about them chewing.

i have concrete mixing tubs so i dont have a tub chewing problem. i have wheels, corn, chewing blocks, and a hide in the asf tub but they still chew up the food the most. I even have 1/8 hadware cloth that i made some hoppers for them out of. every time i clean an asf bin theres always a layer of dusted food on the bottom of the tub. i tried waiting longer between giving food but they wont eat the dusted food. They just chew everything else and lose a ton of weight.