ok i have 7 rats
3 big ones (chachi, pickles, and cosmo), 3 babies (haku, smee, and hobbes), and 1 medium sized one (kemo)
currently the 3 bigs ones are in the huge cage because im still introducing the hairless (just got him) and the babies are too small (they'll slip right through the bars)
now the cage i have is very large, but there is no guard on the levels to keep shavings in, and there has been so much aspen on my floor i was going insane
so i took all the shavings out, and to prevent there being a mess, i just put towels in there
the only problem is, without the fresh scent of the aspen, i can smell the rats a whole lot easier and quicker now
anyone have any tips for odor control? or maybe a different thing i could put in their cage? any kind of litter/shavings/tiny bits of paper are out of the question
tips are appreciated


also i've been noticing some strange behavior with cosmo lately
i've had him for about a month and he was quite tame, came up to the bars, snuggled up to me, everything
but recently (the past couple days) he's been acting strange whenever i approach him
if i touch him, he completely freezes, lifts one paw off the ground and looks absolutely terrified
last night he was even acting like he was going to bite me (which would be horribly shocking)
he's still eating normally, clear eyes, acting normal
he's not sick, just whenever i pet him he acts very very strange
he never used to do this

is this like a phase? a strange scent? this happen to someone before?

he's such a cute little guy and i dont want to ruin our relationship by trying to force my affection on him
it's just so strange,

and on an upbeat note, my 3 rescued feeder babies are doing great =) they're soo much braver now. i actually have to keep feeding them sweets just to get them off my laptop while im typing this question

anyway, thanks in advance for the help