rat cleaning

[evanw72]

how offten do you clean your rat cages im new to having more than one rat and ever since i got 2 more (have 3 now) it feels like i need to clean out the tube every other day

[Freakie_frog]

I Clean Twice A Week.

[ctrlfreq]

What are you using for bedding? Our rats only need to be cleaned once a week or so, and they live in the house.

[evanw72]

shredded news papper

[SatanicIntention]

Yep, that's why... newspaper is good for nesting material but horrible for absorbing anything and the rats will urinate/defecate so much that they just trample everything into a liquidy mess.

Aspen shavings work great, are inexpensive, and you should only have to change once a week or so depending on your rats(if they are boys or girls). Tractor Supply or Petsmart/Petco would be your best bet at finding aspen. Please don't use pine or cedar.

Are you breeding them?

[Freakie_frog]

You might think about switching to a shredded wood bedding I use a mixture of aspen and pine bedding. Also what are you keeping them in. Less air circulation means more funky rat smell LOL.

[evanw72]

im am going to breed them i got 3 females i got them realy young so they arnt ready to start breeding yet but they are in a 51qt tub

[Freakie_frog]

im am going to breed them i got 3 females i got them realy young so they arnt ready to start breeding yet but they are in a 51qt tub

What kind of top do you have. And Becky is right Pets mart has a 50lb bag of aspen for like 12.00 in the small pets isle. But on the reptile isle they have a .5lb bag for 7.00 do the math. I will warn you rat breeding is addictive.

And you'll end up like me with tubs full of these guys.

[SatanicIntention]

How many snakes do you have? You do realize that females can have up to 20 babies per litter?

Definitely wouldn't be worth breeding them if you only have 1-2 snakes IMHO. I would get them a bigger enclosure. A wire, solid bottomed cage such as a Super Pet cage or an All Living Things 2-3 story cage from Petsmart would work fine. You'll need a much bigger tub and alot of ventilation(the majority of the lid replaced with screen) if you want to keep 3 growing, active females in a tub.

[evanw72]

oh ya i no iv been breeding mice for about a year and i dont need as many mice as i use to, so i wanted to get into rats and the news papper seemed to work great with the mice and i did use aspen the first cuple weeks befor i put papper with the rats maybe i need more venolation and go back to the aspen i herd of people using cat litter any of you every use that?