Baking soda for smell

I live in a very small apartment and all of my rats are housed in my living room, so I have been extremely paranoid about my house smelling like must/pee. But of course, rats don't do well around perfumes and aerosol, so keeping the smell covered up with fresheners was a no-go. I can't afford to dish out over $150 for an air purifier.
I tried just keeping boxes of baking soda around their cage to absorb the smells in the air, but that simply didn't cut it. However, I found that putting a light layer of baking soda on the bottom of the rat tub under the bedding works wonders! A medium sized box of baking soda lasts me about a month with 4 3'x2' cement mixing tubs, and seeing as it only costs about $1.50-$1.75 per box, it seems reasonably affordable.
Of course, this method may still not work for someone with overcrowded rat cages, or kept in under-ventilated places.

Anyone else tried baking soda to help with the smell in their tubs? Any concerns associated with rats and baking soda?

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/y..._4087623_n.jpg

I use compressed pine pellets in my tubs but then mine are in the garage, so I don't mind if they smell a little more. The pellets can also add to the dust, so I don't know that I'd use them in your situation. I know various people use baking soda in their tubs and haven't had any issues with it. I don't just because it's one additional cost and I really don't have any need to but you should be fine using it in the tubs. You might keep an eye on your babies, especially as pinks. Sometimes any sort of dust or powder can clog their nostrils and cause issues, so just be aware of that. I keep my pregnant females on aspen chips minus the pellets for just that reason, to keep the pinks from getting their nostrils clogged with the finer powder/dust the pine pellets can cause. Super cute pic, btw! :gj:

Sorry I cant comment on the question but that is one of the cutest rat picture I ve seen in a long time!!!

When I used to raise rats and mice, I always had them in my bedroom. I found that a complete clean once a week (dump litter, spray with Windex and wipe out) worked just fine at keeping down odor. I used aspen shavings as a bedding.

When I first started out with them, I still lived at home, so my parents would tell me if it smelled or not. They rarely did, so it wasn't just me! :)

The only concern I would have with the baking soda would be the dustiness of it. As long as you're not seeing any sneezing or eye/nose discharge, you're probably ok. I don't know of any long-term effects of breathing in baking soda all the time, but there might be something.

I use kiln dried pine shavings, pine pellets, AND baking soda. I have had zero bad issues with it. It cut the smell for me. I have about 500 ASF's and about 200 rats and the smell isn't really that bad relatively speaking. LOL

I do the same thing a layer if baking soda on the bottom and it works great! Until i have 30-40 babies then its hard yo mask the smell i have to change the beding every other say and its not too bad.

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I use bedding that has baking soda in it and i have yet to have a problem with the smell.