Ammonia Issue: What Can I Do to Minimize?

So I have a small operation. I keep 30 breeding snakes, and in order to support them I also have a breeding colony of rats. My fiancee and I live in an apartment and the snake racks and the rats share the average sized second bedroom. Lately, with the cooling weather, we've had to keep the windows closed and I've been noticing a heavy increase in the ammonia in the room. Now, we keep the room closed off from the rest of the apartment because of the ratty smell, but this is obviously a problem. If we open up the windows the room will get too cold for the snakes. So I'm wondering what we can do to minimize or help cope with the ammonia.

So let me tell you a little bit about our rat operation:

We have two large tubs, like 3'X2', two 10 gallon fish tanks, and 3 tubs about the size of 20 gallon fishtanks. All have wire mesh lidding. We have eight breeding females and two males. The males live permanently in the large tubs and the females raise their young in the smaller tubs until weaning age when they move into the big tubs with the males. The kids are fed off or otherwise dispatched around the time that they reach small/medium status, though obviously some before that to keep up with our frozen food needs. I used to clean the cages completely once every two weeks or so, but with the ammonia issue it's once every eight days now. I used aspen bedding and go through a big bag every time I clean.

So do I just need to cope with having to clean them that often or is there something I'm missing. Could I use a better bedding or am I just not thinking correctly with regards to the aeration of the room?

Hmm I'm not sure why you're having ammonia issues. I keep a 5-tub rack as well as two large tubs, and 3 tubs of ASF and I have almost no noticeable odor. I dump and replace all bedding (aspen) once a week. What are you feeding the rats? You could always invest in an air purifier.

7 days is pushing your luck.
I would find a local feed store and change to kiln dries pine shavings, its about $7 a bag around here.

Oops, I lied. I use pine for my rats too.

1) Air circulation makes a huge difference. I would install a ceiling fan or at least have some kind of fan in the room to push air around. Stagnant air makes rodent smell much worse.

2) A few drops of vanilla extract in their water. It makes their urine less foul.

3) Kiln dried pine bedding. It's cheap and works great for the smell.

4) Clean at least once a week.

Quote:

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1) Air circulation makes a huge difference. I would install a ceiling fan or at least have a fan in the room to push air around. Stagnant air makes rodent smell much worse.

2) A few drops of vanilla extract in their water. It makes their urine less foul.

3) Kiln dried pine bedding. It's cheap and works great for the smell.

4) Clean at least once a week

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X2 all of this. You really need to be cleaning once a week for most of those cages. You didn't specify what you have in the 10 gallon, but as an example, I only ever have one female with a litter in a 10, and they get moved to either a tub or a 20 gallon long by the time the babies are about 2 weeks, and that 10 gallon is cleaned once a week.

I also only have at most 2 females and their litters in a 20 long or a tub until weaned, then they all get split. I do have a 20 long that I keep 3-4 females in during their "rest" between litters. Again, cleaning once a week.

One thing I might add to help out, I use Kiln dried pine bedding as well but noticed a big difference when using larger style flakes compared to smaller flakes. The smaller flakes seem to control the odor much better imo.

http://www.guardianhorsebedding.com/...gs_pellets.htm

I use predominantly small flakes with a handful or so of the large flake. A large bag costs about $5 at my Farm and Fleet store.

If you're noticing strong ammonia smells you should clean more frequently. Imagine what it's like for the rats living in there.

You should also use pine shavings or pine pellets. They work great!

ALSO buy a small air cleaner. Works wonders for mice

I have this one. It's awesome.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

1) Air circulation makes a huge difference. I would install a ceiling fan or at least have some kind of fan in the room to push air around. Stagnant air makes rodent smell much worse.

2) A few drops of vanilla extract in their water. It makes their urine less foul.

3) Kiln dried pine bedding. It's cheap and works great for the smell.

4) Clean at least once a week.

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x2. For norway rats, i believe cleaning every five days is essential. I breed ASFs n i clean them every 7-10 days. I use the dried pine, and sprinkle a litter additive that extends the useful life of the litter. In addition, i have a fan in our animal room constantly circulating air. No real problems with smell.

sent from my incubator

Stagnant air is bad as stated. Keep the air circulating in the room.

Low cages are better (more ventilation) so ditch anything over 8" high and get them all in shallow enclosures

The vanilla extract in the water is gold

Clean once a week - find a system that is efficient and it won't take long. I use all of the same tubs across the board and have 1 extra. I prep the tub, throw all the rats in it and throw it in the rack. Then I take the dirty tub, dump, spray, wipe, and prep it for the next row. Get a really big trash can so you aren't micro managing the shavings on their way into the trash.

Use kiln dried pine. Some people use the pine pellets you can get in conjunction with shavings as they are more absorbent.

Don't overcrowd the bins - once a week at the right level of population and the rats should be able to bury most of their droppings. When you start overcrowding and they're all digging around and going to the bathroom willy nilly they start leaving stuff on the surface.

Make the bedding deeper so they have the option to bury.



The ammonia is REALLY bad for the rats, as stated. I know you're raising them as food, but their welfare is just as important if not more important than your snakes. They have much more complex brains than the snakes and therefore have a greater ability to suffer. Don't be a jerk :) GL!