Reducing Smell of Rats

I noticed there werent really any threads addressing this (I found one or two old ones but not much info). So I thought I would start one for reference, and also to get some advice!

I currently keep about 30.180 breeders in my basement, and will be growing out about 400 small-medium at a time.

Right now the smell isnt bad until day 5-7, so I may just start cleaning more than once a week (but when you have 32-40 LARGE tubs, and 60 smaller tubs to clean it can be burdensome :)

I have had a few suggestions, including adding Vanilla to the water, but for the most part the only thing Ive done to help is to include a small percentage of pine bedding mixed in with aspen to help absorb. Do they make any affordable absorbant/smell reducing litter that wont kill the rats if they eat it (my friend tried regular litter, oops :)

I dont think the feces is what smells so much, as much as the urine, but Im not sure.

Oh another thing to reduce the smell is to keep them around 65-70 degrees, I keep them near 66-68 degrees, and they tend to warm their tubs up a bit (will check with my temp gun later).

Any other tips or tricks? I also added ventilation to the room so that has helped some as well :)

thanks!

How about a room air cleaner with activated charcoal? The carbon should scrub the ammonia from the air, but I'm not sure how often you would have to replace it. Something to consider...

Do you know of any on the market that would work like that? Ive checked a lot of air filters and hadn't found any that guaranteed to reduce odors, just clean the air (which should go in hand in this case)

Thanks

I think this is what he is talking about.

I actually sprinkle some baking soda or kitty litter deodorizer on the bottom of my rats' cage when I clean, before adding a layer of clean bedding. I usually add quite a hefty sprikle in the corners, where they usually pee a lot....I have had tremendous sucess with this.

i place a few drops of vanilla extract(sp) in there water seems to help

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

I actually sprinkle some baking soda or kitty litter deodorizer on the bottom of my rats' cage when I clean, before adding a layer of clean bedding. I usually add quite a hefty sprikle in the corners, where they usually pee a lot....I have had tremendous sucess with this.

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There we go! i will try that too! thanks

What is kitty litter deoderizer?

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Originally Posted by gncz73

i place a few drops of vanilla extract(sp) in there water seems to help

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Yeah I am going to do that as well. I did the math and I think I will use about 1 gallon of vanilla extract a month... only $15 so I will give it a go.

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Originally Posted by Wild Bill

I think this is what he is talking about.

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Ah, that looks promising... 4 of those in the basement and 1 in the snake room Would suffice.

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Originally Posted by SnakeySnakeSnake

Yeah I am going to do that as well. I did the math and I think I will use about 1 gallon of vanilla extract a month... only $15 so I will give it a go.

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lol How much vanilla were U planning on using per tub?? It dont take much. :)