Baking Soda Toxic?

Ive heard from many rodent breeders that they use Baking Soda to control the odor in their cages. I was just wondering if it was toxic to them? I read on another thread that some one tried the Baking Soda trick and lost about nine rats. If its not toxic how do you guys use it? How much is sprinkled? How effective is it?

Its Snakey that had problems with baking soda. I personally have never tried it as its a fine powder that you are putting in with animals that re known to get RI's at the drop of a hat. Same goes for clay based kitty litter. Some people have had success with it here on these forums ... but I personally dont think it is worth the risk.

Ive found the best way to keep smell down is to keep temps below 74f (above 74 and they drink alot more ... more water in more urine out). And regular bedding changes.

My "experiment" colonies are housed in a spare bedroom in my house ... I change their bedding every 5 days ... the only comment I get from visitors is that it smells like pine.

BTW by "experiment" that means I take some of the myths ... like vanilla or vinegar in the water, vegetarian diet, different beddings, etc. and test them out. I then post the results here in the forums. I am the MythBuster of the rat world ::grins::.

BTW my wife HATES the smell of mice and rats and our bedroom is right next to the "experiment room". The only time she complains about the smell is when 7 days have gone by without a bedding change (she really loved it when I was testing out how many days I could go between bedding changes before I noticed they stunk).

Bryan

I personally dont have any problems with smells yet all i do is change the bedding regularly and im fine and like you said it only begins to smell when its been to long since the last bedding change. All i wanted to know if in fact baking soda was toxic or maybe he just had bad luck?

From what I understand, there's nothing toxic about baking soda. Period. However...a fine powder of any sort, inhaled into sensitive lungs, can cause serious problems.

respitory deseas in rats

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Originally Posted by JLC

From what I understand, there's nothing toxic about baking soda. Period. However...a fine powder of any sort, inhaled into sensitive lungs, can cause serious problems.

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Yes I have bought many rats form pet stores with the respitory problems caused by the inhaltion of fine powder. They used pine and cedar which is toxic to them. If you do use the baking soda and they do get a little bit of a wheezing problem use echinacea in liquid form, you should be able to find this in any drug store or GNC. It boost immunities and helps figh tit off. If they ont take a drop of it from the dropper get a piece of bread or put it on a peice of their food. Mine loved the stuff and it did cure her respitory problem.

If you want a second opinion on that I can give you a site so you don't think I'm just making this stuff up.

I like this site alot: http://www.rmca.org/Articles/herbal.htm

Sorry i put this post under Alan's name this is actually Alecz, I forgot to sign out of his name. :p

This was taken from a site and might help a little: btw here's the link. http://www.rmca.org/Articles/odor.htm

"Passive room air cleaning. Baking soda in a dish or satchel chemically reacts with odors in the air and thus acts as a chemical air cleaner. Activated carbon or zeolite in a dish or satchel physically traps odor molecules in the air and thus acts as a physical air cleaner. Each of these three products removes different types of odors, so it may be most effective to use all three types simultaneously. Both activated carbon and zeolite can be partially recharged by heating for a few hours to ~800°C and ~400°C, respectively, but these are temperatures not normally achievable in the home. Many zeolite products claim they can also be recharged by heating for a day in the sun; this may or may not be true. Replace zeolite if it no longer seems to be controlling odor. Finally, all three types of products are safe to ingest and may also be used directly in the cage. For me, however, baking soda is too dusty and activated carbon and zeolite are too expensive to use directly in the cage."

hope that helps a little and the remedy for the respitory infection is above posted under alan's name on accident, but it does most def. work.

I should add an update... I now use baking soda every week

I just use it sparingly on the bottom of each tub, and put enough bedding on it that the rats don't often dig down and get to the dust


When the dust is on the bottom to soak in urine, it seems to work ;P

I havnt had many rats die since I started using this again, and it helps significantly

when i had mice i used baking soda once and it did kill two mice... and made two others have chronic sneezing problems. i put mainly in the corners where they pee, but its like they kept digging up the aspen and inhaling that crap like it was cocaine or soemthing...