I absolutely believe that air flow is an issue. However, I've kept my rats shut in a walk-in sized closet (also live in an apartment) for two years and never had any issues. I probably had about 100 rats in there when I was seriously breeding ASFs. There wasn't a vent in there and most of the time the door only got opened every other day when I went to check water bottles and food. I was pretty strict about changing the bedding every week.