need help with rat smell... ventilation?

I keep around 20 breeder Rats, 20 mice, 20 asf, and all there young. I am cleaning them weekly, I keep them In The basement with my herp collection. I have a false ceiling and I'm thinking of installing a small fan to suck out the smell? I can smell it upstairs sometimes and it stinks! I thought of putting a shed outside with heating and cooling but the cost and I have a sink in the basement ... so the real question is who knows where I can get a low cfm fan to suck out the smell? And do i have to drill a hole on the exterior of my house? The room is 15x 25' thanks!

Don't know about the fan. But you could get rid of the rats and mice they are the stinkers. Asf's don't seem to smell as much. Have tried all, and that's my :twocents:

A good exhaust fan is the solution you need.

Mine are in the basement and you would not no it.

This is what I use http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...4853_200444853

dont know if this stuff would work on your rodents,,, but im just throwing it out there. It works good on goats and horses. It DOES eliminate odors.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/w.../WP_000433.jpg
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/w.../WP_000432.jpg
says its all natural,, but id check a MSDS sheet.
spooky

Are you using pine pellets for starters?

I can certainly vouch that the DIY Air Purifier works!

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...light=purifier

I am running 6 bins with either 1.3 or 1.4 plus babies. My rats are in my living room... Yes, living room (1br apt) when the weather is too cold. They are in for a week or two at a time.

I have the DIY fan, use pine pellets in combination with regular bedding, I try not to crowd the bins and I change them twice a week.

I know this isn't what you asked advice for, but it may help in the meantime of you putting in the exhaust fan.

you could try a bathroom fan you would have to wire it and yes you would have to cut a small hole for a vent. Not that hard if you're a little bit handy. You might try a carbon air filter there are a couple of good DIY ones listed in the DIY forms.

Rats don't smell bad. It's the mice that are the nasty ones. Stop doing the mice and you'll be fine.

I agree with apple2.
It's the mice that have a strong odor. Mice will stink to high heaven in just a few hours after cleaning, where as it takes rats a few days.

Thanks for all the quick responses! I need the mice for baby balls! The asf are too small for my big females I just keep them for my picky eaters. I haven't tried the pellets but will! I don't have enough time to clean more than once a week! They are not overcrowded. I am handy guess I have a new project. My brother in -law is am electrician! But you know how hard it is to.get those in laws to help lol! Any other suggestions or tips will be greatly appreciated!

Ok here is a tip. If your basement has glass block windows pick a window close to where your rodents are kept. Remove one glass block pane and replace it with a dryer vent.

You can get the vent from home depot or wherever glass block is sold. You can vent a bathroom exhaust fan thru this just as you do your clothes dryer. You can use the same type if vent hose used for dryers.


Larry

For your babies you can feed rat pups or pinks and get rid of the mice altogether. When I fed mice the entire house smelled like mouse poop. Really nasty little critters :mad:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GHOST_584

Ok here is a tip. If your basement has glass block windows pick a window close to where your rodents are kept. Remove one glass block pane and replace it with a dryer vent.

You can get the vent from home depot or wherever glass block is sold. You can vent a bathroom exhaust fan thru this just as you do your clothes dryer. You can use the same type if vent hose used for dryers.


Larry

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Are you restricted to the smaller fans because of the narrow hose? How do you connect the fan to the hose? A sealed box comes to mind but I'm not sure about the restricted air flow of the hose?

Has anyone tried this setup?

I start all my baby balls out on rat pinks. I prefer for none of my balls to eat any mice ever, and to date, no problems.

I have a window in my rat room, so I can use a fan in the window, wouldn't know how to install the vent fans, but I'm sure it'll do the job, since my little window fan eliminates odor within 10 minutes of turning it on.... even on cleaning day. I don't have much odor until it gets close to a week, unless there's a lot of babies in a bin making a mess.

After using aspen and pine beddings, I don't notice much difference in odor though.

Honestly. i use cat litter (the newspaper kind that is cheap) and aspen. i clean it once a week or even once every 2 weeks and the smell is not bothersome at all.

I rigged this thing up in my garage right before winter and it works great.


http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/IMG_3049.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/IMG_3061.jpg


Fan: http://www.rewci.com/10-inch-shutter-fan-with-cord.html

Timer: http://www.rewci.com/int-dt620ch.html

Definitely ditch the mice and feed the babies on rat pinks/fuzzies. Mice are awful.

Ive had certain baby balls that will only go for mice. i sell the extra mice and it pays for the rat food. anyways im gonna start the hunt for a fan. hoping to find one with a on/off switch on the fan! anyone seen these?

Just wanted to throw it out there that I think my ASFs stink worse than my rats, mice, spiny mice, pygmy mice, deer mice, and house mouse. . . :confused:

You're crazy. If I'm anywhere close to the rat rack I can easily smell the 9 rats over the hundreds of ASFs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spitzu

I rigged this thing up in my garage right before winter and it works great.


http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/IMG_3049.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/IMG_3061.jpg


Fan: http://www.rewci.com/10-inch-shutter-fan-with-cord.html

Timer: http://www.rewci.com/int-dt620ch.html

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I'm curious how often you run that fan?

5 mins every 2-3 hours.

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And that's with all ASFs or rats too?


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I only have 4 colonies of rats in there so their smell doesn't quite overpower the 500+ ASFs.