Thinking about breeding rats.

I'm thinking about breeding rats. I wants to know how bad do they smell? What do you do to keep the smell down?

I have a small breeding colony and change their bedding weekly and don't have an issue with smell. In my opinion they don't smell as bad as mice, but that's just me

Keep them clean, and they wont smell.

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I clean mine once a week and they don't smell at all. The males are a little smelly if you don't clean once a week. You only need a 1:4 ratio or so anyway though, so not many males.

Not to hijack the thread or anything but a question kind of related. About two weeks ago we purchased a small rat for our Volta giant to eat (didnt take it). Anyway, this rat stunk up my entire apartment, it smelled like very strong dog feces. He also defecated in her enclosure, semi runny, and it smelled so bad I went ahead and ran chlorohexidine through the enclosure to kill the smell.

Any reason for the exceptional stinkyness? I thought about breeding rats as well but there is no way I could deal with that kind of smell in the house.

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Originally Posted by MrLang

I clean mine once a week and they don't smell at all. The males are a little smelly if you don't clean once a week. You only need a 1:4 ratio or so anyway though, so not many males.

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I was thinking going with 1:2 or 1:3 for now and see how it go.

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Originally Posted by OctagonGecko729

Any reason for the exceptional stinkyness? I thought about breeding rats as well but there is no way I could deal with that kind of smell in the house.

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More than likely the rat had been fed dog food. I have heard that feeding rats dog food can cause them to smell a lot worse.

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Originally Posted by Monsterkx500

I was thinking going with 1:2 or 1:3 for now and see how it go.

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I keep mine in a 1:2 ratio since I moved them to my building and I have yet to notice any strong odor and I only clean about once every one and a half to two weeks. I use Yesterdays News (recycled news paper) cat litter on the bottom and Carefresh bedding on top of that in my tubs.

I thought I would hate breeding my own rats at first but I actually really enjoy it.

I clean mine once a week, and the only smell is "animal" smell. It's really not that bad, though some people may find it offensive. (It's kind of like people with dogs or cats... if you aren't used to the "animal" smell, you can walk into the house and know right away that person has dogs or cats. Likewise if you ARE used to that smell, you can walk into the house of someone who doesn't, and notice there's a different smell, that lack of an "animal" smell.)

I recently read somewhere on this forum that added a few drops of vanilla extract to the water supply can help cut the odor out of the urine. I don't know if it actually works or not, but I'm going to try it out to see!

A few tips to reduce odor:

1) Ventilation is the key. No one (including your ratties) wants to breathe or sit in stagnant air. It makes a huge difference. It also prevents RI.
2) Weekly cleaning at the minimum. (It's the soiled bedding that has a bad small. The rats have very little odor themselves. They are very clean little critters. And yes, males do have a stronger odor. I call it 'buck grease'. lol)
3) Quality diet (poor diet, such as dog food, will make your rats oily. The excess oil production makes them smell terrible)
4) Vanilla extract in their water will help body odor
5) Some baking soda sprinkled under the bedding will help too.
6) Don't overcrowd enclosures.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OctagonGecko729

Not to hijack the thread or anything but a question kind of related. About two weeks ago we purchased a small rat for our Volta giant to eat (didnt take it). Anyway, this rat stunk up my entire apartment, it smelled like very strong dog feces. He also defecated in her enclosure, semi runny, and it smelled so bad I went ahead and ran chlorohexidine through the enclosure to kill the smell.

Any reason for the exceptional stinkyness? I thought about breeding rats as well but there is no way I could deal with that kind of smell in the house.

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Yep, probably fed dog food which makes them and their feces stink to high heaven. The "nervous poops" also smell 100 times worse than regular rat poops, which are pretty odorless.
Don't think this is how rats always smell. After I clean my 6 bin rack, we sit on the outdoor porch feet away from it without being bothered by smells.

BONUS: The rats are just so stinkin' cute!

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Originally Posted by satomi325

A few tips to reduce odor:

1) Ventilation is the key. No one (including your ratties) wants to breathe or sit in stagnant air. It makes a huge difference. It also prevents RI.
2) Weekly cleaning at the minimum. (It's the soiled bedding that has a bad small. The rats have very little odor themselves. They are very clean little critters. And yes, males do have a stronger odor. I call it 'buck grease'. lol)
3) Quality diet (poor diet, such as dog food, will make your rats oily. The excess oil production makes them smell terrible)
4) Vanilla extract in their water will help body odor
5) Some baking soda sprinkled under the bedding will help too.
6) Don't overcrowd enclosures.

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x2 All of what she said.

I also put a layer of Soft Wood Pellets under the kiln dried pine shavings (I buy mine as "fire starters" at a local TSC) they really absorb the urine and turn into a dust. I have yet to smell my rats in my bedroom.

I have started breeding and raising recently and I clean twice a week by choice and have zero smell. I am building a rat house and when I designed it ventilation and air flow was on the top of the design. I have really enjoyed raising them.

The rats I have now actually seem to be doing all their toileting in one corner. Makes spot cleaning easy! They really are clean animals.

Mine don't start to smell until day 4 after cleaning weekly. I have thousands of rats and didn't notice a change in smell when I went to dog food. I stay on top of things every day and if a rack needs changing sooner it's done. I started with ten rats last September and have enjoyed working with them. They are far smarter than I gave them credit for and cleaner as well.