Smell???

Hey everyone ok my ball collection is starting to get up there so the cost of feeding them is also getting pretty high, so of course im thinking about getting into breeding rats, so im wondering for those who have other animals ( CATS) any suggestions about how to keep the smell down or out so the cats arent going nuts trying to get in the room with the rats?


thankx,, DREW :salute:

The only animal that knows I have rats is my dog, because he likes to watch them. Border collies.:rolleyes: The cat doesnt know it. The only time I really smell them is a day before cleaning day, sometimes, never. If you add a hand full of fresh bedding to the tubs, and a bit of vanilla to the water your smell will be greatly decreased! Good luck, I really enjoy breeding rats for feeders.

SWeet man thats the info i was looking for, Vanilla is a great idea. :gj::gj:

Ditto what justin said. I went through a lot of measures to make sure the rats didn't smell bad, since they lived in my bedroom.

My cat doesn't care. He was scared to death of them for months, now he sniffs once in a while. I bet he got his little paw bit ;)

I use Equine Fresh bedding. It smells way better than aspen imo.

My animals don't even care about the rats. I have dogs, cats, birds, and snakes and none of them bother the rats. :)

Well, lemme take that back. Sway likes to annoy the rats and try to set them all free. She thinks it is cool to pull their tubs out and watch them escape. I don't let her in the ballroom unsupervised...ever!

Sweet well im going to start up here this weekend ill post pics when i get it all started up. Wish me luck haha

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Originally Posted by MeMe

I use Equine Fresh bedding. It smells way better than aspen imo.

My animals don't even care about the rats. I have dogs, cats, birds, and snakes and none of them bother the rats. :)

Well, lemme take that back. Sway likes to annoy the rats and try to set them all free. She thinks it is cool to pull their tubs out and watch them escape. I don't let her in the ballroom unsupervised...ever!

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Oh yes, the Equine fresh, woody pet,etc is much better than regular aspen. Not a good idea to use on nursing babies though, they suffocate on the dust.( thats what i have heard, not sure if its true.)

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Originally Posted by stangs13

The only animal that knows I have rats is my dog, because he likes to watch them. Border collies.:rolleyes: The cat doesnt know it. The only time I really smell them is a day before cleaning day, sometimes, never. If you add a hand full of fresh bedding to the tubs, and a bit of vanilla to the water your smell will be greatly decreased! Good luck, I really enjoy breeding rats for feeders.

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Really cool! That's one thing that's keeping me from breeding my own the potential smell. Do the males give off a "musk" smell like male mice?

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Originally Posted by snakelady

Really cool! That's one thing that's keeping me from breeding my own the potential smell. Do the males give off a "musk" smell like male mice?

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I have noticed a smell on my male, that I don't recognize on my females. Mice smell MUCH worse than rats.

I have noticed a smell on my male, that I don't recognize on my females. Mice smell MUCH worse than rats.

I have heard the same thing that mice smell much worse then rats.

sorry ...I do use Aspen on my nursing moms and babies. A couple days before they deliver I change them from Equine Fresh to Aspen.


And yes the males do kinda have a musky smell. I have also always heard that mice are worse. I dunno if that is true or not though.

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Originally Posted by stangs13

I have noticed a smell on my male, that I don't recognize on my females. Mice smell MUCH worse than rats.

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Well it's 3 for 3. That's good to know. Now you guys got me thinking. I may breed my own rats one of these days.

rats are way easier than mice going to feed off all my mice & go with asf's,my rats do smell but clean every three days will try the vanella thing though.

Yea im going to start up and ill keep everyone posted :D:D

How many you going to start with?

IM going to start with 1 male 4 females its not going to cover all my snakes food but it still reduce my spending. :D:D

I lightly cover the bottom of the tub with woody pellet then put a layer of aspen over top. It works really well. The only down side to woody pellet is the amount of dust. You will notice it on everything in the room. That is why I started using the layer of aspen with less pellets. I also built an air purifier. It really helped out a lot. I highly recommend them.
Trey

Do you put that in the Tub\tank with the rats????

I have it mounted on the wall above the rat racks.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...eRoomRight.jpg
You can see the box right above my rat racks.
Trey

OOOO its you i saw that pic somewhere of your room, let me just say your room is what i want hahahaha so many snakes its great , but the funny thing is i was wondering what that thing was i thought it was a light haha, ok so that helps keep down the dust and smell???

It does a little for the dust and does A LOT for the smell. I priced buying a carbon air purifier and they are expensive($200-$300). So I built this one for about $75. I highly recommend them to anyone that keeps reptiles and rodents.
Thanks for the complement about the room.
Trey

OOOO its you i saw that pic somewhere of your room, let me just say your room is what i want hahahaha so many snakes its great , but the funny thing is i was wondering what that thing was i thought it was a light haha, ok so that helps keep down the dust and smell???

ok weird it posted twice,, but ok ill have to make one of those im just kinda worried about the wires, im keeping my colony under my sink for now, before you say anything its huge area with no dividing walls so it will work perfect. trust me did a lot of thinkin on this haha