will rats in patio die?

[lguizar12]

I live in an apartment and i am breeding rats and mice. It stinks now in my apt. so i was wondering if i can keep them outside in my patio in a closet storage? i would leave the door open during the day and closed at night. the male is in a bird cage and females are in homemade rack. s
thank you

[lguizar12]

sorry i dont know how to edit but i live in san bernardino and its 80s-90s degrees these days

[mooingtricycle]

if you no longer want your animals inside, then you should probably either stop breeding them. Or find a more suitable home for them. keeping them outdoors with no temperature control is irresponsible.

[cobweb2000]

80-90 is far too hot for them, especially if they are in a rack. They can only sweat through their tails and feet and can overheat very easily. Please either consider rehoming or finding a way to reduce the smell inside. Are you providing them with adequate space and ventilation as well as cleaning reguarly and feeding a high-quality diet? All of those will affect the level of odor you notice.

I keep my 13 pet rats in my bedroom and I've never had a single visitor to my room notice a smell. Rats kept properly do not stink.

[lguizar12]

ok thank you. i clean every 3-4 days. the smell isn't but my girlfriend is giving me crap haah. just got to be cleaner

[cobweb2000]

Glad to hear they will be staying inside

One thing that may help a bit with the smell (for your male at least) is they are very scent driven and they like to mark their things with urine. If you clean too frequently, sometimes they get a little over-anxious trying to make the place smell like home again and the urine smell will actually increase. If you leave a tiny bit of old bedding in the new cage, it will smell familiar and they don't tend to mark as much.

If you are so inclined, rats are also very easy to litter train, I keep mine on fleece and give them each a litter pan filled with that cat litter made from recycled newspaper. I change the litter every other day and change the fleece once or twice a week and my room remains stench free and since the fleece is washable, I don't have to keep buying bedding.

Good luck with them!

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Keep the rats... trade the girlfriend!!!

[littleindiangirl]

Don't put your rats on the patio. Especially in warmer climates. That's asking for parasites and heat stroke.