Hi guys,

I'm still on the fence about breeding my rats mainly due to smell. I have to keep them inside the house and in my reptile room so I want to keep this as minimal as possible.

Right now I have my "pets" in two separate wire cages and find that they can get smelly fast, but it's not due to the bedding, rather, it's due to them peeing on the sides of the cages and all of their belongings in the cages. The odor from this can be so bad that it is strong and noticeable when I open the door to the reptile room (and this can happen at any time, day after changing bedding, 3 days later, etc.). The room is heated and has a fan going for circulation, but I can't open a window etc. due to heating the room.

Thus, I have a question for those of you that have kept rats in both metal cages and in bins / racks...
Do you find that they smell less in the racks / bins than in the cages or is it similar?

If I knew that the odor would be less in a rodent rack, I'd be much more comfortable with breeding them... As it is now, my 3.3 are so smelly that I can't imagine having more of them in the reptile room and I know my husband wouldn't go for it.