The only way I clean my cages is with hot water and a little Dawn, the rats have a ten gallon aquarium and then a screen cage with a metal bottom (it's mostly open).

As far as the room goes there's nothing I could notice I have thirty some odd mice, twenty something African soft furs, two gerbils, three leopard geckos, and a tarantula and those all act fine.

The temperature in that room isn't as warm as the rest of the house but it's still comfortable to a person so I figured room temperature, maybe a little warmer.

The rats have a rat feed from Wal Mart, can't remember the name but I mix in extra sunflower seeds, corn, and sometimes oats or grain cereal.

The water here at some times of the year smells so strongly of chlorine that you'd think your bath tub had been filled with water from a pool so I always use filtered water for them, it's just a filter that attaches to my faucet.

It is by Wichita, I've used Tails & Scales (the local exotic store), Petco, Petsmart, Gupton's, one I can't remember the name right off the bat. But the problem is that these rats die within twenty four hours of getting them, when I go to the pet stores they all have rats that look sick, some places I can't even tell if they're alive or dead. I can try getting the healthiest I see but those usually end up dying before the sickest ones. And I want to raise my own, but it's a little hard when all the babies die or the mother died before being able to give birth.

I use aspen shavings that say they're kiln dried.