Squeaky clean
Rats, clean animals? My hiney! My rat cage regularly smells like a dung heap. But of course, I can hardly expect Onni to clean his own cage, so there I went for the semi-annual 'thorough' cage clean.
I literally kicked up a shit storm first. I had decided to clean the actual wire frame and shelves, and it's always a bugger to take out the shelves and put them back in by yourself. I can't reach around the cage to hold one end while attaching the other. So, I dragged the whole 50x70x90 cm frame into my itsy-bitsy bathroom, put the lot in my bathtub and sprayed it off with the shower head, as best I could.
Dirt and water everywhere! I undressed further and further in the hopes of saving my clothes. Meanwhile I had put the little hammock the rat has to sleep in in a tub of water in the kitchen, and the water turned yellowish brown within seconds. I suspect the hammock is one of the major contributors to the smell coming from the cage. I changed the water (threw it in the toilet, the sink would clog up immediately) and now the hammock is taking a swim in a soapy bath.
I also cleaned the bedding, which is a task I don't do nearly often enough but it's a tough job on your own. The wire frame isn't heavy but very difficult to handle. It's almost 2/3rds of my own length wide! Needless to say it's not a favorite of mine.
So, the hammock is still soaking, but apart from that the cage is now more or less clean. I am not sure whether I stopped smelling the cage because I cleaned it or because now my nose is entirely blocked up (I just sneezed out snot that was as yellow as rats' piss). The rat is sleeping in a corner, probably hoping his hammock will be back soon. At least the cage isn't a bio-hazard anymore. I think.
I literally kicked up a shit storm first. I had decided to clean the actual wire frame and shelves, and it's always a bugger to take out the shelves and put them back in by yourself. I can't reach around the cage to hold one end while attaching the other. So, I dragged the whole 50x70x90 cm frame into my itsy-bitsy bathroom, put the lot in my bathtub and sprayed it off with the shower head, as best I could.
Dirt and water everywhere! I undressed further and further in the hopes of saving my clothes. Meanwhile I had put the little hammock the rat has to sleep in in a tub of water in the kitchen, and the water turned yellowish brown within seconds. I suspect the hammock is one of the major contributors to the smell coming from the cage. I changed the water (threw it in the toilet, the sink would clog up immediately) and now the hammock is taking a swim in a soapy bath.
I also cleaned the bedding, which is a task I don't do nearly often enough but it's a tough job on your own. The wire frame isn't heavy but very difficult to handle. It's almost 2/3rds of my own length wide! Needless to say it's not a favorite of mine.
So, the hammock is still soaking, but apart from that the cage is now more or less clean. I am not sure whether I stopped smelling the cage because I cleaned it or because now my nose is entirely blocked up (I just sneezed out snot that was as yellow as rats' piss). The rat is sleeping in a corner, probably hoping his hammock will be back soon. At least the cage isn't a bio-hazard anymore. I think.