Reptile & Amphibian Forums

And if not, why? I'm getting a rat in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to try bathing it if I can. How often can you bathe? My boyfriend hates rodents so I figured bathing might help cut any smells he might complain about.

Thanks.

Rats are much happier in groups or at least pairs. Do you not plan to get at least 2? They are so social & since we cannot spend 24/7 with them, it's easier on them to have a friend of the same sex living with them & not a bit harder to care for than 1.

As far as odor goes, if you keep the cage clean all the time odor shouldn't be a problem... as long as you use the right bedding material. Pine & cedar are toxic to small rodents, neither are good to use & there is nothing worse than the odor of urine soaked pine shavings. ewwwwww
Use Care Fresh or some other type of wood fiber product or aspen shavings.
Rats can be bathed but as long as that cage stays clean, the rats themselves won't stink. I don't like to bathe mine unless something has happened such as they got into something that got them horribly dirty or there's a medical reason to do it.

Hopefully your bf will learn to love them. Frankly I don't see how anyone couldn't love them once you've seen how loving, sweet, & fun they are
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PHRatz

I understand about how rats are happier in pairs or groups, but I'm taking this a step at a time. I'm extremely lucky my boyfriend is letting me have just one. I eventually plan on getting another, it just won't be immediate.

I plan on using Care Fresh. Or if nothing else, I have a snake that I keep on aspen, so that's always available to me, too. And the cage will be cleaned and scrubbed weekly.

Thanks.

I just finished scrubbing my cages. I bought an industrial type large scrub brush at Lowe's with a short handle for 5-6 bucks... man what a great investment that was!

I bought some Kay-Tee Total Comfort (?) I think that's what it's called. It's their answer to Care Fresh. I liked it but actually it was pretty messy stuff, I did the cost of both on the calculator- turned out to be like 1 cent difference.
I ended up back with Care Fresh, I like that stuff.
I personally don't like aspen because it's very messy- the rats throw it out & it ends up all over the floor.
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PHRatz