hmm, this thread is perfect for what I was looking for!

 I think I'm going to stick to anti-bacterial soap for now, as a lot of those options are way too strong smelling.

 the hydrogen peroxide - vinegar mix: how strong of a smell does it have? I cannot, cannot use bleach unless there is no other choice...because of the smell. as strange as it is (I love perfume!), the smell makes me dizzy, sick, and sneezy.

After some careful thought and with my thoughts also about the environment I think that I am gonna switch to the vinegar/peroxide method for cleaning...seems less harsh for my ratties, me and the earth.  Thanks you guys for opening my eyes!

I've always used plain white vinegar in a spray bottle to clean all of my cages.  It totally cleans up all the urine crystals - and the cages always look brand new.  I learned that years ago with my guinea pig cages.  It's a disinfectent too.

I've tried clorox, and it doesn't work with the crystals - you still have stains. 

When one of my guinea pigs had mites and seizures, Dr Quesenberry from the AMC suggested plain white paper towels for bedding, and the clorox.  The towels were great, but I explained the differences to her with the cleaning up urine crystals - an she said stick to vinegar. 

I use a similar technique with rescue cages...I am paranoid about spreading disease, germs, etc from one rescue animal to another, so in between animals I wipe out all soiled stuff from the cages by dumping out as much as I can and then blasting the cage with water (outside in my back yard).  Then I let everything soak in a strong vinegar/water solution in a huge rubbermaid tube (about 1/10 vinegar to water).  I let stuff soak for about 10-30 minutes depending on how bad gunk is build up.  Next I wipe down the cages and rinse off with water...usually there isn't much scrubbing involved because the vinegar usually loosens EVERTHING!!  Now that all gook is off the cages I soak everthing for about 5 mins in a 1/10 or 1/20 bleach/water solution.  After the 5 min soak I rinse thoroughly with water and let the stuff sit in the sun to dry...

Sounds like a long horrid process, but I have it down to a science like a little assembly line and I can get about 10 cages completely cleaned and ready for new critters in about 1 hour!

I love using vinegar because it gets all gook of cages and makes then look like new.  I love using bleach because it kills everthing except bacterial spores which really isn't a huge issue unless your doing surgery  .  If worried about the possibility about not killing bacterial spores, then Nolvasan is a great way to go.  I use bleach because it's less expensive for me and its more "natural" which is kinda important to me since everthing is being done in my back yard.

I used Clean Cage when I had 5 hamster cages. I didn't have bar cages, so I'm not sure how it does on that, but for glass (I used tanks), it was wonderful. I stopped using it only because of the cost. I use vinegar and water now.

I recently bought a big jug of "Simple Solution" that I use for general cleaning and for washing stinky laundry.  (That goes for my son's socks too!)  When I clean the cages I take them outside and use plain old dish soap, a bbq brush and a hose.  I dry them off a bit and then spray them with Tammy Taylor Disinfect, Disinfect, Disinfect, which smells like peaches, and let them air dry.  I have a lot of rats and a small house - that DDD has made a HUGE difference as far as odour goes.
Some people have said that anything with a scent is bad for ratties but since I started using it I haven't had a single case of myco or resp. infection.

I think I'm going to start using the vinegar/hydrogen peroxide. Is any vinegar good? I think we have only have balsamic vinegar at home.  Is there any possibility that this or the bleach/water mix is bad for the rat sinuses?

 
Amanda

Thanks, that is very helpful!

Seeing as I've been here a few months now and tried various methods I thought I should contribute. A couple of things I should mention: an allergic asthmatic (luckily not allergic to the rats!) and since moving out of home (meaning I have to clean eeek) I've become prone to skin sensitivities. I also wear contacts and am paranoid about eye infections. So my choice of cleaner is based on this.

I love the straight vinegar solution. I have a huge cage so peroxide got too expensive. So my latest and favourite method is to do the cage one half each night, with one to two nights of rest and lots of spot cleaning. I clear all the bedding/mess off the shelves, spray with vinegar, let sit, then spray with water and wipe off with a damp cloth. I clean the bars with something that looks like a hand held mop. Then I towel dry and redecorate.

I used to use food safe vanilla fridge wipe but it started giving me contact dermatitis... I probably should have been using gloves but whatta ya know rubber makes me itch too... plus hey this is my rats permanent home and they dont get to use gloves. Vinegar on the other hand is good for the skin and totally natural.

Everything comes up sparkling and smells fresh. Toys and igloos get washed with my antibacterial hand soap or wiped with  a cloth dampened by a weak vinegar solution.

Bleach gives me asthma... does it affect anyone else? I'm afraid I can't bare the thought of using it anywhere in my home except the toilets.

Here's some great sites about the power of vinegar:

http://www.selfhealingexpressions.com/vinegar_cleaning_products.shtml

http://frugalliving.about.com/library/blvinegararch.htm I especially love the bit about killing dust mites, fungus and moulds. These are my biggest enemy and before I had my rats (and visited these boards) I had no idea vinegar was a cleaner. So I owe a big thankyou to the ratty world.

Last night before it rained ants invaded my cage. After a search on here I sprayed all access points to the room with vinegar and havent seen an ant since. Thought this might be of use to some people too when browsing this thread for the first time.

OK I'll shut up now, but one more time... I LOVE VINEGAR (just not the first whiff...) and it's CHEAP!

Gemma

I live in New York City in an area called the "Meat Market."  Now the butchers are all boutiques, but for 23 years I lived with a plague of mice; they chewed electrical cords and started a fire, and crawled into bed with the kids.  I read that rodents hate the smell of bleach, and it made a noticable difference.  So I plan to use the v/hp combo for our rat's cage, because I would hate to be stuck in a place where I hated the air freshener.

PS-After my daughter was bitten by a wild mouse I had to break down an get a cat.

this is regarding Nolvasan" (Chlorhexidine)..you also will find it called Hibiclens and can be found at walgreens in a small bottle for about $10.  I dilute and use to clean our cages but that is becuz I got a 32 os bottle from my employer. I work in the operating room and it had outdated.  I am quite satisfied that it still has disinfecting qualities but could no longer be used in a human hospital.  It has a nice pleasant smell that does not linger in the room or cage.

We really don't use it in the OR anymore so it really isn't available to me anymore so I will either order from ALLivet as Wonderrodents mentioned or switch over and try the peroxide/hydrogen peroxide method.

Toni

oops..i meant vinegar/hydrogen peroxide method

I use OdoBan for my guinea pig cage and rat cages, along with hot soapy water to clean of the levels, and in the laundry I use bleach, all, and oxyclean.  I am not using natures Miricle for wood toys.  For other toys I use Odoban if they are really smelly(like ferret tubes) or just hot soapy water.

Sasha
www.freewebs.com/heavenly_rats

This is a great thread.  I will be cleaning my rats cage for the first time this week, and want to use the vinegar/peroxide method.  I have one question though...do you just wipe the cage after it soaks or do you rinse it thoroughly with water and then wipe it dry?

Thanks