Cage and Hamock cleaning...

[Aspen and Misty]

How often and how do you clean your pets cage? When do you wash there hamocks? And how often do you swithc up there toys?

I clean the rats cage once a week with a house and some white vinger.They also get new toys every week when I clean the cage and I wash there Hamocks everyweek. I also scrub my carpet everyweek where the rats cage was because it gets so yucky. Julian gets his litter box cleaned twice a week and his cage cleaned once a week. He also gets alot of new "toys" in his room, like a backpack, clothes, drawers, boxes, etc. So he gets something new everyday.

How about you?

Ash

[Desert Arabian]

I wash the rat cage once a week, once and a while I will spot clean in through out the week. I wash the hammocks once a week, or if they aren't too smelly/soiled I will wash them the next week. I scrub the hid boxes and plastic tubes once a week also.

The boys also get a bath once a week, because they are so oily. LOL. :p The girls get a bath once and a while too, especailly if they are really stinky. hehe.

[Cookiebaker]

Marigold gets her kitty litter scooped everyday, and thoroughly dumped & cleaned once a week.

Rilla gets a quick change on her cage twice a week, and cleaned thorougly every Sunday.

And Jimmy the Betta fish, gets a quick change about once every week, and thoroughly changed (rocks scrubbed etc.) about once every 3 weeks.

And Malone gets his poops scooped everytime we are working outside.

I'm waiting for a flushable toilet for each of them! Whew!! :D

[cheetahgirl]

I change the paper in my birds' cages twice a week, or once. I don't need to do it too much because they are never in cage. :eek: Sometimes, they even sleep out of their cage, so it doesn't get dirty fast enough. I wash their cage well every 2 week. My bunnys box gets scooped everyday, and washed 2 times in a week. My goat lives on the roof. I wash the roof everyday. :)

[Aspen and Misty]

Thanx everyone!

Cookiebaker - I thought it was bad to do a complete water change and when you do change the water I thought that you weren't supposed to wash the rocks?? I am just wondering cause when I change Bella's cage I only do some water change and I never clean teh rocks. Don't they need to Algea or something??


Ash

[CathyBogart]

The rats get their cage cleaned thoroughly once a week, and spot-cleaned every evening. I may need to start doing this more often until the babies are in their new homes. ^_^

I scoop out the lizard's poop as soon as I find it, but she only gets the cage thoroughly cleaned about once a month.

The snake gets her cage cleaned every two weeks.

The mouse gets his cage cleaned once or twice a week, depending on how stinky he gets. ^_^

The betta gets about a 50% water change once a week, and a thorough cleaning every two months or so.

The other fish get a 50% water change twice a month.

I have the horrible feeling that I'm forgetting someone.....

[Cookiebaker]

Originally posted by Aspen and Misty
Thanx everyone!

Cookiebaker - I thought it was bad to do a complete water change and when you do change the water I thought that you weren't supposed to wash the rocks?? I am just wondering cause when I change Bella's cage I only do some water change and I never clean teh rocks. Don't they need to Algea or something??


Ash

Hey Ash, I have read lots of differing advice on this. This is my first betta, so I don't have much experience to draw from. But what I have found is that if I don't do a thorough cleaning, the tank gets brown & nasty after 6 weeks or so. I have a hard time believing that that is good for him. So far, he seems to be doing fine with a complete water change and I make absolute sure that when I do this there isn't a drastic temperature change!

[Aspen and Misty]

Originally posted by Cookiebaker
Hey Ash, I have read lots of differing advice on this. This is my first betta, so I don't have much experience to draw from. But what I have found is that if I don't do a thorough cleaning, the tank gets brown & nasty after 6 weeks or so. I have a hard time believing that that is good for him. So far, he seems to be doing fine with a complete water change and I make absolute sure that when I do this there isn't a drastic temperature change!

Thank you! Gee, then I think Bella needs her Ahem, His cage cleaned :eek: .

Thanks everyone!


Ash :D

[luckies4me]

The rats get their cages spot cleaned every day with a damp towel. The boys get their cage cleaned every three days and the girls every 5 days. I used to use Rocal as a disenfectant but now I just use antibacterial soap to get the nasties off then rinse thoroughly, then I spray on LemoQuat and let that sit for 25 minutes, rinse well and I have a nice lemony smelling cage. Once I month I do a bleach sterilization.


The boys get a bath once a week, the girls every two weeks. Nails get trimmed once a week and teeth get done once a month. Their hammocks get washed twice a week, sometimes the boys hammock gets washed three times a week as they peepee more than the girls do. Thier litter box gets scooped daily, food bowels washed daily, fresh water daily and I clean their water bottle once a week with a baby brush and I use a Qtip to clean up the nozzle. Then the bottles get boiled once a week as well. I like to wash the sides of the tanks once a day, makes them look so much better!


The gecko gets cleaned out about one a month, as he has a complete system that pretty much works for himself. Lucy doesn't have a cage, he gets free roam of the house and if he potties I just clean it up. He sleeps under our bed and when company our over he stays in our kitchen, which is blocked off. He gets daily outside time when he's not hybernating, and we have a blocked off area outside for him to eat his grass and get some sunshine. :)

The birdies are done once a week, with bowels etc. cleaned every day. I pariodically freeze their wooden toys to keep mites away.

Since Fred (wild house mouse) is pretty stinky his cage gets cleaned almost everyday. I just can't take that smell, and I am sure he likes his cage nice smelling too.

The cats don't need any cleaning besides a bath every few months. :p

Speedy gets his cage cleaned every week and his litter scooped once a week. Same with water bottles/food dishes as above. He gets a bath and nail trim/grooming about once a month.



yes my eyes are closed in this pic but Cheetah looks cute! She was in the middle of getting her bath. :D

[Desert Arabian]

OI! I just got done cleaning both rattie cages, and washing the five adults. Luckily the little girls don't get stinky. I use Natures Miracle to clean the cage. Once and a while to really get it clean I use clorox wipes, then take a wet paper towel to get up any soapy spots. It works really well. In the summer I take the cages outside and hose 'em down real good and use some diluted bleach or Amphyl.

I forgot to mention, Dudley gets a bath once every two months. Here is a picture of Dudley in the tub:
http://members.aol.com/OrliBloom177/clean.jpg
I love it when he gets a bath, after he is dry- he is EXTREMELY soft and fuzzy. He reminds me of a bunny rabbit. He smells really good too! :D WOW! It is amazing how Cheetah resembles Dudley, who is a Brown Mackeral Tabby.
http://members.aol.com/OrliBloom177/Dudders.jpg

[Desert Arabian]

See:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid54/pbcc4c523fa23d1328c35c5340d4a496f/fc856868.jpg
http://members.aol.com/OrliBloom177/Dud.jpg
Isn't that freaky!!?? :eek:

[luckies4me]

OMG!:eek: Our cats are almost identical!!!! Hey did I ever mention you have a cute kitty? hehe :p



Maybe your kitty has a little Bengal in him ;) The only way you could tell Cheetah was a Bengal is from her rosettes, which are few and far between, and well that her mom is purebred lol. I wanted to keep the best colored kitten but Dan always wanted to keep another, TinTin just kinda stuck with us lol. I am glad we kept those two though because we are so totally in love with them!


:D

Compared to Cheetah though, Dudley is so much taller. Cheetah is so petite. She didn't start gaining mass til a few months ago and now weighs more than Houdini. I just love how most of the Bengal faces look alike, especially the females. It is crazy!! I bet your cutie has some Ocicat/Bengal/other spotted something in him. :)


I have to clean the girls cage today too and I am taking it outside to hose it off so I know what you mean. It is so much easier. My cage is so big I can't get it through the darn bathroom door and it really gets me mad, urr.



Here is another pic of Cheetah and Dylan when he was a baby. :D

[Aspen and Misty]

I used to put mine in the shower and flood the bathroom, so I only washed it every 2 months. Now I wash it every weekend. It makes it smell so much better. :D


Ash

[luckies4me]

YLL, Where do you buy your Amphyl???

[Desert Arabian]

Um, some little hardware/farm supply store. They have a lot of chemicals, gardening, and hobby farm supplies for sale.

It works great...it kills the AIDS virus, every kind of germ- fungial (sp??) and viral.

Looks like this: http://www.twinsupply.com/CREC8806.JPG

[luckies4me]

Ya I know what it is I was just wondering how easy it is to get there as I cannot find that anywhere! Lemoquat is the same way, it's pretty much the same thing, kills the same things etc. like AIDS, and even myco! ;) Which is why I love it, makes the cages smell yummy.

[wolf_Q]

Wow, Cheetah and Dudley really do look alike! They are both adorable! :D

Luckies, maybe your cats are part tabby? You said Cheetah was very small, maybe I'm wrong, but I had the impression that bengals were pretty big kitties.

Very cute!

[popcornbird]

Dudley and Cheetah are gorgeous kitties!


I used to change the newspaper in my tiels' cage everyday, but nowadays they spend so much time out of the cage and so little time in the cage that it doesn't get so dirty anymore! Of course I wash their dishes everyday before changing the food and water, but I usually change the newspaper once every 2 or 3 days now, since they are always out. They don't poop as much in the cage anymore, mostly in their basket (I put newspaper in that and change it everyday) where they hang out most of the day. I thoroughly wash their cage every 2-3 weeks, depending on how "dirty" they got it. I wash their cage cover every 2 weeks.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by wolf_Q
Wow, Cheetah and Dudley really do look alike! They are both adorable! :D

Luckies, maybe your cats are part tabby? You said Cheetah was very small, maybe I'm wrong, but I had the impression that bengals were pretty big kitties.

Very cute!


Bengals are tabbies. Tabbies are not a breed, it's a marking. She is not small, she's petite. ;) Bengals are big, but my girls are petite. Mystic on the other hand weighs a lot, probably because he is a male. I bred them myself remember? I know what they have in them lol. They weigh 10 pounds, the girls, Mystic around 16 or so now that he went on a diet. Cheetah has gotten a sudden growth spurt all of a sudden and is gaining mass and weight so who knows how big she will be if she ever stops growing. Since MainCoon is in the lines she is at the time where she should stop growing, but I have heard different things from different breeders sho it may just be her food?


If you came here and compared the two kitties, they could be easily told apart from eachother. Cheetah has more pronounced spotting with some rosettes and her color is lighter than regular tabbies. Thier faces have a distinct shape and boning around the muzzle as well as the way they walk etc. :) Did you ever see the new pics I posted of Cheetah in the Cat General thread when she was a kitten??

Also there are a lot of petite Bengals. Abbys are used a lot which gives them the sepia coloration and the bone structure. I can only assume my kitties are so dark because the line contains more Main Coon than anything, although some Abbys were used. What was cool is that we had longhaired kitties in Houdinis second litter which looked just like MainCoons except they were spotted! They were so beautiful! Through research lately I have found that Bengals will carry the recessive longhaired gene from the Maincoons and this is now being worked on by other breeders to create a longhaired version of the Bengal, but we'll see how that goes. :p

[tikeyas_mom]

I clean Spurs *teddy bear hamster male* cage 2 times a week because he is 4 years old and pees himslef often.

I clean Whiskys*syrian golden hamster male * 1 every 2 weeks because he doesn EVER smell for some reason.

I clean Cuddles *golden fancy hamster syrian* cage 1 time a week because she is is messy ..

I clean my fish tank 1 time a month.

[tikeyas_mom]

oh ya And I clean Cheekos and Spankys cage 2 times a month.

[RogueFerret]

The ferrets' cage gets spot cleaned daily and litter scooped. Every Sunday, it gets scrubbed with anti-bacterial soap and it gets a bleach treatment once a month. Hammocks and blankets are washed every week and food and water dishes are washed daily. The ferrets get baths every two weeks or so depending on how stinky they are.

:p

I have a dry powder shampoo that I put on my cats. I tried to put Panther in a bathtub once, that was the only time I tried that!:eek: Litter boxes get scooped daily and cleaned once a week.


Mr. Turtle gets his aquarium scrubbed once a week :D

The dog gets a bath every week because of a skin condition she has where her skin creates too much oil. If she doesn't get a bath at least once every two weeks with her special shampoo from the vet, she looses the hair on her back.:eek:

Goodness, it seems like so much work when I write it all down!:D

[wolf_Q]

Oh, sorry, your cats just didn't look like other bengals I've seen pics of, like SAS's Ti and previous COTDs. But I'm no cat expert.

The litterboxes of Maya & Inka : I scoop the "stuff" out every evening, and once a week, I wash out the box and renew the litter!

Billie & Jasper's cages get cleaned every weekend. My sweet daughter Indra takes care of that!:D :D

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by wolf_Q
Oh, sorry, your cats just didn't look like other bengals I've seen pics of, like SAS's Ti and previous COTDs. But I'm no cat expert.


Cheetah has good markings but not the show quality color. If you look at her baby pics she had a lot more contrast, but unfortunately it's faded. My babies aren't show quality by any means but their awesome pets! :D

[lv4dogs]

My rats get their shavings in the cage cleaned twice a week (well evry 4th day sometimes I refresh it everyother day) . Once a week I scrub everything down in the cage & wash the hammys & toys etc... Everytime I clean the cage (once a week) I alternate toys so they won't get bored.

My ferret gets his cage cleaned once a week a complete scrub down & all the bedding gets washed. But his litter box gets cleaned everyday. I also alternate his toys once a week.

I try to change the cages around once a week or once every other week as the shelves can be moved around. And once a month or every month and a 1/2 the cages all get scrubbed w/ bleach and air dried for a while.

[Aspen and Misty]

Originally posted by lv4dogs

I try to change the cages around once a week or once every other week as the shelves can be moved around. And once a month or every month and a 1/2 the cages all get scrubbed w/ bleach and air dried for a while.

I'd love to see a picture of your cage. Have any?


Thanx guys!


Ash :D