im sorry to keep bothering you

Question
im sorry to keep bothering you but this is new 2 me and i luv getting the info i need. but the pictures on your website i noticed your rats (which are sooo cute by the way) all have fleecy blankets in thier cages how do you keep your rats and thier cages sooooooo clean because my rat goes to the toilet all over his cage and panics and tries to get away so i get scratched when i try to bathe him... any advice?

Answer

metal mesh tray Yes, forget the bath.  Litter box train your rat for starters. Also, I line my cage floor with thick layers of newspapers for starters and on top of that I lay  down plastic needle point canvas. This has tiny holes in it and if they do pee, the urine drains through the holes and the thick layers of newspaper absorbs the urine. This keeps things very dry and clean. Change out papers daily.  In their little houses or sleeping area, I give them several sheets of white paper towels. They shred it up and sleep on it. If they urinate on the paper towels, just toss them away.  As for litter box training them.....I have a giant cage so I bought a small cat litter box, but in a smaller cage you can just buy a plastic  rectangle shaped container, about 8 inches wide and just a few inches deep so they can get in  and out easily. I buy two of the little organizer trays you can buy at discount stores.  Two is better because you fasten one to the side of the cage and lift out the top tray to dump it daily. I scoop out the little poops  (I should be more professional about it and say "feces" but poop sounds more comfortable to say and less "stuffy" if that makes sense!)   Anyhow, I use yesterdays news in the litter box and remove every single bit of litter or bedding from the cage floors.  Doing this will help not confuse the rat.  If there is only litter in one  area, he or she will go to that area to go to the bathroom. How old is your rat?   I put a photo above of an example of what you can use for a litter box.  Its a little tray about 9 inches long and 2 inches deep.  This one is out of steel mesh but I also use plastic ones with holes. You stack two together, fasten the bottom one to the cage and simply  lift out the top one to clean.  So easy!!  Also, the best way to clean the rats cage is so spray things with equal parts peroxide and water.  Best disinfectant in the world and safe for rats too.