Clean out day

As a rat owner (or indeed a small pet owner) cleaning out cages comes with the territory. While we do it because our pets mean the world to us and we want them to have a clean place to live, I think i would be hard pressed to find someone who enjoys cleaning out or would choose it above playing with their rats or eating chocolate or going on a date with their favourite film star lol. Cage cleaning can be made more bearable depending on the substrate you use or the cage you have. When i had less rats and a jenny cage , each week i would of rather beat myself around the head with it rather than attempt to clean it. It was too big for the bath, the bars retained smell and i only have short arms which with the smallness of the doors made clean out day a nighmare.
My clean out routine was made alot easier when i got my explorer cage and easier still when i got the boxes that fit the whole bottom, as when i had small boxes for substrate the rats chose to just poo on the plastic bases and it was like concrete and needed scrubbing and the power shower to remove. But now i just empty the boxes (I have to scoop the dirty bedding out as the box is too wide to just slide into a binbag. That would make my job even easier!) then give them a spray with pet disinfectant, wipe the bits that need it and add fresh card. Then the igloos and shelves get wiped aswell as any other bits that might need it such as the bars.
Then the rats can go back in the cage where they mooch around like the whole thing is highly inconvenient for them.
Before i put my rats in the "clean out cage" i give them all a check over. I check their teeth, ears and eyes and they get throughly felt for lumps. After this indignity they are placed in the clean out cage to wait until they can return to their clean cage. This is one reason why i am covered in scratches on clean out day , a few of my rats object to me looking in their mouth etc.

I always start by cleaning out the boys in the bottom of the explorer, then i clean out the girls and then the boys in the critter cage. I have to be careful not to make out like i am going to clean them out as Asbo always puts up a real effort not to be caught and hides behind the tray which means i have to remove it to get him and it makes a racket which spooks him more and i end up with even more scratches.
When they need it i also remove the hammocks to wash them , today was one of those days but it has put Ataris nose out of joint as he climbed up to get in one of them and it wasn't there. And i know that when i put them back in tomorrow they wont be fully hung up before i have rats piling in which makes hanging them pretty hard. I always have to remove tonnes of chopped card from my hammocks which baffles me as they have lovely soft fleece on the sleeping side so why are they filling them with card! If they want to sleep on card they have an igloo!

I am hoping that Atari will be placated by having his favourite, cous cous for supper lol