New rat owner- advice please

[MsMiaWallace]

So we've just bought x2 ratties home. We've adopted them from someone who could no longer keep them.
They look lovely. The cage is massive!
But they stink!
What do you use to clean & stop the smell?
What bedding do you use?

They're also very timid, any advice?

They do smell, particularly boys. Our neutered boys don't seem to dribble wee quite so much (presumably they aren't territory marking as much). We've tried all sorts of substrate but nothing helps much other than cleaning them regularly.
Just give them time to settle them in & bribe them with treats! Get them out on their terms & let them get used to exploring you. We have a big plastic run that we sit quietly in and they can explore & get to know us.

We had our two ratties put down yesterday - such a sad day but they were both unwell and I couldn't bear the thought of leaving one without the other as they were so bonded. My 10 year old DD is really struggling with it. They have such short lives :(

Anyway, sorry, that was not the question. Don't clean them TOO much otherwise they will pee even more to scent mark so it compounds the issue. Once a week for a full clean out is fine. Do you have males or females? Females apparently smell less than males, although ours were fairly whiffy on occasion.

As @Cookerhood said, give them time. They are the most amazing pets.

What's the cage material? Plastic, wood, rust, flaky paint, anything like that can trap and absorb smells. Can you tell whether it's a pee smell, a shit smell, or a rat body odour smell?

The timidity: the thing to remember here is that rats are highly intelligent, good at learning from everything you do, and recognise that you are another individual animal. You need to be trustworthy, predictable, and rewarding to be with, and respect their feelings. In practice that means letting them set the pace and plenty of bribes.

Rats do smell but can be trained or naturally use one spot mostly for loo. We got them a mini litter tray and we clean that out every day or second day.
We use paper recycled bedding pellets doesn't help with smell so change whole cage out about once every 5 days.

Also be careful not to over feed as they will hide/store their food in bedding(nest for days and that can start to smell.

Also another tip if they bite just make a high pitch week! Noise as they would with each other they get the message in a day or so just try to make calm hand movements not grab them from their top etc. Lots of good info online.