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How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
So yesterday was my first time feeding pre-killed in my terrarium for two of my snakes. I usually feed live, but since they started eating medium rats, I don't feel comfortable due to the risk of injury to my snakes.
After zombie dancing them, both of my snakes didn't seem interested so I left them over night. This was probably around 8pm. When I took out the uneaten rats out of their enclosure around 7am, (I have a split AP T12 for both of them) the smell was horrid inside the terrarium.
My question is: do you guys air out your enclosure afterward? Also, does the lasting smell affect the snakes?
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
I would love to know what the replies are to this.
I feed f/t and occasionally have a refusal that gets dragged on to the hot spot.
I usually just wipe out the tub with some F10 and that usually does a decent job.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Yep, take em out and wipe it down. It does stink, you're right. A wipe-down with your preferred cleaner and a thorough rinse will do the trick, make sure you do the lid too.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archimedes
Yep, take em out and wipe it down. It does stink, you're right. A wipe-down with your preferred cleaner and a thorough rinse will do the trick, make sure you do the lid too.
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I'll will definitely wipe down the walls with natural enzyme cleaner. However, it's a 48x24x24 enclosure so taking everything out and cleaning every time they refuse is not an option. I do a thorough cleaning once a month which I actually just did this Sunday.
That's why I want to know what the rest of the BP fam does in this case.
Do you replace the substrate as well?
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Misha
I'll will definitely wipe down the walls with natural enzyme cleaner. However, it's a 48x24x24 enclosure so taking everything out and cleaning every time they refuse is not an option. I do a thorough cleaning once a month which I actually just did this Sunday.
That's why I want to know what the rest of the BP fam does in this case.
Do you replace the substrate as well?
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What you're smelling is decomposition. I recommend doing a full clean every time because otherwise those bacteria that break down biomaterial are still sitting there with your snake, even though the source is gone. Maybe limit exposure to the prey to just a few hours, not overnight?
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
That makes sense. I'll have to do that then. Thanks for the heads up.
It seems like leaving prey overnight might be a bigger risk than I thought.
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I would just air out the enclosure and/or disinfect it. You could also just replace the bedding around where the rat was sitting on.
I have never had a freshly killed rat smell. Not the day of death, nor the day after.
I don't feed F/T or P/K stuff to my snakes, but I do feed my ferrets whole prey. I can leave the prey in their cage for 3 days straight before it starts smelling nasty, then I toss it. (some of the ferrets won't eat freshly killed prey and only prefer it if the meat has been sitting for a little bit)
But its also not in an enclosed warm cage and I also have a fan circulating the air so it's just stagnant.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
It's random but why don't you use bioactive substrates? Cleaning is minimal especially for a terrarium that large
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by barbie.dragon
It's random but why don't you use bioactive substrates? Cleaning is minimal especially for a terrarium that large
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I've never heard of that before. I read up on it a little bit but is there a brand you'd recommend?
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Misha
I've never heard of that before. I read up on it a little bit but is there a brand you'd recommend?
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Well it's not really a brand rather you have a soil that is "alive". You let plants and the bacteria in the soil to get rid of excess nutrients. You can also go get some invertebrates to help the process. There's a book called the art of keeping snakes and check out some dendro boards. They're crazy about stuff like this.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by barbie.dragon
check out some dendro boards. They're crazy about stuff like this.
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Interesting... I'll have to look into that just for education sake.
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I never smell anything when I leave my mice/rats over night. All I smell is snake lol
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by barbie.dragon
Well it's not really a brand rather you have a soil that is "alive". You let plants and the bacteria in the soil to get rid of excess nutrients. You can also go get some invertebrates to help the process. There's a book called the art of keeping snakes and check out some dendro boards. They're crazy about stuff like this.
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I plan to do this with monitors in the future.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Misha
Interesting... I'll have to look into that just for education sake.
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Yeah, it's pretty cool. The only maintenence you really have to do is remove urates and feces and stir the soil. You also need to water the plants. Adding more soil can be done biannually or annually.
The reason why I'm not doing this for my snake is the plants I want to put in will get trampled. I wanted to put some orchids on the side but my snake loves knocking things over so it was a no go :P
Quote:
Originally Posted by satomi325
I plan to do this with monitors in the future.
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Nice! I wanted to do this for my ball python but heavy bodied snake = dead plants everywhere
So I plan on doing this with Crested Geckos or something. Maybe even a king snake.
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Nikki if you get a monitor before me I'm coming over and kidnapping it.
OP - maybe just don't leave them in overnight? I've only had a single instance where I left a cold, dead prey item overnight and actually had the snake eat it. Just leave it in there for an hour and come back and take it out if you want to leave it still, cold, and alone with the snake.
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This seems a little strange to me just because multiple times a month a feeder will get left in overnight and there is no stink in the morning. Occasionally I don't have time to pull it out in the morning and get it after work and even then it's just a faint smell. I wonder why yours decomped so fast
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnowShredder
This seems a little strange to me just because multiple times a month a feeder will get left in overnight and there is no stink in the morning. Occasionally I don't have time to pull it out in the morning and get it after work and even then it's just a faint smell. I wonder why yours decomped so fast
My terrarium is fully enclosed (AP T12). Plus, I have a RHP that provides ambient temps so i'm sure that accelerates decomposition.
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Usually when my rats get danky, it's time for them to hit the trash. If I leave prey in over night, then it goes over my fence and into the green belt if the snake never eats it.
The smell usually follows the dead rats. Hence why into the wilderness and not the dumpsters in the garage. ;) I've never had a problem with the stench staying in the enclosure.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
I've left thawed prey in overnight on multiple occasions and only had the awful rank smell once. I don't know if there is something in the thawing method or preexisting in the prey that causes it to decomp more quickly, or maybe the way the heating pad hits it, but that was definitely an experience I don't want to repeat. Almost gagged.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archimedes
I've left thawed prey in overnight on multiple occasions and only had the awful rank smell once. I don't know if there is something in the thawing method or preexisting in the prey that causes it to decomp more quickly, or maybe the way the heating pad hits it, but that was definitely an experience I don't want to repeat. Almost gagged.
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Yea, its definitely not a pleasant experience. It probably is the heat that accelerates the decomposition. I had the rat right under the RHP.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Oh but to answer your question I would do a full clean up of the tank. A ugh I remember when my ball python struck and coiled and the rat I was feeding (f/t) had diarrhea. It came shooting out of its anus and all over the glass wall. It was a disgusting evening
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Misha
My terrarium is fully enclosed (AP T12). Plus, I have a RHP that provides ambient temps so i'm sure that accelerates decomposition.
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Yeah I use racks, and heat tape with a herpstat and ambient room temp is 78
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Maybe try feeding em in a different enclosure
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
Quote:
Originally Posted by cheaversg
Maybe try feeding em in a different enclosure
That's what I was doing when I was feeding live.
I'm currently trying to get them on freshly killed since they're eating medium rats now. But if they don't start eating, I might go back to feeding live in a separate enclosure. I wouldnt trust medium live rats in their terrarium.
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Re: How do you deal with the smell of dead rats in the terrarium?
I had this "lovely" experience yesterday. I took out the rat plus substrate it was on, aired it out with my boy in a travel tub, and waited. After it was sufficiently aired I put my boy back in the enclosure. I do my cleaning just prior to feeding, so this was an experience. The rat decomposes so fast because of the heat and moisture inside of an enclosed space. The higher the temp the faster it decomposes. I live in a hot deserty area so I get to have that "oh so lovely" smell all the time during the hot months and something has died out on the roads. Skunks are the worst. I might have to go back to live for my boy because he might be ready to come off his food strike. My girl is a garbage disposer so I've never had a problem with dead rats with her. I am still getting to know my boy. I prefer live but have been doing F/Ts because I can stockpile them and not have to run to town every week, and then if they don't eat keeping the rats longer is better.
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