Air Freshners in Snake Room

Just a quick question for you guys.
What do you guys use to keep the smell down in your snake rooms? It wasn't much of a problem when I only had a couple however now with 12, going on 14, I've been looking for something to cut down on odors. I wish the room had wood floors because I know the carpet probably collects a lot of scent. I haven't wanted to use febreeze or anything because I'm not sure what kinds of chemicals are in there. I'm a nurse and we use this great product at work that smells amazing and is apparently all natural. I bought a can to put in the room, but I'm just wanting some input. I'll post a picture of the product soon. Thanks in advance!

I don't smell anything with mine unless someone has poo'd...

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

I don't smell anything with mine unless someone has poo'd...

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Totally. Like I said, I think because they've been in the room for so long, the carpet has sucked up a lot of the smell. I use paper towel substrate and clean once a week, but I find later in the week, especially if everyone has spaced out their poops, it gets a bit gnarly. I've used a carpet cleaner and steamed the carpets which works for a while but it always comes back. Super annoying!! Would putting a box of baking soda in there somewhere help at all? :psychotic

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Clean daily or at least every other day if a snake went #2. You can also try a non-ozone HEPA filter and UV-C air sanitizer in the room.

I wouldn't use an air freshener, these guys only have one good lung and if it gets badly damaged, you can write off that snake.

You could also try those Scentsy things as they dont produce super amount of smell, And nothing is being "burnt" to smoke or vapor but a melting wax, I know they are safe if eaten by pets, and or children, iv ran it for 2-3 days once, when on my my snakes Hid and burried his Rat. and day 3-4 was the most Fowl smell of Death. Took a good scrub down, So now i frisk there substrate when looking:O

That stuff should be fine; it's not ideal to have the snake room constantly getting chemical scents thrown into it, but spraying that if you're about to go in and work or if you have people coming over is not bad.

Baking soda may help, especially if you vacuum it into the carpet.

You may just need to swap out your tubs for new ones, or clean the cages more thoroughly with bleach or another strong cleaner; the smell with only a dozen or so snakes should not be so strong that it is clearly noticeable. I've had 12 in a closet with the most noticeable odor being that of fresh bedding put into the cages, or that delightful smell of a fresh poop.

-Jen

We don't have carpet which may help or we might be used to it but my snake room doesn't really smell

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Originally Posted by M&NSnakeDen

Just a quick question for you guys.
What do you guys use to keep the smell down in your snake rooms? It wasn't much of a problem when I only had a couple however now with 12, going on 14, I've been looking for something to cut down on odors. I wish the room had wood floors because I know the carpet probably collects a lot of scent. I haven't wanted to use febreeze or anything because I'm not sure what kinds of chemicals are in there. I'm a nurse and we use this great product at work that smells amazing and is apparently all natural. I bought a can to put in the room, but I'm just wanting some input. I'll post a picture of the product soon. Thanks in advance!

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If a snake goes clean it. That's what you do to keep the smell down. If you leave it for a week that's your own fault your room smells. I got 26 reptiles. The room never smells bad unless something goes to the bathroom. It's always good so that let's me know a tank needs to be cleaned.

It's not like I leave poo in there for a week. I do spot cleans when it needs to be done. I just do a tub wash weekly.

I really think the carpet has a lot to do with the smell

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Originally Posted by M&NSnakeDen

It's not like I leave poo in there for a week. I do spot cleans when it needs to be done. I just do a tub wash weekly.

I really think the carpet has a lot to do with the smell

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Rereading you last post it makes it sound like you are just cleaning weekly, not cleaning up poop when it comes. This would be the reason why your room smells. Start cleaning up the day they poo and it won't smell so bad in the room.

I think this message is just you back peddling a little to try and change the fact you don't clean when needed. Remember this doesn't just make it smell it could also cause scale rot.

First off, I feel like I have to address that the "smell" isn't an overwhelming smell. I'm a nurse so maybe it's because of all the things I smell on shift, but my nose has become desensitized to any sort of poo. It doesn't bother me. The air fresher topic wasn't for my own purpose. I live with others who will go into the room and vacuum or put mail on my desk etc and it was one of them that brought up the idea of getting a spray because she can't handle smelling anything less than pleasant.

I'm well educated on health issues. I do full cleans weekly. ie) putting tubs in the bathtub. If it's been a week where most have only urinated, I will leave the washing until the next week. Maybe doing this weekly regardless may help with smell. Worth a try. I clean paper towels as needed. As I said earlier, they don't go in one day (obviously). There are times where I walk in every day smelling poo and there's times where some may not poo at all in a week.

You assume I was "backpeddling," possibly from poor wording? I'm not sure. I work with a local breeder who owns hundreds of snakes. I clean enclosures, I feed, I look after rat colonies. I have no problem taking a few minutes out of my day and cleaning poo when I see it. Admittedly I may not get to it until the next day depending on work (as I'm sure many other hobbyists can relate to) but I'd never let my animals sit in excrement for a week. None of them have ever had any health issues, especially scale rot. Thanks for that, though.

I don't think smell is an issue if you keep up on spot cleaning and what not. Im a candle freak so I have a bunch of candles in there.

All right let's back up the truck a bit.

You mentioned that you have people who bring your mail to your room. So, can I assume that you're renting a place and you have roommates?

If you're renting, was the carpet and padding replaced when you moved in, and does your landlord permit (or has he ever permitted) pets, especially cats?

The problem may not be the snakes, it may just be the carpet (or even the subfloor), especially if a cat has ever lived there. I was recently researching steam cleaners as a way to sanitize my snake enclosures since I'm not fond of using chemicals, and many people reported that steam-cleaning their carpets really increased odors from cat urine. So, if you're trying to clean the carpet and it stays damp for a while, that could be what's creating the odor.

I don't think a simple air freshener will fix that problem, you need to look into the specific products that neutralize urine smells.

The house is actually my families place that they rent to us. The carpet upstairs is ancient brown shag lol. They did have cats and from what I've been told, their 2 dogs actually used to sleep in that room. They had an old couch in there that they let the dogs take over at night. When they had puppies, they designated an area with those puppy pads for training purposes so I'm thinking maybe it really IS because of the carpet and steam cleaning. I'm sure the puppies may not have always gotten it all on the puppy pads.

I have snakes in QT and the QT room has hardwood. There's little to no smell at all in there. Hmmm.

Definitely sounds like it's the carpet, not your snakes!

My only real suggestion, apart from dealing with the carpet somehow, would be to switch substrate. I know paper towel is much cheaper and easier but aspen or other mulches absorb odors and liquid much better.

It sounds to me like you clean your tanks just fine. Have you had a good whiff of the carpet, though? Like laid on the ground and inhaled?

All the best!

You can always take the "common sense" approach, and lay down thick clear plastic first, if using a room with carpet.;)

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Originally Posted by grcforce327

You can always take the "common sense" approach, and lay down thick clear plastic first, if using a room with carpet.;)

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With the amount of crap that would need to be moved....no thanks.

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Originally Posted by NH93

Definitely sounds like it's the carpet, not your snakes!

My only real suggestion, apart from dealing with the carpet somehow, would be to switch substrate. I know paper towel is much cheaper and easier but aspen or other mulches absorb odors and liquid much better.

It sounds to me like you clean your tanks just fine. Have you had a good whiff of the carpet, though? Like laid on the ground and inhaled?

All the best!

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I have contemplated switching substrates. Finding a good place is the hard part. Local places aren't very reputable. A few people I know have gotten white mites from wood chips or coconut husk substrate.

I'll be sure to lay down and take a good whiff of the carpet when I'm home from work later LOL.

Ordor eliminating lava rocks. Works wonders. You can find them in department stores or on amazon.

Wow it is DEFINITELY the carpet. Holy :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:. I seriously wanna rip it out right now. Gag!!

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Originally Posted by Rob

I don't think smell is an issue if you keep up on spot cleaning and what not. Im a candle freak so I have a bunch of candles in there.

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Candles are bad. You should try not to use them

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Originally Posted by M&NSnakeDen

I have contemplated switching substrates. Finding a good place is the hard part. Local places aren't very reputable. A few people I know have gotten white mites from wood chips or coconut husk substrate.

I'll be sure to lay down and take a good whiff of the carpet when I'm home from work later LOL.

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White mites are actually nice.

They are spring tails and actually eat any mold/fungus that may grow. Kinda little helpers

Kaytee 8cu/ft. aspen bedding..... $27 a bag locally.

One bag will take care of a complete cleaning of 40+ V-70 tubs, 20 Sterilite 28qt tubs and 36 V-18 tubs with some left over for my rat colony. Spot clean daily and total cleaning on Saturday.

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The white mites are a wood mite and do no affect your snake. If you get snake mites from any bedding, it is the pet stores fault for a)not taking care of their mite problems and b)storing the wood too close to the reptiles. However, that wouldn't help after the fact if you did happen to get mites. But as was already mentioned, white mites are just wood mites. Maybe still unpleasant but nothing to worry about. I myself buy small animal aspen because it's MUCH cheaper in bulk, less dusty, easier for cleaning (I find), and stored away from the reptiles. I have not had an issue, and don't have any friends personally who have had an issue with it either.

All the best with the smelly carpet situation!!

Thanks, everyone! maybe it is time to switch to some aspen. :cool:

I'll jump on the Aspen wagon. I love it. My snakes and rats use Aspen. I clean regularly and have a good amount of animals all living in my modest 1300sq ft condo without any issues of smell. No one has ever said anything about my house smelling bad and it's usually the opposite if I have a candle burning down stairs. I've got a tall and deep sterilite with a locking top that I'll carry around with my bag and as I remove Aspen I'll put it into the sterilite and replace it from the bag. When the sterilite gets filled with aspen and poop (2-3 times per week) I empty it and we're good. Good luck with the carpet situation hopefully it's a blessing in disguise and you can replace it with a linoleum that will be a thousand times better!

Not to shift the focus from the OP's issue, but I would still like to hear more suggestions on freshening the air near a snake! I live in a 1-bedroom apartment with carpeting in the bedrooms & living room, but not in the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room. I also have 3 cats and a dog, and the laundry room is where I keep the cat stuff (litter box & food) + a rack full of corn snakes. So it does get stinky in there sometimes, even though there's no carpeting, due to the litter box etc. I also have terrible allergies, so can't use anything flower-scented anyway - and have to use either Carefresh or newspaper bedding with the snakes, as the wood-based ones flare up the allergies. So if anyone wants to add more suggestions, which are snake-safe and allergy-friendly, please do continue. ;)

That citrus stuff I posted pics of is all natural, non aerosol and is essentially citrus oils from oranges, grapefruit and a couple others. It smells so good.

Believe me when I say that fabrics, carpet especially, seem to hold tightly to pet smells. This is more of a problem with the pet cats who have been known to drag clothes into the litter box for no good reason.

Around here we mainly use Nature's Miracle pet odor neutralizer(we sometimes spritz it on the stuff near the litterboxes) and white vinegar. About a cup, tossed in the washer with the detergent and load, takes care of most, and if there are particularly lingering odors, you let the washer fill up with water, soap and vinegar and then let the clothes sit briefly. Pickle 'em, I guess.