do your mice stink?

this is a dumb question i guess. i had to move my mice to the basement and out of the herp room cause they just stink. i'm talking clean cage, disinfected everything, clean dry aspen bedding, and they still stink... so in the basement they went.
i'm just wondering if it's my mice or if that's just the way mice smell. i'm very particualr with the cleanliness of my animals and this is driving me crazy. maybe give them a bath? haha

hells ya they stink!! their urine is really bad smelling so you gotta really be ontop of them if u want them to remain stinky-free a good aspen bedding will help to absorb some off the pee but u still need to change it quiet often.

I went ahead and moved this to the feeders section.

Oh and it's a common complaint. Those are just stinky little boogers. You can try adding a small amount of vanilla to their water. That's supposed to help a bit. But in the end, they are just nasty smelling creatures. Bleh. Do you have a well ventilated cage?

All mice stink, you have to be cleaning contantly to rid yourself of the rodent stink. And if you have great nunbers of them, its harder. That is why I quit breeding mice. Nasty little buggers.

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

I went ahead and moved this to the feeders section.

Oh and it's a common complaint. Those are just stinky little boogers. You can try adding a small amount of vanilla to their water. That's supposed to help a bit. But in the end, they are just nasty smelling creatures. Bleh. Do you have a well ventilated cage?

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Christie is right, adding vanilla to thier water does help a bit... and if the cage is not well ventilated, it will stink more....

Ha! I have six of those buggers right now. Two in one enclosure - since they've been here since October and four new ones in another enclosure getting fattened up for the girls. I must be masochistic or something!


Oh, it's two and four, because I've read mice are very territorial, so I didn't want to introduce the new ones to the two that have been here the longest.

Supposedly the girls have been eating two each feeding, so I figured I've have enough for them - although, Kashmire's seeming interested, peeking his head out his hide more today like he's looking for a tasty morsel!

Oh, and I picked out all girls - last thing I need are babies!

yeah i forgot we had this forum, my mouse doesn't scroll this far down too often.

anyway... yeah i really just got them to get some free pinkies and fuzzies. once my carpet gets big enough for adult mice i'm going to feed them off... mice suck!
i'll try the vanilla thing. they have a well ventilated cage and i change the bedding once every 5 days or so... i'm glad it's not just me though.

are rats the same way? i've never had rats either... and i don't recall gerbils or hamsters smelling like this back when i used have them. maybe they did and the cedar bedding covered the smell.

i have kept a couple a rats (one at a time wiating until next feeding ) and i find that they only smell if you fail to up keep them properly. changing the bedding once in 4 days (paper towels) and washing out the tub kept the smell gone for me. but with mice it's like BAM! they stink!

Rats are surprisingly not stinky and very clean animals, I had one as a pet, and my boyfriend has one now, sweet little thing. Hamsters do smell a bit, but not as bad as mice, and I don't know about gerbils. :P

Gerbils aren't stinky at all, so long as you maintain their cages well. Once-a-week cleaning (change bedding and rinse out tank) worked well for me to keep them smelling fresh and breezy. ;)

I've got 6 adults or young adults, 15 fuzzy rats and 10 weans right now in a quite small room and there's barely any critter smell at all. Granted they are kept clean and in well ventilated enclosures but rats just don't naturally have a scent nearly as strong and offensive as mice. The adult male rats do have a bit stronger urine smell though than the females and the sub-adults.

I love rat breeding. I hated mice breeding! LOL


~~Jo~~

I have 5 tanks of mice; two tanks of boys in various sizes/ages, two tanks of girls in various sizes/ages and one tank with 2 moms and 5 FAT SAUSAGE babies, LoL. Mine don't stink, not even the boys. Now, if I don't clean them once a week or so, yes, they stink.

I use a combination of 100% hardwood bedding found at TSC(Tractor Supply Co.- it costs around $4, and has some pine in it, but isn't total pine. It has also been baked to get rid of the oils associated with pine) and baking soda. I sprinkle a good amount of baking soda in the bottom of the tanks after I have washed and dried the tank and then put the bedding on top of it. It keeps the smell out wonderfully, and I haven't had to use the vanilla in quite awhile.

Even after about 5 days or so, I can still stick my head down into the tank and it doesn't smell. You can also try some plain clay cat litter in the bottom of the tank, under the bedding. It will help soak up the urine and get rid of the smells associated with it.

I have 3 mice(one male two female NO babies! Darn them!) in one 10G tank. They don't seem to smell as long as I change the beddingo nce a week or so. The rats are better, unless I have like 10 feeder rats in one 50L bin. Then they have to get changed about every 3 days. Understandable though. That many crowded.
I use aspen bedding in all the bins and tanks.

I don't have any mice but i know that they stink bad! Ive had a hampster and it stunk to, but rats dont smell that bad at all!

The baking soda is a great idea. I might have to give it a try:D

hmm, i'll definitely try the baking soda.

are gerbils less nutritional or anything that mice? i know they're a little bit larger, but i'm going to need to go bigger anyway.

The stuff you get at TSC, is that the stuff marketed as "wood shavings" It's a huge bag, and yes what I've seen costs around 4.00. Would it say on the bag it's been baked?? I didn't see it anywhere. Just wondering if were looking at the same thing.

The thing with gerbils is that they have very small litters when starting out. Sometimes it ranges from 3-6 babies. I had a female who was older and a very reliable breeder who, at the end of her breeding days, could have around 8-9 babies per litter. They grow fairly slow compared to other rodents, because they live longer. They are incredibly neurotic little things, LoL.

About the shavings, it should say 100% Hardwood Shavings/Bedding and yes, it was around $4-$5. I've been keeping my mice on it for a few weeks and haven't noticed any sneezing, porphyrin around noses/eyes, or any other abnormalities. As long as they have adequate ventilation, they should be fine on it. I believe it says on the bag that it's been kiln-dried, so there aren't any more harmful oils coming out of the shavings. I usually get itchy and sneezy around pine bedding, and my arms get itchy, but this bedding didn't do that and I could stick my head in the tank after I had put fresh bedding in and the smell isn't strong at all. I like it alot.

Kzoo the thing about feeding Gerbils, or hamsters ( from what I heard) is that the snakes get used to eating them if feed them for a consitant ammount of time. Like feeding the snake steak or somthing. They are reluctant to going back to hambuger ater a while. I do not know the validity in that argument, but its what I heard. Hamsters and Gerbils are alot more expencive than feeder mice.

Also I tried feeding my snakes rats today, and the 2 I bought stunk to high heaven. Of course so do mice, but they were also in a little travel container to be taken back and exchanged for mice. I think I am going to try the baking soda thing when I start breeding mice and rats again when I get around to getting more snakes. Breeding the feed is the ony way to go when you get more than a couple of snakes. Thats my opinion anyways.

Josh, I'm assuming these were live rats? Just wondering where you are getting them as there is no reason for a rat to stink that bad unless it's housed in overcrowded, dirty conditions. Sometimes when they are stressed being brought home from a pet store in a travel container they will urinate and defecate a lot so a tad stinky but they shouldn't start out from the store that way.



~~Jo~~

Well they did crap in the box, and I moved them to the little travel container after my snkaes refused them. They even frapped in my snake feeding boxxes. Stool looked a little soft too. I didnt have any litter in the bottom of the travel containter either so that has alot to do with it.