Tips to keep the smell down?

[Raptor]

not realy with the mice i get and the way they end up only 1 of each color gets moved into tank at once color usually favors the mother or at least they seem to in mine i got a bright orangeish colored one 4th liter and all her babies are same or very similar color got a few tiger stripes out of her males only keep what is needed to breed all other are feeders it's got to cage restriction size I've feed a pregnant mother or 3 off to my blood python to keep from majorily over crowding but that wont be a problem after not this next week but the fallowing wont be an issue get to go duck out a med growers shed for 1500 bucks he buys what he wants i set it all up electrical wise hard wired to his local electric code and alarm system too so going to be switching to tubs and building at least 1 mouse rack

the females at some times depending how many females i got that are ready to pop some have no choice but be a good mother deli cup with holes for air and bigger hole for water tube to go in this size i usually use for first time mothers then only 3 days at most then she and babies go in group mother tank most i keep is 4 moms in tank at all times. i've found by giving mothers a daily live treat of a meal-worm keeps all the mothers from eating others babies i got some now that was in tank with 4 mothers only 12 babies thus suckers look more like rat pup first week now got hair and starting to move around this Friday will be 2 week old literally 4 of them are close to same size as 3 week old mice only major difference these babies are fat big cause mothers fought at first and killed close to 30 babies would of been all but i got home and saw dead babies so threw a few meal-worms in to the moms and they been fine ever since.(the fighting went on while i was out of town for week-end side job) meal-worms are high in protein and for some reason it keeps females less likely to eat there young most babies i ever lost to a new mother was 1 if i see her eating the first one cause give a meal worm they gobble it down go clean themselves then off to feed the babies can almost set a clock buy it

Raptor in my communal mother tank all the females take turns feeding the babies the Dom female in my tanks usually moves all the babies into one nest as she finds the babies in bigger tanks she will move babies to other nests as she sees fit in 10 gallon tank with 7 liters she has the babies split up into 3 nests 2 on 1 end and other on other end in a big cardboard tube i gave them her litter is in there at least when she catches them all cause there not quite weanling if rember right Tuesday her and her babies will be coming out the tank and her back in with male and babies either set in new tank or frozen probably frozen. I'll admit it I'm by no means humane i stick the babies in deli cup no holes and throw them in the freezer next day dump them in a big zip-lock baggy

Actually, yes, really. My mice are capable of producing 5 and six different colors. Even with one color, it's hard to tell who's a good mother and who isn't. Additionally, communal tanks make it very hard to find out who's the cannibal unless you catch them in the act.

By the way, the orangey ones with tiger strips are brindle. I advise to remove that color due to them being prone to health issues.

Finally, use periods at the ends of your sentences. Else I'm just going to ignore what you say. Simply because I have a very hard time reading what you say and I'm having to reread everything several times over.

[JohnNJ]

Just started a breeding tank (10 gal) with one male and two female mice. I tried aspen and the Care Fresh bedding and both. The smell is evident almost immediately. I have cleaned the tank with dish soap but the smell is still there.

I saw pine horse pellets mentioned. Is this the same as pine pellet cat litter available at Petco? I'm not in a rural area so horse pellets may be hard to find.

If I can't get rid of the smell I will have to try gerbils instead of mice. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, JohnNJ

[Rhasputin]

American Excelsior Premium horse bedding is the best and least stinky litter I've used so far. And cheap at around $6 per 45lb bag.

That mixed with shredded paper, and a sprinkling of baking soda on the bottom of the tanks, and I barely have any smell at all. . . Well, it smells a lot better. There will always be a smell.

The only thing I can recommend, is getting over it.
If you're gonna have mice, rats, or ASFs, they're gonna stink. You can cover it up all you want, but unless you're cleaning twice a week, it's gonna stink 24/7.


Pine and cedar are no-nos unless you want sick mice, AND sick reptiles. The pine and cedar shavings are bad for your reptiles (you should know that, of course. ) and the oils will be on the mice you are feeding, and can harm the animals you are feeding.


To get the stink of of the tank, spray it with bleach (take the animals out first, obviously) let it sit for like 5 minutes, then rinse and scrub it out.

[JohnNJ]

If it's always going to smell as bad as it does now after only a few hours, I'll have to switch to gerbils which hardly smell at all.

I use kiln dried aspen in the snake tanks and they are thriving. I spot clean weekly and do the whole tank monthly and there is no smell in the room.

The mice stunk up the whole basement. Anyone else have anything that works?

[Rhasputin]

There's no reason your mice should stink after only a few hours. Especially not with only 3 mice.

[JohnNJ]

There's no reason your mice should stink after only a few hours. Especially not with only 3 mice.

That's what I said. Do colored mice stink more than white?

[anatess]

Try ASFs instead of gerbils. They stink less than mice.

[Rhasputin]

Boy mice stink more than girl mice, but colours don't make a difference. Maybe your diet for them, is no good?

ASFs don't necessarily stink less, they just stink different.
Honestly, after a week of them stinking up a cage, it smells like mouse pee, and marijuana.

[Rhasputin]

Gerbils have like 0% stink, but they reproduce slowly, and have small litters.
You'd have to have a lot of gerbils. How many reptile are you feeding? And what sizes?

[JohnNJ]

I picked up Febreeze and sprayed it around the basement. I also added an Airwick plug-in. That helped a lot but the smell is still there as you get closer to the tank.

The Care Fresh bedding and Aspen did nothing to reduce the smell. The food is just the rodent blocks.

I have three BP's, one of which will not eat rats. I may go back to F/T since they all eat those.