# Smelly Cages and Sensitive Family Members



## FeralWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

So, my mother has been complaining about the smell of my mice. I have one plastic bin cage with two does, and I clean the cage once a week. I use Carefresh bedding, and I wash all the toys and bowls when I clean the cage. I don't notice the smell at all - I've had mice before and I've grown to just ignore the scent. My mother, however, is super _super_ sensitive to smell (I can't give her flowers on special occasions because they give her headaches :? ) She specifically asked me to ask y'all if you have any special tricks to keeping cages super squeaky clean and scent free. I tried to tell her that there is no such thing as mice that don't smell _whatsoever_, but she wanted me to ask. She thinks breeders use special bedding, but I know breeders just don't care about the smell that much.

I think it could be how I wash the actual cage, and the fact that the cage is plastic. I don't know this for a fact, but I feel like I've heard that plastic absorbs smell. Is this true? I am getting a new tank (glass) and this might help the problem. Also, I thoroughly scrub the cage every other week with soap and water. Every week I rinse it, but I give it a good scrub every two weeks. My mother suggested white vinegar; does anyone use this? Does it work?

Thank you!


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## ThatCertainGlow (Jun 23, 2012)

I'm a breeder, but I work at combating this. Both for myself, and for those I live with. I'm also not able to deal with a number of cut flowers, when they are brought indoors, so I feel your mother's pain there.

These are just my opinions, please keep that in mind, because I'm stating things as I see them.:
Don't use Carefresh. I have no idea why, but to me it smells BAD in less than a day, no matter what. I've got the Ultra version. Shredded paper smells reasonably fine, just zero odor control, Carefresh stinks.

Don't use anything in the cage that is plastic, unless you wash it really well, every day. (I have a bunch of flying saucers that I just change out like you would drinking glasses.) Helps them not absorb so much, when the odor doesn't sit for long. Plus any plastic item, with only a few pee drops, or one poop, can make the cage smell 3X as bad.

It's not the cleaning, unless she can detect ammonia, in the empty clean cage, instead of musk. Plastic does absorb some odor, more so than glass, but the glass aquariums smelled bad, faster, in my experience. I think it was the glue holding the glass together, possibly. Might be a different story now. That was 20 years ago.
Use unscented soap and water. Then use white vinegar. Works nicely to cut anything left by the soap and water. Rinse REALLY well.

Alfalfa pellets!!!! Seriously. Big bags of feed store alfalfa pellets, are much less expensive, if this works out for you. They rock. Check ingredients though. Needs to be just alfalfa. Line the bottom of the cage, and then add aspen, hay, whatever. Even helps Carefresh, a bit. (I'm gritting my teeth through trying to use up a big batch of that stuff in some cages.)

If she likes/can stand alfalfa (not assorted hay, alfalfa) try a small hay bale of that. If that works for her, buy the wrapped compressed bales from the feed store to save on bedding costs. Using alfalfa pellets as a liner, and sandwich aspen/something in between, makes a lovely clean smell, to me, and to many people, plus fun for the mice.

However, this past Dec. my dad was coughing over the heavy alfalfa odor from the bag, and could barely deal with it's use in four small cages. So your milage may vary. I ended up using just shredded paper, and doing total cleaning, every day, while I was there. (My dad has trouble with flowers in a yard, and there were no fragrances allowed in the house. He could handle the males spraying their cages down, from too much cleaning, better than he could handle alfalfa. Your mom might be different.)

Not sure how easy this would be for you to use, but a horse stall refresher (zeolite) in a thin layer on all four corners is also helpful. Might even substitute for the alfalfa pellets in a higher quantity. I don't use much of this because I'm not interested in a bunch of zeolite in my compost.

A breeder recently wrote me about how she uses dried out Starbucks coffee grounds. Not in the cages, but around them. She also uses vanilla in the water.

Diet. I really don't want to go into this too much, but I'm also gritting my teeth through a bag of Native Earth blocks. I hate the way it smells in the cages of mice who are eating, them. Cage bedding is not cutting the fact that each poop is gastly. The feces became truly horrid smelling. IMO. It's not loose, but they poop more often (including on me!), which I'm not used to those mice doing, and it's such a rotten smell. If I tried to use this stuff in a Carefresh bedded cage, I wouldn't be able to get through an hour near it.

It might be that way for her, depending on the diet. Hopefully not, because I really don't know what specific things are causing the problem. I only know what I normally feed them doesn't have that effect, for me, and Native Earth (aka Harlan Teklad's Global 18% Protein Rodent Diet) is one of the best recommended, if not the best, pre-formulated rodent diets out there.

Oh my word this is long... hope some of that helps, or gives you ideas. Good luck, and good night.


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## NikiP (May 7, 2013)

Seconding the alfalfa! When we moved into a new rental, the previous tenants had been heavy pot smokers as the house reeked of it & we got a fresh blast every time the AC cut on. I forget what was recommended as stuff to help, but due to my animals, I felt alfalfa was the best thing to try. We put out bowls of it & cups of it inside vents. The smell did go away if that helps show the power of alfalfa pellets 

Can also set out active charcoal it help get rid of heavy air smells


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## FeralWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

Thank you for your responses! I think I'll go out an buy some alfalfa pellets then!


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## FeralWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

Alright, so I'm looking online for a brand that sells alfalfa pellets... and I can't find any? Does anyone know a specific brand (in the USA) that I could look for?


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## NikiP (May 7, 2013)

http://www.wag.com/smallanimal/p/oxbow- ... hay-117335

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/s ... _vc=-10005

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/p ... _vc=-10005

http://www.amazon.com/Zilla-11604-Alfal ... lfa+pellet

http://www.amazon.com/Manna-Pro-0046902 ... lfa+pellet

Call up any farm & garden places around you. Walmart usually sells pellets also


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## ThatCertainGlow (Jun 23, 2012)

Feed stores, other than TSC, don't tend to list their goods online. That's not where their market is. Even TSC doesn't always list everything they actually sell. If the feed store closest to you doesn't have any in stock, they likely would order it in for you, np.

Just ask for alfalfa pellets, not cubes. Brand isn't really an issue, I don't think. Unless you are trying to look for organically farmed alfalfa, compressed into pellets. I've not seen any of that, from any brand.


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## YourSoJelly (Jul 1, 2013)

I know that with guinea pigs we use fleece liners. Here is a guinea pig forum that I use, that led me in the right direction for the welfare if my piggies. It thoroughly explains the fleece method(SO much better than loose bedding, in my opinion), and C&C cages(those wont work for mice or rats) but it explains everything. If you want, I can get you in contact with Someone who uses fleece for her rats(and possibly her mice too).

www.guineapigcages.com


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## NikiP (May 7, 2013)

Wouldn't mice chew the fleece?


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## YourSoJelly (Jul 1, 2013)

I don't know. Some do some Dont. It depends on the mouse.


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## FeralWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

ThatCertainGlow said:


> Feed stores, other than TSC, don't tend to list their goods online. That's not where their market is. Even TSC doesn't always list everything they actually sell. If the feed store closest to you doesn't have any in stock, they likely would order it in for you, np.


I go to Petco, because it's the closest to me. Most of their products are online... I think. So, would I still be able to find things there? Do you guys shop from local feed stores, or ones like Petsmart/Petco?


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## FeralWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

NikiP said:


> http://www.wag.com/smallanimal/p/oxbow-essentials-bunny-basics-young-rabbit-food-alfalfa-hay-117335
> 
> http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/s ... _vc=-10005
> 
> ...


Sorry, I don't know if I should have specified... these look like food pellets. They don't pass as litter pellets, right? I'm sorry I didn't clarify.  I'm looking for alfalfa _litter_ pellets.


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## NikiP (May 7, 2013)

Alfalfa food pellets = alfalfa litter pellets.

You should be able to find them anywhere. Will probably pay more at a pet store or Walmart. Think I just got my 40lb bag for $10 at TSC.


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## FeralWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

Wow, alright!  That makes life so much easier; I'll just go buy more bunny food then! Thank you!


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## FeralWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

Oh dear, another problem. *sigh* Apparently, alfalfa is too expensive. How about newspaper pellets? What do people think of this?


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## athiena14 (Jun 20, 2013)

my husband has a problem with their smells too. I use the carpet fresh bedding but also had charcoal packages that hang from the cages (they sell those at petco) and Super pet clean cage deodorizer.


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## ThatCertainGlow (Jun 23, 2012)

Newspaper pellets, to me, smell extremely bad when wet with um, not water. I know this mostly from cat's, but I wouldn't try it with mice. They are also very pricey, more so than alfalfa? I think people have said they had good luck with some sort of wood pellets, but it's probably about the same cost per pound as the alfalfa, without as much odor control.

The UK has something that sounds great, if you are not one of those rare people allergic to hemp (which I am). Some sort of compressed hemp fibers. Probably available in some feed stores here now, or soon something similar.

The 40 lb pellets I get from the feed store is about 35 cents a pound. ($13.99) Not sure what bunny food packaged alfalfa pellets would be. I buy mine in the horse section.


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