# smelly mice and tank size



## lillymay (Nov 2, 2011)

hi, feeling very excited at geting mice, ive now found a breeder in brighton, i have aquired a 5ft tank and i was thinking of 2 girlies, firstly could someone tell me if this size would b ok and secondly feeling a little concerned now that every person i have spoken to (family and friends)have had the reaction to my wanting to keep a couple of mice that i must be insane as they r the stinkiest animals to keep, please help some one as i am still excited but as they were going to be kept in my lounge i wouldnt want a really smelly house, i have read they smell a little and boys more so, any advice would be great, many many thanks


----------



## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

You won't notice any smell with less than four or so females, and especially not in a tank that size  Males totally reek though!


----------



## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Guinea pigs! They are the stinkiest little creatures! Or so I think, lol. Tell them you want chickens, and they will happily give in to your request for mice. : ) That is a huge tank! I'm guessing a 40 gal? But Sarah is right, the males do really smell. I grew up on the farm, so that musky smell I don't mind so much. It reminds me of sunflower seeds for some reason... Good luck with your mouse plans!


----------



## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

Noooo, rats are WAY more smelly than guinea pigs! I like the smell of male mice  :lol:


----------



## Viry (Oct 31, 2011)

Ferrets are very smelly too. Maybe you should say it's either rats, ferrets or mice - which one would they prefer?


----------



## Fraction (Aug 29, 2011)

I have four mice in a 3ft tank, which sits right next to me at the computer (which I'm at several hours a day basically). The only thing I can smell up until the evening/night before cleaning day (each Saturday) is clean substrate, and the only thing around cleaning day is substrate with the very very slight hint of mice.


----------



## Gill (Sep 16, 2011)

A couple of months ago, I picked up a can of Dettol Disinfectant Spray by mistake (I wanted the air freshner!). It says, amongst other things, it is for use in pet living areas. Last week I decided to try it to clean the cages. Much to my surprise, it was several days before even the buck's cage began to smell. 
So, get only does (three of four would be OK in your large tank and you wouldn't risk having one on her own if anything goes wrong, mice being sociable creatures), and use a Dettol spray, and you won't have to worry about nasty niffs. Oh, and if you use wood shavings as the substrate, the only thing the tank will smell of is wood.


----------



## lillymay (Nov 2, 2011)

hi, thanks for all the great replies i now have 2 mice awaiting collection, i had read on several sites about mouse care that you should never use sawdust/woodshaveings because mice might get breathing promlems, i guess this is not the case as every photo ive seen on here seems to have woodshaveings in, many thanks for all the advice its really helped


----------



## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

Pine and cedar are the woodshavings described on the sites you're talking about. Many of us use aspen.


----------



## Viry (Oct 31, 2011)

A tip is to look for dust free wood shavings if nothing else


----------



## lillymay (Nov 2, 2011)

thanks everyone


----------



## peztree3 (Dec 20, 2011)

Female mice don't smell as bad as males so I don't think you would have a problem even with four females. Males are another story


----------

