# Indoor housing, smell impact?



## Oakelm (Oct 17, 2009)

Hello all,
Looks like I will be moving house this year which means yay bigger shed for the mice but a temporary problem. When I move in I wont have enough spare cash immediately to buy my dream shed with fees and furnishings. My current mice are split between a small wooden shed and a brick built shed, unfortunately neither shed can come with me.
I will have at least one spare bedroom, a garage is not looking likely so I am thinking of around 35 tubs of mice going in there each containing between 1 and 6 mice anything less than this number of tubs isnt going to work with keeping show lines going and producing enough for the snakes, i am very reluctant to thin down any further as it has taken a fair time to build up such a stable colony.

I have never had to house mice inside, i have always had sheds. So honestly guys/girls will i need to invest in a nose peg, should I try everything possible to not have that many in the house? So I guess im looking for the folks that keep large numbers indoors. Im used to a room full of snakes and they can make a smell when they go for it but it airs out easily.

All my tubs are lab style tubs, with shavings and hay, i clean once a week (twice in the summer) I dont mind the smell of mice but dont fancy every visitor being able to smell nothing but mice, can you easily smell them from behind a closed door with the window always open?

Im hoping it will only be for around 8-12 weeks but if it is going to be eye watering then something else will have to give in order to get them setup sooner and I know that will end up being one of my higher end snakes.


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## Mionemouse (Aug 21, 2013)

Sorry I can't help as I have never kept more than three does (although they have always been indoors), but I just wanted to say that I hope the transition is less smelly than you are anticipating and that you don't have to sell one of your snakes. Would it be possible for you to keep your bucks in a separate space, perhaps a room as far away as possible from any reception rooms where guests will be entertained?


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## NikiP (May 7, 2013)

What do you currently use for bedding? If you don't use them already, alfalfa pellets for the win! Use a layer on the bottom before putting in you main bedding, I do about 1" of pellets & then several inches of aspen on top. Buying at a farm & garden stores cuts down on the price rather then buying rabbit food from a pet store.


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## Awaiting_Abyss (Nov 19, 2012)

I keep all of my mice inside. I only have 3 male mice (2 are still quite young) and 18 females and 7 unsexed newborns, but in addition to my mice I have gerbils, hamsters, rats, degus and a snake all in the spare room. The room itself smells if I don't keep up with keeping every single cage clean... if one cage smells, it smells up the whole room as if every cage smells. It always has the smell of bedding and food otherwise. I use kiln-dried pine as bedding now for everyone. I still have some Carefresh Ultra and aspen bedding that I've been using for my mice, but once that's used up I'm going to be switching everyone over to kiln-dried pine. I keep the room door closed at all times unless I'm in the room (partially because of the smell, but mostly because I have cats who refuse to leave my rodents alone), and I use one of those scented oil plug-ins in the living room area (which is right outside the critter room).


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I used to keep them indoors and they did smell,not horrendous but it was noticeable. I kept them in the spare room with the door shut and the window open.Escapees were a bigger problem than odour.


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## Onyx (May 2, 2010)

I used to keep mine in a spare room along with some rats. They did smell, but it was of bedding and food rather than the ammonia smell of dirty bedding. It just means there is a lot of upkeep and maybe more of a regular maintenance routine than you have in a shed. Like SarahC said, a window open is a must, as well as smell, it's good for them to get a breath of fresh air on all but the coldest of days. You may need to experiment with bedding. Some males smell worse than others naturally, they may need a different bedding to others until you have that dream shed put up and kitted out  I hope it goes well for you though! Keep us up to date  x


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## Oakelm (Oct 17, 2009)

Thanks guys, i dont think it will be as bad as im thinking, I had instant brain wave last night thinking of ways to reduce smell and I remembered my brother has an air purifier, a good one with a hepa filter, its designed for a whole house it a mega powerful one but he uses in his garage on classic cars to remove pet and must smells. He has agreed to let me borrow it for 3 months when I do move, I have been in a before and after car and it did make an impact.

Also after having a chat with the mother today, she said why dont I do what she used to do when I was younger with gerbils and hamsters. Put out a couple of inch deep small trays of bicarb, it is an old but good one to trap smells (I use it in my fridge all the time it just didnt occur to me) then she even offered to make some nice lavender hanging things for downstairs near the front door so guests get a whiff of that and not the mice immediately.

Feeling massively more positive that the above plus a good cycle of extra cleaning especially for the males will mean it will be easily bearable


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## Awaiting_Abyss (Nov 19, 2012)

I never have any windows open in the room with the critters. Where I live that would do way more harm than it would good.


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## andypandy29us (Aug 10, 2012)

my mice live in the living room of my house and they do smell but it doesnt bother me too much .... have an air freshner in here , most of my friends are not too bothered by the smell either ... just my parents and I always clean the mice out just before they arrive for their visit


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## pro-petz (Nov 14, 2012)

Indoor housing of many mice can be a problem smell wise depending on the quantities and sexes, bucks tending to smell more than does.

As air circulation is important opening a window on days that will not cause an immediate draught to the mice is beneficial.

Cleaning the cages more frequently also helps although this will be determined by the bucks and if they are prone to scent marking frequently.

Air freshners help and placed both inside the room and other rooms will mask any odours that escape as you enter and leave the room.

Activated charcoal placed around the room will also help absorb any smells although the lifespan and quantity required can become costly to maintain and slow acting.


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## mich (Sep 28, 2013)

Try incense sticks,scented candles,oil burner lots of things to disguise odors and flowers are really good prob :!:  ably the best.


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

Not a good idea to burn stuff like incense, mice have sensitive respiratory systems.

i keep a full stud of 35 cages, each containing 2 to 6 mice, in a room in my house because i don't like the cold. The room smells only of woodshavings and hay and you can't even smell that with the door shut. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, and even if you can smell something, it's only temporary isn't it.


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## shadowmouse (Sep 17, 2010)

This has been an issue for us at our house. We have 4 ten gallon tanks in my son's bedroom. It surprised me that it was the does that smelled the most. I had a friend suggest feeding dried parsley and that helped a lot!! I just sprinkle it on top of the food. You can get a big bottle for $.67 at Walmart. That got rid of that popcorn smell. After that there was still a bit of a smell-more the wet bedding smell. I was using shaved aspen, but that wasn't cutting it. So now I switched to pelleted pine horse bedding. It's so processed that it isn't dusty or oily in the least. I line the bottom of the cage with a thin sprinkling of Sweet PDZ (stall freshener for horses) and then an inch of the pelleted bedding. I also buy lavender buds in bulk and sprinkle the top of the bedding with a tablespoon of buds. So far it's been a night/day difference. I can smell a tiny bit of pine smell, but other than that there's been no other odors. *ding! ding!* The mommy wins!!


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## mich (Sep 28, 2013)

Incense or joss sticks are sometimes good to get rid of odours. I have mice indoors and incense sticks will quickly absorb any musty smell. And it doesnt hurt the mice either.


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## mich (Sep 28, 2013)

Eucalptus oil. Sprinkle in bedding. Good to keep away odors. I use it myself. Good also for the mice and its healthy.


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