Keeping Mouse Enclosures Smelling Fresh?

[RegenerationRep]

I currently have 1.2 mice I am trying to breed but I am going through so much time and bedding cleaning there cage because of the urine smell. So if anyone has any suggestions to help with this, please let me know haha. I heard kitty litter is a good bedding because it absorbs and gets rid of smell.

I also had a problem with them killing a mouse and actually biting an arm off one of my females. I have been giving them proteins like mealworms and pieces of turkey and fish and it seems like the aggresion has settled down. Is this because of a lack of protein or just because they were sorting out the group and getting acclimated? Thanks!!

[knox]

That's exactly why I don't breed mice. Nasty, smelly little creatures.

[RegenerationRep]

For me, I need to have as many mice as possible, and paying 20 bucks every two weeks isn't working. Atleast this way I'll have food for my smaller colubrids.

[infernalis]

I breed rats and feed garter snakes, corn snakes, milk snakes and my black racer rat pinks, fuzzies and pups.

A rat pup is the same size as a mouse, it's better food, and they produce faster than mice, and best of all, they don't stink like mice.

Just a thought.

[knox]

For me, I need to have as many mice as possible, and paying 20 bucks every two weeks isn't working. Atleast this way I'll have food for my smaller colubrids.

Oh, I was in no way insulting you. With that many snakes, it makes sense.

Too bad Gerbils don't breed like mice. They have nearly no smell at all. I love my Gerbs!

[Snakefood]

there are scented beddings you can buy, but of course, they are more expensive.

Another way is to grow a mint patch. Mint grows like rodents breed!! Faster than dandilions, the mint family is. Nice thing about it is, it keeps it's scent whether dried or fresh, and because it is 100% edible, you can put a bunch in daily (if fresh) or weekly (if dried) and it keeps the smell at bay, and gives the rodents something to munch on to boot!!

[RegenerationRep]

Infernalis; Good points. Looks like I'll be investing in a pair of rats haha

Knox; I wasn't saying you were haha I just stated why I have to breed them. I despise mice hahaha.

Snakefood; A very good tip. Do you know if it will grow indoors year round?

[Snakefood]

never tried, but I would think it could. It really is an incredibly invasive weed.

go buy a 4" pot of mint and grow it in your kitchen window. in the spring, throw it in the ground, pull what you need throughout the growing season and dry the rest. The more you harvest, the faster it grows. Once it is an established plant, you should be able to cut it down for drying in the summer and again in the fall. More than enough to supply one breeding colony through the winter.

[RegenerationRep]

Thanks for the tip. I think this weekend I'll shop around for mint seeds and a pair of rats haha

[Snakefood]

I switch everyone onto rats as soon as I can too, but I still breed the mice for Khuno as well as the planned clutch for next spring. I just have a small colony of mice 1:4 for pinkies and fuzzies, and a much larger rat colony 1:10 for pinky - adult. I also breed small and large rabbits and a full grown corn can take a small-med rabbit pinkie easily! Helios does! And Ananta gets to try her first small rabbit pink next feed.

[RegenerationRep]

Oh cool, I could never put that much time into rats :P

I eventually will have to try to start breeding mice when my corns breed but today I went and picked up 1.1 rats and fed off all my mice. The one actually looks pregnant already haha. So hopefully soon they will start breeding. I couldn't find any mint seeds anywhere though

[rodentgirl01]

Don't use kitty litter.

You can put vanilla in their water bottles to help with the smell. PURE vanilla, not the imitation. Add some until the water starts turning brown tinted. I hear that works well, though, never tried it.

I clean my mice ever couple days. It's not that bad for me, I don't mind it.

Do you use pine? If not, change to pine. Make sure it's kiln dried. Just smell it. If it has a STRONG pine odor, don't get it.

It's perfectly safe to use with mice.

Also, feed them lab block or a mouse/rat block.

Right now I have about 100 mice. Picking up about 500 more. It's a lot of work, but all are in my house and you couldn't tell if you came here

[jarich]

Wow, learn all sorts of cool things on this forum! Vanilla? That's really amazing. Wish I would've known that when I was raising mice. They are still pretty nasty compared to rats in my opinion, but the smell was what finally did me in on mice

[alessia55]

If I had to choose, I'd choose mice over rats any day. I really can't stand the rat personality. I much more prefer the behavior of mice

[KORBIN5895]

This week has been a bad one for my mouse colony. I lost 2 pregnant females to the cold and one gave birth and ate the live ones. I keep my mice in a deep freezer in my shed. I just hooked up my heating lamp to a thermostat in the deep freezer so I don't have to turn it on and off manually. ( I cooked my first colony earlier this year by leaving the light on.) The good news is my female rat is pregnant!

@ snakefood- how many rats are in one enclosure?

[Jenn_06]

Mice smell more then rats,i tried mice for 2 weeks and had to feed them off....with rats i can just clean 2 times a week and they are good....when you put a male with the female just have to wait 28 days and you will have babies.

I just had to put down a whole group of females because they was eatting holes in my water bottles :( and got everything wet after i just clean there tubs.

[ZARADOZIA]

Small things to help with odor:

1. Use puppy training pads to line the enclosure. It will pull the urine away from the bedding and lock it away. Change the liner at least once a week, more if needed. Make sure there aren't any areas of the liner flipped up; it does need to be complete flat so they (mice or rats) won't eat it.

I use Hartz Home Protection training pads, Anti-bacterial. It works wonderfully as a liner in my snake and dragon enclosures. I have tried other brands and this is the best I have found for fast drying and odor removal.

Mint is also excellent and it will not hurt them if they eat it.

Small fan for air circulation. Air freshener in the room where they are, not in the cage.

[KORBIN5895]

Also try good old baking soda. It is working wonders for my ferret!

[rodentgirl01]

Here's my setup right now. I have more racks on the way.

the ones on the back wall we built ourselves. The one on the right with the litter pans, we picked up for 25 bucks (crappy rack).

The mouse rack on the left, it's plumbed with a watering system. I bought the wrong valves and not all the mice can figure it out. I bought edstrom original drink valves when I should have gotten edstrom vari flow valves.

I can keep about 5 or more mice with litters in the small tubs and in the large cement tubs I can keep 1.4 or 1.5 with litters (rats).

I plan on putting 1.10 mice in the kitty pan rack

My other rack is being built hopefully this weekend and will house asf rats using laboratory grade tubs.

My mouse racks I'm going to build 10 high (i think that one is a little smaller) and my rat racks are going to either stay 8 high or go 9 high.

The whole room will be plumbed with a pressure water system and valves to eliminate the need for water bottles.

If I clean every 3 days, you don't smell anything coming down there. It's important that they stay clean and "smell free" because my basement has my furnace in it. And my duct work is an open system, which pushes air from the basement throughout the house. If it starts to smell, you'll smell it everywhere. So I get at it before it smells. :)

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/7264/dsc08083.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/dsc08083.jpg/)

[lady_bug87]

Holy crap.

That's a LOT of critters

[Jenn_06]

nice i have a rack like yours but just one,i have to wait until we get a nice size shed to get more and then they will be out of the snake room.

[Uncle_Rev]

Move to rats, easier to breed, faster, cleaner, and they will eat anything.

[Shmoges]

The remedy is simple, remove the mice and get asf's or rats!!

[exwizard]

I breed rats and feed garter snakes, corn snakes, milk snakes and my black racer rat pinks, fuzzies and pups.

A rat pup is the same size as a mouse, it's better food, and they produce faster than mice, and best of all, they don't stink like mice.

Just a thought.

I agree with this as well. The ONLY reason we even have mice is because other people have been wanting them to feed their snakes. All but one of our snakes are on rats and the one holdout wont be for long.

Anyway, to answer the question about the smell, we using a powder that we sprinkle on the bottom of the tubs called "kennel fresh". The bedding is put on top of that and it has proven to keep all the odors down.

[exwizard]

Here's my setup right now. I have more racks on the way.

the ones on the back wall we built ourselves. The one on the right with the litter pans, we picked up for 25 bucks (crappy rack).

The mouse rack on the left, it's plumbed with a watering system. I bought the wrong valves and not all the mice can figure it out. I bought edstrom original drink valves when I should have gotten edstrom vari flow valves.

I can keep about 5 or more mice with litters in the small tubs and in the large cement tubs I can keep 1.4 or 1.5 with litters (rats).

I plan on putting 1.10 mice in the kitty pan rack

My other rack is being built hopefully this weekend and will house asf rats using laboratory grade tubs.

My mouse racks I'm going to build 10 high (i think that one is a little smaller) and my rat racks are going to either stay 8 high or go 9 high.

The whole room will be plumbed with a pressure water system and valves to eliminate the need for water bottles.

If I clean every 3 days, you don't smell anything coming down there. It's important that they stay clean and "smell free" because my basement has my furnace in it. And my duct work is an open system, which pushes air from the basement throughout the house. If it starts to smell, you'll smell it everywhere. So I get at it before it smells. :)

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/7264/dsc08083.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/dsc08083.jpg/)

I'm very impressed with your setup. We're still using water bottles but we have enough tubs to have each breeder tub 1.4 and still have all the nursing tubs full with 3 moms each and the big 20 tub growout rack is full as well.

[infernalis]

my smell just went way down. ;)

down to 2 dozen rats at the moment and most of them are pinks & lactating does.

Going to wash down the 55 gallon and re-do it as a garter habitat.

[KORBIN5895]

Yeah well I just picked up gerbils ;/

[Snakefood]

The remedy is simple, remove the mice and get asf's or rats!!


I would totally agree, and didn't want to breed mice at all. I was perfectly happy with my rats. But I needed a small colony of mice for pinks as I have a corn snake mating planned for next season.

You know, I have had 1:4 ratio for almost 2 months, and not one baby!! I may have to replace the male.:no:

[KORBIN5895]

Have you checked yo make sure they didn't castrate him? One of my females got 2 different males before I could figure out who was doing it. And what is your male to female ratio for rats?

[spots]

Here's my setup right now. I have more racks on the way.

the ones on the back wall we built ourselves. The one on the right with the litter pans, we picked up for 25 bucks (crappy rack).

The mouse rack on the left, it's plumbed with a watering system. I bought the wrong valves and not all the mice can figure it out. I bought edstrom original drink valves when I should have gotten edstrom vari flow valves.

I can keep about 5 or more mice with litters in the small tubs and in the large cement tubs I can keep 1.4 or 1.5 with litters (rats).

I plan on putting 1.10 mice in the kitty pan rack

My other rack is being built hopefully this weekend and will house asf rats using laboratory grade tubs.

My mouse racks I'm going to build 10 high (i think that one is a little smaller) and my rat racks are going to either stay 8 high or go 9 high.

The whole room will be plumbed with a pressure water system and valves to eliminate the need for water bottles.

If I clean every 3 days, you don't smell anything coming down there. It's important that they stay clean and "smell free" because my basement has my furnace in it. And my duct work is an open system, which pushes air from the basement throughout the house. If it starts to smell, you'll smell it everywhere. So I get at it before it smells. :)



Can you give me a close up pic of your racks? I would like to build one for ASF's. And what kinda of tubs should i use? as i don't want the ASF's being able to chew through them :) U can PM me with the pics if you would like.
Thanks
Jimi

On the other side ASF's love fresh pumpkin seeds.

[Snakefood]

Have you checked yo make sure they didn't castrate him? One of my females got 2 different males before I could figure out who was doing it. And what is your male to female ratio for rats?

Well the male mouse has nuts, that's all I can say!! But I can easily replace him come payday and feed him off to one of the girls!!

My rat ratio is 2:8 (with 4 more females growing now)

I have one litter growing for my own uses right now, I have just bred 2 more females, and am about to breed 3 more. I like to stagger my litters!

[rodentgirl01]

Thanks for all the comments on the racks. They're nice but I need more. lol

The watering system is a MUST HAVE for lots of rodents. All you have to do is set it up and check it. I have had floods with my very first system, but that was due to an escaped rat that chewed through the lines.

Personally, I'm not sure what smells more right now, my mice, or my rats. I moved all my mice to my office today as well as a few rats. The mice in the rack shown were all fancy show mice I picked up as a "pet colony".

My feeder breeders will all go in the basement in more racks when they come in.


As far as asf's, I PERSONALLY wouldn't use any store bought plastic tub for them. I know people use the black cement mixing tubs with no problem, BUT I also know people who use the black cement mixing tubs and end up chasing asf's all around their house.

As someone who had a feral colony of asf's living in their basement, I'm telling you, it's not fun! LOL

You can go with 10 gallon tanks with METAL screen lids (not the plastic lids with the window screen because they still chew right through the lid and screen).

Pros- glass so no chew outs, can fit a larger colony

Cons- glass so it's heavy, if you drop it, you have glass everywhere, they chew the hanging bottles to shreds a lot of the time, they will fill bowls with bedding in a matter of minutes and absorb all their water, can't do auto watering.

The problem with asf's is that they are tenacious chewers.

We always used these tubs for our asf rats (my setup before I moved).
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3525/shelvingandtubs.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/201/shelvingandtubs.jpg/)



I ran 1.2 in there and had much success. They can't chew the tubs because of the metal lid that sits inside the tub. There's no space for teeth, plus, the tubs are the really expensive lab grade tubs directly from a used lab equipment supplier. I bought about 300 of those tubs.

Now we're changing it up, since our asf's we had decided they wanted to just push the lids off the top as they got larger.

We're taking the same tubs, not using the lids, and putting the tubs in a rack. That's what we're going to be using for our asf's.
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4396/asfx.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/228/asfx.jpg/)


And lastly, I DO NOT recommend Big Apple Herp mice/rat tubs, especially NOT for asf rats. I had mice do a number on one Big Apple Herp tub and I'm glad I saw that before deciding to purchase a bunch from them.

That's just my experience.

[millertime89]

what do you guys mean by asf's?

[spots]

what do you guys mean by asf's?

African soft fur (Rats)

Thanks for all the comments on the racks. They're nice but I need more. lol

As far as asf's, I PERSONALLY wouldn't use any store bought plastic tub for them. I know people use the black cement mixing tubs with no problem, BUT I also know people who use the black cement mixing tubs and end up chasing asf's all around their house.

As someone who had a feral colony of asf's living in their basement, I'm telling you, it's not fun! LOL

You can go with 10 gallon tanks with METAL screen lids (not the plastic lids with the window screen because they still chew right through the lid and screen).

Pros- glass so no chew outs, can fit a larger colony

Cons- glass so it's heavy, if you drop it, you have glass everywhere, they chew the hanging bottles to shreds a lot of the time, they will fill bowls with bedding in a matter of minutes and absorb all their water, can't do auto watering.

The problem with asf's is that they are tenacious chewers.

I ran 1.2 in there and had much success. They can't chew the tubs because of the metal lid that sits inside the tub. There's no space for teeth, plus, the tubs are the really expensive lab grade tubs directly from a used lab equipment supplier. I bought about 300 of those tubs.

Now we're changing it up, since our asf's we had decided they wanted to just push the lids off the top as they got larger.

We're taking the same tubs, not using the lids, and putting the tubs in a rack. That's what we're going to be using for our asf's.

That's just my experience.

Rodentgirl01 where can I get some of those tubs? I am in the process of breeding asf's. I have them in 10gal tanks but want to make a rack system. Also what do you do for watering asf's? I have only had mine for a week, I have a water bottle in with them now and so far luck with it still being intact. :)
Thanks
Jimi

[infernalis]

I had one lone rat running loose for a couple months, Finally caught him in a box trap and put him back, just cleaning up after one was a pain...

[Kayla90]

We just got this awesome bedding for our rats... it use to smell so bad in this room, but now I can barely tell we have them.. well except for the little tiny cute voices of the newborns :P

[Gungirl]

We just got this awesome bedding for our rats... it use to smell so bad in this room, but now I can barely tell we have them.. well except for the little tiny cute voices of the newborns :P

What bedding? Name?

[Kayla90]

I'd tell you.. but I'd have to kill you... bahaha jk.. I'm not 100% sure.. You'd have to ask Steph.. but I'm pretty sure it came in a nameless bag..

[rodentgirl01]

I'm using a metal bowl for the one colony I have now in a 10 gallon while the rack is getting built but it's a pain.

Everyone will have Edstrom Vari Flow Valves for watering system.