Keeping Mouse Enclosures Smelling Fresh?

RegenerationRep · 10-03-11, 05:58 PM

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 · 10-03-11, 06:00 PM

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

RegenerationRep · 10-03-11, 07:01 PM

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 · 10-03-11, 07:14 PM

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 · 10-03-11, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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 · 10-03-11, 08:04 PM

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 · 10-03-11, 08:57 PM

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 · 10-03-11, 09:06 PM

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 · 10-04-11, 01:24 PM

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

Snakefood · 10-04-11, 01:48 PM

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 · 10-04-11, 06:16 PM

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 · 11-03-11, 08:09 PM

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 · 11-03-11, 09:02 PM

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 · 11-03-11, 09:17 PM

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 · 11-03-11, 10:01 PM

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?