Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need some help with odor control. Not trying to be rude but please only reply with info from your own personal experience. What has worked for you?
I've got my rack setup in the garage, mice and rats. The rack is 5 levels for mice and 2 for rats. I change the shavings weekly. I also wash the bins every week. The odor is excessive. I'm considering the use of carefresh mixed 50/50 with the shavings or even all carefresh in the bins. This would be expensive but worth it. If I can't get the odor down, I have to shut down the rack.
Any recommendations?

your next move would be for air movement... not around you garage but OUT your garage... I too have my rats in the garage... 20 cage rack with 1.4 or 1.5,,,,,,, I keep the garage door cracked open 1-2 inches fro mthe bottom since I dont have a AIR opening (read window)at the rent place.... and it keeps the smell down a great deal I also keep a small fan (bought it at a garage sale for $1 its no bigger then a 8 inch circle fan I keep on the ground and push air out....

Works great...BTW I use only Pine bedding and change litter 1x every 2 weeks

Don't waste your money on carefresh, it does NOTHING for odor control. This is from personal experience with mice and rats. Carefresh smelled worse than aspen, and much quicker.

The best bedding for odor control is a pelleted bedding like Woody Pet, Alfalfa pellets, Aspen Supreme, I've used all 3 of those in my mouse tubs and it makes a huge difference.
I've heard Yesterdays news pelleted unscented cat litter is good as well, though I have never tried yesterdaus news, alfalfa pellets and woody pet are cheaper.

Another issue may be overcrowding, that always makes the smell a lot worse.

In 30 years experience of raising feeders.

Only two things I know of that really help...

1- keep them clean, it sounds like you are doing that.

2- exhaust fan and fresh air intake. put in either a vent or a (some) windows and push the smell out and bring in the fresh air.

Other than a massivly expensive air scrubber like in big labs I don't think anything else will do enough good to warrant it.

Mice/rats just tend to smell.

It's not so bad once you get used to it...

Peter
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Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles

I use Wood pellet bedding and it last longer then anything and controls the smell but mice will allways stink.

At his recommendation, I used the pine pellets. They still stunk.
Finally found something that works.
Hardwood pellets used in pellet stoves.
Buy a bag and try it.

hi,
what wood pellet manufacturer are you using? does it cut down on smell better than aspen? can you show me a clear pic of this bedding? if i buy it is there any thing i should ask for or is all wood pellets the same? thanks for your help. what do you pay for it? thanks so much.

isnt the woode pellets awfully heavy when you put it into the tub?
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Greg Holland
GM HERPS
www.imageevent.com/gmherps
gmherps@sbcglobal.net

Phill's using the Eagle Valley ABM wood pellet. It seems to work pretty good and also lengthens the time between necessary changing. It is much heavier than shavings but you only use a thin layer. It expands as it absorbs the urine. I put a handfull of shavings in each tub for bedding along with a thin layer ~1/8 - 1/4" of pellets.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
13.24 BRB
12.14 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Hello Dave,
Can you tell me what is the Price for bag?

have a great week,
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1.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher
2.0 W.C. Sonoran Gopher
1.1 Red Bull Snake
1.1 San Diego Gophers (het albino applegate)
2.2 Leucistic Texas ratsnake
1.1 "White Oak" ratsnake
2.3 W.C Okeetee Corn
1.2 Abbt line Okeetee Corn
1.0 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Creamsicle Corn
1.2 W.C Miami Phase Corn
1.1 Sinaloan Milk
1.0 Albino Honduran Milk
1.1 W.C Mexican Black King
0.2 C.B Mexican Black King
2.0 W.C Cal King
1.1 C.B Cal King
0.1 Durango Mountain King
1.0 Desert King
1.3 Northern pine
1.1 N.J White pine
3.5 Black pine
1.2 kankakee Bull
2.3 Bearded Dragon
0.0.40 Red Eye Tree frogs
7 Tanks full with African Cichlids.
Many Mice, Rats and feeder Roaches

Don't know if you saw Phil's post....

I get mine for $4.85/bag when bought as a pallet (60 bags).

was getting for $8/bag as single bag but the place I found to get pallets had a better price but don't remember what it was. Check their website and find a local dist.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
13.24 BRB
12.14 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thank you for the info Dave.
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1.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher
2.0 W.C. Sonoran Gopher
1.1 Red Bull Snake
1.1 San Diego Gophers (het albino applegate)
2.2 Leucistic Texas ratsnake
1.1 "White Oak" ratsnake
2.3 W.C Okeetee Corn
1.2 Abbt line Okeetee Corn
1.0 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Creamsicle Corn
1.2 W.C Miami Phase Corn
1.1 Sinaloan Milk
1.0 Albino Honduran Milk
1.1 W.C Mexican Black King
0.2 C.B Mexican Black King
2.0 W.C Cal King
1.1 C.B Cal King
0.1 Durango Mountain King
1.0 Desert King
1.3 Northern pine
1.1 N.J White pine
3.5 Black pine
1.2 kankakee Bull
2.3 Bearded Dragon
0.0.40 Red Eye Tree frogs
7 Tanks full with African Cichlids.
Many Mice, Rats and feeder Roaches

The Pellets I use are I think 30 lbs for under $4 by the pallet. I use a very little in the tub, just enought to cover the bottom and change it weekly for 1.5 if I have 1.4 it last allmost two weeks wow what a differance 1 wife makes . I have been testing some beeding for mothers. Carefresh mice like and rats just spread it out. Rats love and I mean love shreaded newspaper BUT not too much just enough for a nest or it causes a stink... I tried aspen for nesting in rats they do the same in one day it is evenly mixed in and is worthless. I noticed that the females love the activity of making the newspaper nest and thier is less Can. in those litters with a good nest. I know that Harlan sells these cotton blocks that the mice chew to make a nest that is supposed to reduce Can. in mice and rats. The pellets don't make good nesting you need to provide somthing else and not much just a hand full. I also tried putting a small block of wood in the tub to keep them busy this worked great but it was on the ground of the tub so it got filthy.

My experience is the overcrowding adds to the smell the more you have in a small area the more they smell and faster. Like the others said air movement and if you have to cull down your tubs to where the smell is not so bad.
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2.5.0 ball python
1.1.0 100% het pied
1.0.0 Blond Pastel
0.1.0 Spider
1.1.0 columbian boa
1.0.0 rat snake (alabastered)
1.1.0 corn snake
0.1.0 Chuckwalla (Jamie)
0.0.2 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 crested gecko
1.0.0 leopord gecko
4.0.0 Quaker parrot (Woody)(Liam)
1.0.0 Landseer Newfoundland (Mac/Newfy)
0.0.5 whites tree frog (trevor, kirmet)
3.2.0 cats (rockie, bs, brownie, lerrado, kole)
1.3.0 kids (dilyen, dakota, chyanne, sierra)
Brian n Chrissy

"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

I had the same issue (20 tubs in a basically sealed garage).

I tried everything and finally here is what worked for me.
I put a fine layer of cheap clay cat litter and then put Shredded Aspen for the bedding on top.

I used to only be able to get 2-3 days before the smell (and ammonia build-up) was so bad you couldn't go into the garage. Now I can go a week without ever noticing a smell at all.

I like you clean weekly and so far haven't had any issues in over 6 months.

Note: just my experience but I had terrible results with pellets the rats hated them and I ended up with small litters and a lot of die off.

what kind of cat litter do you use? isnt cat litter dusty? it does make sense to hold the odor better? is cat litter safe for rats??
thanks.

I have used Alfalfa hay as my bedding for years. It works great for me (2 racks - total of 28 tubs). I get (2) weeks per change. It makes great bedding and very absorbent. Some don't like it because of bugs etc. I haven't seen any problems of any kind. The only issue is changing day, as the hay can be very dusty, I load the tubs outside and have fans (box type) going in the garage while changing to circulate air. I have a window mounted A/C unit and a large gap at the garage door so I do get some circulation.

Mike
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2.1 RTB (Zander, Ridick, Liliana)
1.1 Burms (Vladamir, Natalia)
0.1 Lavender Albino Retic (Katerina)
1.1 100% Het Tigers (Nicholi & Charlamaine)
2.3 Silver fox rabbits
many, many, many, many rats
"So, just how big a boy are ya???!!"

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Here's what I'm trying for right now. This weekend I went through the rack, cleaned every tub, put in a layer of pellets and covered them with fresh shavings. I also used the wet dry vac and cleaned up every pile of dust, spilled shavings, etc. I even went as far as mopping the floor with a disinfectant type cleaner. I did everything I could to remove the odor and any source of odor. I tried the wood pellets previously, horse bedding. It was very dusty and messy. If I get better results, I'll stick to the mix as described above. If I still have an odor problem, I'll switch out the pellets and use cat litter. I know I will not be able to run the rack through summer. I'm just trying to get a couple months worth of production so I can fill the freezer. I do have a box fan but running it is a problem. If I point it at the side door, the air is directed to a neighbors patio. If I point it out one of the small screened vents, it blows out into the alley. Anybody walking by will have the stinky air blown right on to them. I may just try placing it in the door way and have it blow fresh air in.
Thanks again
John Q

imitation vanilla extract--2-3 teaspoons per gallon of water or 2-3 drops if you are using reg. water bottles--you are going to see a great improvement---Brian O'Neill

I was battling the same problem as you...mouse rack in the garage always smelling no matter what bedding was used. Then I found an older posting on this forum regarding an air ionizer. I was skeptical, but I couldn't stand the smell any longer. I bought an Air Oasis Extreme 3000 for about $370. It has really helped a lot. If you are changing cages you'll still smell them, but in terms of overall odor it's been greatly reduced. I no longer can smell the mice inside my house, and the garage is like 90% better than before.

Their website is peakpureair dot com.
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

the best i found is alfalfa rabbit pellets(the cheapest) in the corners and thin layer in middle and covered with Aspen bedding, i was able to raise them indoors,though i am back to plain pine shavings outside in the carport