Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a new (human) roommate who is ultra sensitive to smell. Would it be harmful at all to put a layer of baking soda under the substrate to absorb any smells from the snake cage? I want to be sure baking soda can't harm my snake at all.

Any insight?

Thank you, Andrea

That's a good question,.....but I would STRONGLY advise against doing that. I'm not sure at all how a snake might react to ingesting that, since it does have strong neutralizing qualities. The acid/ph content of a snake's stomach is crutial to proper digestion, and could really have potential of throwing things "out-of-whack".

Can you put the snake enclosure somewhere else, while still allowing optimum temps?,....if not, another option(although more expensive) would be to purchase an air cleaning machine. I've used machines in the past with good results. But then again, I'm not hypersensitive to smells either.

I would think you could make both parties happy somehow with a little constructive thought.

Good luck!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I'd get one of those Arm and Hammer refridgerator boxes that is made to absorb odors and keep it near the cage and swap it out frequently. Activated carbon is also good at absorbing odors. There are a couple other tricks that I can't remember too, but you could look them up - I read it on some website about deodorizing closets or something.

I think your best bet is to keep it on paper towels or newspaper and change them out every time the snake craps.

Havin' roomates sucks.