Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As some of my friends know I recently moved. I went from an awesome basement reptile room to a room just off our living room. I only keep about 15 boas in the most awesome and easily cleanable "boaphile" cages and a couple of geckos(kids). But no matter how much I clean it still has that "funk". My wife seems to have a bionic nose so as soon as one of my babies goes she immediately calls to let me know. I am very worried about disinfectants and room deodorizers and the like so if anybody has any advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mike

You say your "cleaning",what are you cleaning with ?
What is your substrate loose or newsprint ?
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TnK

You could try one of these.

http://www.boas.net/Air_Purifier.html

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology
3309 Gardner Hall
Raleigh, NC 27695-7613

i have a air purifier and i burn inscence as well, works great, my father is the same way, always complaining when they come over once a year, but this combination works well. What about potparri(sp) in a net bag hanging nearby?
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1.4 various boas(Flicka,Felony,Nova,Alias,Alibi,confessa,custody,Ms.Demeanor)
0.1 BRB Abalone; ABBI
1.0 Rott X (OSO)
2.0 cats (Simba, Morris)
fish & feeders

You could just send them all down here to Jacksonville. I am sure they would really like the weather. Maybe keep them outside part of the time. HAHAHAHA

Joe

i am a Nolvasan & Newspaper Substrate kind of guy.

works well, no smell unless it's FRESH! no complaints, either.
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www.bryansboas.com

No doubt !
We do the same here,if there are residual odors then something is lacking with the maid service

>>i am a Nolvasan & Newspaper Substrate kind of guy.
>>
>>works well, no smell unless it's FRESH! no complaints, either.
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>>www.bryansboas.com
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TnK

Have they been checked for parasites?
Sometimes exceptionally nasty smells come from that.
Good luck!
Aaron

Do not burn incense or smoke in the same room as your reptiles. Smoke = respiratory infections when done in excess. Incense in particular is designed to produce lots of smelly smoke - which we humans love, but snake respiratory systems don't enjoy so much. In moderation I doubt it's going to kill anything, but if your wife is complaining any time a snake drops a deuce, she is likely to also use whatever smelly products she can to eliminate the smell, especially when you're not home to immediately clean it.

I keep 12 snakes in my bedroom without any real noticeable odor. I keep almost all of them on papertowel, and clean when there's feces or a significant amount of urates.

Maybe try changing to a different style bedding, or clean the actual cages using something else. I personally love Clorox Wipes - they smell nice and pick up all the poo and other gunk that gets in my snake cages. When it's sunny out and I have time, I'll drag out a few cages and hose them off and let them dry in the sun.
Depending on how old your cages are, the cages themselves might just be funky. When I kept chickens, we de-stunk the chicken stuff by hosing it off with water, bleaching it, hosing it off again, and then letting it dry for an hour or so in the sun. Generally, whatever the bleach doesn't kill the sun will, so not only did our chicken coop not stink, but we had nice healthy chickens. Chickens are an animal that can smell a lot worse than snakes, so if that doesn't help, I don't know what will.

Try maybe sticking some bounce sheets inbetween cages as well. I do that in the closet I keep my rodents in, and it makes it smell less rodent-y... and rodents are another animal that tends to smell much, much worse than the snakes do.

Good luck!

~jenny
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
- Anna Sewell (1820-1878)