Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Why is it that no matter how clean I keep it, Oscar & Stella's cage absolutely STINKS!! It makes the whole basement stink. What can I do?? The smell makes me sick and being that I am pregnant, that is not a good thing. Also it is very offending to people who come over.
Please help!
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1.6.0 Leopards
2.4.0 Chinese Water Dracons
0.3.0 Feline
0.1.1 Rugrats

Stephanie

Usually you only get a truly horrible smell when someone has cociddia. Have you had fecals done on them? What substrate are you using? What are you using to clean and how often?

I have also found that the amount of odor dropped once I stopped feeding crickets.

>>Why is it that no matter how clean I keep it, Oscar & Stella's cage absolutely STINKS!! It makes the whole basement stink. What can I do?? The smell makes me sick and being that I am pregnant, that is not a good thing. Also it is very offending to people who come over.
>>Please help!
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>>1.6.0 Leopards
>>2.4.0 Chinese Water Dracons
>>0.3.0 Feline
>>0.1.1 Rugrats
>>
>>Stephanie
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

We still feed crickets (we store those in the garage because of the smell). We have not had fecals done, haven't had a need to. They are very active and eat very well, no signs of anything being wrong.
We use washed play sand as a substrate and clean with a bleach/water solution. They love to poop in their water, and fill it with sand, which drives me crazy.
But you walk in the door and it about takes your breath away some days.
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1.6.0 Leopards
2.4.0 Chinese Water Dracons
0.3.0 Feline
0.1.1 Rugrats

Stephanie

If the smell is that bad, I would seriously consider getting fecals done. They may be active and acting ok, etc but may still have coccidia or something else going on....

A dragon's poop smells no matter what, but if it is "over powering" my first guess would be coccidia. Either that, or since you are pregnant, it may just be bothering you more. I know every little smell sent me running to the bathroom with all 3 of my children. It got so bad that if I stood and cooked dinner for everyone, by the time I was done I was so sick to my stomach that I couldn't eat it LOL

>>We still feed crickets (we store those in the garage because of the smell). We have not had fecals done, haven't had a need to. They are very active and eat very well, no signs of anything being wrong.
>>We use washed play sand as a substrate and clean with a bleach/water solution. They love to poop in their water, and fill it with sand, which drives me crazy.
>>But you walk in the door and it about takes your breath away some days.
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>>1.6.0 Leopards
>>2.4.0 Chinese Water Dracons
>>0.3.0 Feline
>>0.1.1 Rugrats
>>
>>Stephanie
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

Thanks Lisa,
I will call the vet about bringing in fecals. Gonna be hard to figure out which one it came from though...
I am not the only one who thinks it is bad...which I guess is good, but still bad...
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1.6.0 Leopards
2.4.0 Chinese Water Dracons
0.3.0 Feline
0.1.1 Rugrats

Stephanie

Usually they are pretty good about giving enough meds for you to treat both dragons if they are housed together. I had 3 females housed in one tank a while back and had to take a fecal in... as luck would have it only one of them pooped that day. It tested for coccidia and because they were all living together they all got treated for it.

>>Thanks Lisa,
>>I will call the vet about bringing in fecals. Gonna be hard to figure out which one it came from though...
>>I am not the only one who thinks it is bad...which I guess is good, but still bad...
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>>
>>1.6.0 Leopards
>>2.4.0 Chinese Water Dracons
>>0.3.0 Feline
>>0.1.1 Rugrats
>>
>>Stephanie
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

I use plastic non slip shelf liners in all my cages. I spot clean daily with a mild anti bacterial soap and water in a squirt bottle, and wipe it with a paper towel. Keeps the cages spotless, and sanitary. I have nine dragons and by the smell you would not know I had one. The sand harbors all the bacteria and stinks when dirty. Really sand is too much work, gets messy, and harbors lots of things that can be bad fungus/bacteria etc. All my dragons are fine without the sand substrate. They don't seem to miss it at all. The cages stay clean, no dangers of impaction and germs, and dragons seem happy with that. If you hit my link below you can see what I use. I'll post a pic here as well. It Comes in 6 foot rolls and I just cut them and over lap the pieces if I need two pieces to cover the bottom. Costs a buck at the dollar store for one roll. You can reuse them just soak them in a light bleach mixture every week or so rinse, dry and put back in.

Here is buddy you can see it on the bottom of his enclosure. Different pattern same stuff though.

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Mystical Dragons

You know..... I love that idea! I have seen you mention it time and again on here. I might give that a try with one or two of my adults. I used to use sand also, but have since switched to newspaper for the little ones and reptile carpet for the adults. Sand is a big pain in the a$$ and not worth it if you ask me!

I will buy some of that shelf liner when I finally feel up to going out and about. Will let you know how it works for me

>>I use plastic non slip shelf liners in all my cages. I spot clean daily with a mild anti bacterial soap and water in a squirt bottle, and wipe it with a paper towel. Keeps the cages spotless, and sanitary. I have nine dragons and by the smell you would not know I had one. The sand harbors all the bacteria and stinks when dirty. Really sand is too much work, gets messy, and harbors lots of things that can be bad fungus/bacteria etc. All my dragons are fine without the sand substrate. They don't seem to miss it at all. The cages stay clean, no dangers of impaction and germs, and dragons seem happy with that. If you hit my link below you can see what I use. I'll post a pic here as well. It Comes in 6 foot rolls and I just cut them and over lap the pieces if I need two pieces to cover the bottom. Costs a buck at the dollar store for one roll. You can reuse them just soak them in a light bleach mixture every week or so rinse, dry and put back in.
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>>Here is buddy you can see it on the bottom of his enclosure. Different pattern same stuff though.
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>>Mystical Dragons
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

Reiko started using it as well. She did a half and half thing with the bran she uses. So far she likes it. As long as you look in you cages daily to spot clean it it's not bad at all. It's the people who really are not up on the cage cleaning that I wouldn't suggest it too cause they have to much time to run through it ya know. I spot clean as I see the poop cause I hate dirty poopy dragons, lol and it works great. Ya know I should sell them at pet stores or patented the idea. Get this I also give my dragons baths with a battery operated crest toothbrushes, lol they love the massage and it gets them nice and clean, great for when their shedding as well. Just please if you use this idea too keep it out of the bathroom where yours is, ewww GROSS . Hope it works well for you. I've been using it for a year now and would not switch.
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Mystical Dragons

wow, great idea.....The next big cleaning of our beardie's sand, I will definitely be changing to the rolls. It seems safer for the beardie as well as more sanitary.

Parasites can cause very smelly fecals. Also, I've noticed that feeding a lot of crickets or supers will do it to. You may want to get their fecals checked if you haven't already done so.

Now, about how to get rid of the smell ... I use a product called Nolvasan. It has a very pleasant smell and the fumes aren't harmful to beardies like bleach and ammonia. You can sometimes find it locally at farm/feed stores. Or you can find it several places online. A pint will last you a while since you have to dilute it. And a pint usually costs around $13 - $15. A lot of vets use Nolvasan to sterilize their exam rooms and equipment because it works so well. And I just found out that it will kill the horrible yellow fungus that has caused many bearded dragons to become ill.

What kind of substrate are you using? Substrates like sand and bran harbor bacteria and tend to get smelly rather quickly. They need to be changed out frequently - depending on how fast the cage gets messy. I use the indoor/outdoor carpeting from Home Depot or Lowes and I take out the old piece and throw in a new one at least once a week. And I cut several extras so my beardies aren't without substrate for any period of time. Also I remove fresh poo daily. That way my cages never smell.

To clean the carpeting I take the pieces outside, hose off any debris, and soak them with a bleach/water solution for 30 minutes. Then they get rinsed off really well until no bleach smell remains then hung out to dry.

Hope this helps.

Veronica
Beautiful Dragons

just in case, but I think it is time for a change in cage substrate.
Thanks everyone for your help and advise.
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1.6.0 Leopards
2.4.0 Chinese Water Dracons
0.3.0 Feline
0.1.1 Rugrats

Stephanie