Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
This is my first post on Kingsnake, but I've come here for all the answers to my questions! You guys are the best! Anyway, I searched the old posts, and I wasn't able to find any information on this topic, so forgive me if this is an old question
I've had my Ball for a little over a year, and I started breeding mice about two months ago. Everything was going great at first. I keep the mice in the garage because of the smell. But then Charla (my snake just stopped eating. Not only did she stop eating, but she seemed either indifferent, or scared of the mice that I put in the tank ( yes, I feed her live mice....), and I thought maybe she was fasting, but she's still so young. Then I noticed that the house started smelling like mice, and as it turns out, the furnace gets it's air from the garage, so the smell of the mice has been wafting through the house for a month! I guess my question is, do you guys have any advice? Is there a way to cover the odor as it comes out of the vents? Also, what should I do for now? Is my only option buying a mouse from the pet store? Please help! Thank you so much for checking out my post!
-Emilyhex

This may be better to post on the Ball Python forum. However, I would have the air intake for your furnace redirected to outside the garage. Who wnats car exhaust being redirected into the house, much less the smell from mice.

That aside, I don't think it's the smel of mice turning your snake off of food. She could be going into a winter slowdown as this is the time of year most ball python owners cool down their snakes.

Another question, did y ou always feed your ball live food or just since you started breeding them? If the former, try prekilling the mouse before offering it to your ball python. She may be more comfortable with that.

As only male mice have a distinctive odour, are you sure you are cleaning the mice cages often enough? They should be cleaned at least once a week, depending on the size of each cage and how many per cage.

I don't know where you are located, but I hope they don't get too cold or too hot in the garage. Mine don't like it below 65 or above 80 degrees. With cleaning out their cage once a week and adding imatation vanilla extract in thier water (one teaspoon per gallon) really helps keep the smell down.

Hope this helps
MissHisssss

I live in the pacific northwest, but I do have heaters for them... I respect my mice just as much as I do my snake! I will give the vanilla extract a try, thank you so much for your ideas!
-Emilyhex