Tips with Odour Control

by Riikchu Tue 22 Nov 2016, 5:30 pm

Any tips with making the cage not smell as bad? I spot clean once a day (I'll start twice a day when the mice get more used to me as Oreo is very timid Smile

) But I have to take out a lot of the bedding as they don't go to any corner they just do it all over the cage, their favorite place being their food bowl.

Talking about that is their any way I can prevent them from pooping in the food bowl?
I'm a new mouse owner so any help will be great help!

by CanadianExport Tue 22 Nov 2016, 5:43 pm

A few questions.
(1) How big is your cage? If the cage is too small for how many mice you have the smell could be due to over crowding.
(2) What bedding do you use? Aspen and Carefresh (from what I have heard) tend to control odors better than Kaytee clean and cozy.
(3) Do you wash their wheel because in my case that is what smells as mine pee on it.
(4) Lastly what kind of toys do you have in the cage? If they are wood or cardboard those will soak up pee as well causing the odor to be worse.

With regards to pooping and peeing in the food bowl, I think that is just what mice do. Mine still poop and pee in the bowl periodically and I just wipe it out every couple of days or if I notice food scraps stuck to the bowl.

Oh and a note, if you are cleaning out poops, those are not usually what is causing the odor.

I hope this helps a little bit. I am sure other people will chime in as well with there tips.

by Riikchu Tue 22 Nov 2016, 6:05 pm

CanadianExport wrote:A few questions.
(1) How big is your cage? If the cage is too small for how many mice you have the smell could be due to over crowding.
(2) What bedding do you use? Aspen and Carefresh (from what I have heard) tend to control odors better than Kaytee clean and cozy.
(3) Do you wash their wheel because in my case that is what smells as mine pee on it.
(4) Lastly what kind of toys do you have in the cage? If they are wood or cardboard those will soak up pee as well causing the odor to be worse.

With regards to pooping and peeing in the food bowl, I think that is just what mice do. Mine still poop and pee in the bowl periodically and I just wipe it out every couple of days or if I notice food scraps stuck to the bowl.

Oh and a note, if you are cleaning out poops, those are not usually what is causing the odor.

I hope this helps a little bit. I am sure other people will chime in as well with there tips.

My cage is 360 Sq Inches and I have 2 girls, is that to small??
I'm using Kaytee C&C but I do have Aspen so I'll try that next, thanks!
I wash it everyday ^^
All of their toys are made of wood so that's probably the reason why :/

Thank you!

by CanadianExport Tue 22 Nov 2016, 6:13 pm

Your cage is plenty large for two girls. I have had success mixing both C&C with aspen which is what I am doing now. The toys are probably what is smelling. I have wooden toys as well and I smell them every time I clean the cage and that helps me determine what is getting chucked and what stays. If you want to keep using wood toys, you can try making them out popsicle sticks, then it is not expensive when you have to chuck them. I wish you the best!

One final question, how much bedding do you put in and how often do you clean the cage?

You usually want at least an inch or two of bedding, though mice do tend to enjoy deeper bedding and cleaning once a week tends to be the consensus for how often cages normally should be cleaned to control odor but not stress the mice out with too much change.

by Riikchu Tue 22 Nov 2016, 6:41 pm

CanadianExport wrote:Your cage is plenty large for two girls. I have had success mixing both C&C with aspen which is what I am doing now. The toys are probably what is smelling. I have wooden toys as well and I smell them every time I clean the cage and that helps me determine what is getting chucked and what stays. If you want to keep using wood toys, you can try making them out popsicle sticks, then it is not expensive when you have to chuck them. I wish you the best!

One final question, how much bedding do you put in and how often do you clean the cage?

You usually want at least an inch or two of bedding, though mice do tend to enjoy deeper bedding and cleaning once a week tends to be the consensus for how often cages normally should be cleaned to control odor but not stress the mice out with too much change.

I put 4 inches of bedding and I clean it once a week and half, I do have some toys made out of popsicles so ^^

Thank you so much by the way!

by CanadianExport Tue 22 Nov 2016, 6:44 pm

Not a problem! It sounds like you are doing everything right so far and feel free to keep asking questions!

by scaredymouse Wed 23 Nov 2016, 12:20 am

How long have you had these mice?

What are you feeding them?

Do you give them tap water or filtered?

by CallaLily Wed 23 Nov 2016, 9:01 am

About the food bowl, I've found that smaller dishes placed up on a platform of some sort reduces the amount that they poo/pee in it. Small where they have to perch on the edge instead of sitting right in it.

It sounds like these guys are new/young? You may notice they'll get a bit tidier as the get older.

by Riikchu Wed 23 Nov 2016, 5:42 pm

scaredymouse wrote:How long have you had these mice?

What are you feeding them?

Do you give them tap water or filtered?

Had them for 4 days know, they're eating Vitacraft rat, mice and gerbil food (I take out corn) and they're mostly on veggies. Also I do give them tap water.

by Riikchu Wed 23 Nov 2016, 5:44 pm

CallaLily wrote:About the food bowl, I've found that smaller dishes placed up on a platform of some sort reduces the amount that they poo/pee in it. Small where they have to perch on the edge instead of sitting right in it.

It sounds like these guys are new/young? You may notice they'll get a bit tidier as the get older.

Yeah they're pretty young, I've had them for only 4 days Smile

They have a dish on a platform but the bowl is pretty tall so I'll try to find a smaller one, thanks!

by CallaLily Wed 23 Nov 2016, 6:30 pm

Is that the one that's 17% crude protein? That could be contributing to the smell some, as it's too high. 12-14% is what's generally recommended. What do you mean by mostly on veggies?

The other thing is "pet shop funk." New mice can be a bit wiffy until they've been on a better diet for a few weeks.

by CanadianExport Wed 23 Nov 2016, 6:55 pm

I forgot about pet shop funk, thanks for bringing that up CallaLily. Thinking back on it I remember that from bringing my mum's pet shop mice and mine home.

by scaredymouse Wed 23 Nov 2016, 10:29 pm

So good news, the odor will likely improve. New mice, fresh from the pet store, have what we call "pet shop funk". It comes from a poor diet and a high stress environment. It usually decreases in about 2 weeks.

Also, tap water can contribute to urine odor so if it's possible, you might want to switch them to filtered water. Also, the Vitakraft food is much too high in protein. In fact, most food that is designed for mice is not appropriate for them. Go figure. Most of us here feed our mice parakeet food, it's a great seed mix, nothing to pick out, and they love it. Make the changes to the food and water and let the pet shop funk wear off and I think you'll be happier with the odor Smile

http://www.petsmart.com/bird/food-and-care/food/vitakraft-vitasmart-parakeet-food-5194523.html

by Riikchu Wed 23 Nov 2016, 11:55 pm

CallaLily wrote:Is that the one that's 17% crude protein? That could be contributing to the smell some, as it's too high. 12-14% is what's generally recommended. What do you mean by mostly on veggies?

The other thing is "pet shop funk." New mice can be a bit wiffy until they've been on a better diet for a few weeks.

Ah, is their anyway I can make the protein level smaller? And I mean that their diet is around 60%-75% veggies or anyway I'm trying to get them to eat more veggie then their normal food (I've read that it's good for them?)

by Riikchu Thu 24 Nov 2016, 12:06 am

scaredymouse wrote:So good news, the odor will likely improve. New mice, fresh from the pet store, have what we call "pet shop funk". It comes from a poor diet and a high stress environment. It usually decreases in about 2 weeks.

Also, tap water can contribute to urine odor so if it's possible, you might want to switch them to filtered water. Also, the Vitakraft food is much too high in protein. In fact, most food that is designed for mice is not appropriate for them. Go figure. Most of us here feed our mice parakeet food, it's a great seed mix, nothing to pick out, and they love it. Make the changes to the food and water and let the pet shop funk wear off and I think you'll be happier with the odor

http://www.petsmart.com/bird/food-and-care/food/vitakraft-vitasmart-parakeet-food-5194523.html

Thank you so much! I've actually looked for that food but I couldn't find and I can't order it online, is their any possible way of decreasing the protein? I'm changing the water as well.
The "Pet shop funk" would also explain it, also probably the fact that they've been moved multiple cages this week :/

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