Cleaning

by BrendoniUrie Fri 03 May 2019, 6:32 pm

Hey I was wondering how often you guys do a REALLY thorough cleaning of your cages? I have 3 females in a 20G, and I try to spot clean what I can see and wash any filthy objects, and about once a week I remove about 70% of the bedding depending on how dirty it all is and wash the objects that are super dirty, and once a month I remove all the litter. I just passed the 2 month mark of having them, and yesterday I did a complete cleaning with removing all the litter, rinsing the tank with diluted vinegar, and soaking the toys in the diluted vinegar and hot water. I know doing this all the time isn't good for them, and can stress them out, so I was just wondering how often others did it.

Additional Questions
-What % vinegar solution do you guys use to clean? Are other variations of vinegar okay to use? (ACV, berry vinegar, etc.)
-How do you guys clean your rope toys and how long do they take to dry?
-Do you guys mix your litter or layer it or something else? (I have aspen on the main area and carefresh in the critter keeper they nest in) What is the best mix for odor control in your opinion?

by CallaLily Fri 03 May 2019, 7:22 pm

When I had mice I did full cage cleans every 7-10 days. It just wasn’t an option to go longer. They pee too much (and everywhere) and letting that sit for too long is bad for their sensitive respiratory systems. Especially the boy I had. It doesn’t stress them though! They actually very much enjoyed the change, having things swapped around, and new things added. Though my last mouse was very neat, using one corner for most of her pee, so I could go a bit longer with full cleans for her.

I always used an almost 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water. But I have also used apple cider vinegar when I’ve been out of the white. I’m not sure if it matters any. I also used dawn dish soap to wash plastic/glass/ceramic toys and dishes.

Any wooden/rope toys I had I would scrubbed off well in hot water, then soak in diluted vinegar if they were smelly, and air dry. If they have dye or glue this will damage them. Eventually they just had to be replaced.

I preferred using paper based bedding for my mice. I tried aspen a few times - 1)I didn’t enjoy the smell and 2)I noticed many of my mice would have weepy eyes when I used it. I realize paper bedding isn’t the best at covering odor but it worked well enough and didn’t irritate the mice. Some here use cocofiber with good results for odor control. I hear hemp is great too but it was never available to me.

by BrendoniUrie Fri 03 May 2019, 7:34 pm

I noticed some more squabbling last night after the full cage clean, I think it may have stressed them out a bit. They do like the changes though, I do remodel for them every week or sooner than that. I'll look out for the eyes, if they show a problem with it, it'll probably be now, I think this is the most aspen I've used in their cage, I just finished off the package. I'll try a 50/50 but even the little bit of vinegar I used seemed to do the trick, and occasionally I catch a tiny whiff of it. I'll try hemp sometime, but I have a giant package of carefresh in the car to go through as well!

by CallaLily Fri 03 May 2019, 7:44 pm

The partial weekly cleans you described are probably plenty, combined with your daily spot cleaning and eventual deep cleans. Especially if they’re still bonding. I did forget to mention that I would leave one or two “dirty” toys untouched in my buck’s tank (different ones each week), otherwise he’d go nuts immediately marking everything up.

by moonstarfc Fri 03 May 2019, 9:51 pm

I also do a full clean every week. Usually, I dump all the bedding, carry the tank outside and hose it out. I put in a few squirts of Dawn dish soap and scrub it. I don't believe my mice get stressed out by a full clean. Like Callalily, I do the full clean because I don't want them to just be sitting in ammonia all the time. Sometimes, during the week, I squirt the corners of the tank (or other areas where they pee) with Healthy Habitat spray: https://www.chewy.com/natural-chemistry-healthy-habitat/dp/44504

As far as your questions go about bedding and odor control, I've tried a couple with my mice so far trying to find something that works best for me and them.

Carefresh: I used this for a couple months. I actually used to use it years ago for my guinea pigs and hamster and it seemed fine back then. Now, it just seems extremely dusty. The odor control with it was okay, I still did the full deep clean every 7 days though and I can't see it holding up any longer than that. My main concern was the dust - it felt like the entire room was just covered in dust all the time. I would start sneezing whenever I worked in their tank, and I feel like it made at least one of my mice sneeze a lot too. Of course, your mice might do totally fine with it.

Kaytee Clean & Cozy - I used this as well, actually I switched to it from Carefresh after I got fed up with the dust issue. C&C isn't quite as dusty as Carefresh, but it still has quite a bit of dust. Someone suggested me to put it in a laundry bag and shake it out before putting it in the tank. It produces more dust than you would expect Confused

The odor control is worse than Carefresh. I feel like the only real advantage to this one is that it's quite soft and expands a lot when you take it out of the package, so the bags actually lasted quite a while. I still use a handful or two in my mice's nesting corner so they have something soft to sleep in.

Hemp - I switched to this after multiple people told me that it was the best bedding you could use for mice. They really weren't kidding, the odor control is great, and it doesn't seem dusty. Now, I've never used Aspen, so I can't compare it to that, but I'd say hemp is definitely good if you can find it and you can find it and for a good price (or don't mind spending extra). I would feel comfortable letting the cage go a little longer before cleaning as it controls the smell quite well. So I may get my money's worth with it after all.

I also see multiple people around who recommend trying Coco fiber, and I personally can't understand it. I actually use Coco fiber in all of my tarantulas' cages and I absolutely can't stand it, I only use it because there are few alternatives for them. Luckily tarantulas rarely, if ever, require deep cleaning, but I absolutely dread setting up a new enclosure or doing a rehousing, because the Coco fiber gets EVERYWHERE and I always have to vacuum the room afterwards. It's basically dirt, so when it's moist, it sticks to everything, and when it's dry it flies all over and still sticks to everything. Even something as simple as changing a water bowl gets dirt all over the place and the shelves I keep them on are always covered in dirt....maybe some people don't mind their rooms being covered in dirt? Anyway, I can't imagine using it with mice or any other pets that need regular cleaning. But that's just me, YMMV.

by BrendoniUrie Fri 03 May 2019, 11:40 pm

Is it the same cocofiber that is used sometimes for reptiles? I had that for a while with my lizard, but it was so dusty when dry I can't see it being any good for mice.

Maybe I'll clean out all the bedding and most toys but leave their favorites alone.

Do you guys also disturb their nests every time you clean? My mice get really mad at me whenever I clean theirs.

by CallaLily Sat 04 May 2019, 7:42 pm

I would clean nests during every weekly full clean. Most of my girls peed a lot in their nests. Sick

Maybe I just ended up with mostly messy mice? Laughing

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