Odour control bedding for hamsters and mice? soil use?

[ExtremelyFluffyHamster]

Hello, I have been having some problems recently with animal odour in my bedroom. I have two Syrians, one doesn't smell at all, the other one does because she's old and hasn't been very well. I also have three female mice which are the main source of the problem.

I use wood shavings but they do little for the smell, even with cage fresh granules, especially with the stinky mice. My male hamster (Bear) doesn't need any odour control and is fine with the shavings, but my older girl (Delilah) and my three mice (Sutton, Ali and Petra) honk! My bedroom smells quite bad some days and because I'm at home a lot I'm always in here with them.

Someone told me bagged soil from the shops is supposed to be the best for eliminating odour and I can mix a little cage fresh with it. Has anyone tried this, specifically for mice?

I have tried care fresh in the past, it's useless. I don't want to use anything scented, pine, cedar, etc and I need to get rid of these shavings as they have a slight chemical smell which makes the urine smell horrible.

Also, my old girl digs out all of her shavings into a pile and then always makes sure she pees on the plastic and scatters pee all over her cage, which is huge, so her smell hits you when you walk in the room, the smell of the mice grates on you a while. Opening a window doesn't really help much.

I need rid of the foul odour ASAP.

I have some Giant snails as they live on coconut coir untreated but washed bedding you soak as a substrate and they live on it damp. Could I soak some of that, dry it out completely and use it on the mice and some in the potty corner of my big girl?

Any tips?

[Pebbles82]

I just posted on your other post with the link for Fitch. I believe some mice forums say sterilised soil is the best thing for mouse odour, but I wouldn't use it for hamsters. The main problem I think is it could start growing mould or fungus if it gets damp, which it will if wee'd on. What kind of cage are your mice in? As for the poorly girl hamster, I don't think there's much you can do about that. I would switch the shavings for Fitch and then if you're not happy with that, try other things, but at least you can switch quickly now and then experiment once you've got an alternative to the shavings for now. It is similar to Carefresh but better because it's not dusty.

[ExtremelyFluffyHamster]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

I just posted on your other post with the link for Fitch. I believe some mice forums say sterilised soil is the best thing for mouse odour, but I wouldn't use it for hamsters. The main problem I think is it could start growing mould or fungus if it gets damp, which it will if wee'd on. What kind of cage are your mice in? As for the poorly girl hamster, I don't think there's much you can do about that. I would switch the shavings for Fitch and then if you're not happy with that, try other things, but at least you can switch quickly now and then experiment once you've got an alternative to the shavings for now. It is similar to Carefresh but better because it's not dusty.

I found what looks like a good bedding called "natra care" or something you can buy at petsathome. I can't go there tonight or for a few more days and the smell is really bothering me.

Yeah, I use the coconut coir substrate potting soil for my snails and have to keep it constantly damp, it never harbours mould or bugs but it might not be a good option for them...

Delilah has been to the vets and was on antibiotics for two weeks and hasn't improved, due to her age they won't do any other forms of treatment on here so her smell is pretty much permanent, only her smell isn't overpowering.

[dave123791]

I have never tried using soil so I cant comment on that. I use hemp bedding from zooplus and I have never had any problems with the smell. I clean out the corner in which Jenny pees every 2 days and put some new bedding in so it doesn't smell of urine. I also have a vanilla candle which smells beautifully. I used carefresh before I started using hemp bedding and the quality of it wasn't bad but the price was. Whereas the hemp bedding is cheap and it lasts very long.

That's all I can think of, i hope that helps.

[Artisans_uk]

I would not use soil of any type for hamsters.

Have you tried putting a potty in the corner where your hamster pees? You can get small litter to put in the tray which has some order control. If this is cleaned out every day, the smell can be eliminated.

There are a variety of styles available for the potty from corner trays to "in/out" types with covers. I use both types.

Corner Tray

Hamster Potty

Here's a link to one type of litter which I use:-

Potty Litter Example

I hope this helps but certainly avoid using soil.

[ExtremelyFluffyHamster]

Originally Posted by Artisans_uk

I would not use soil of any type for hamsters.

Have you tried putting a potty in the corner where your hamster pees? You can get small litter to put in the tray which has some order control. If this is cleaned out every day, the smell can be eliminated.

There are a variety of styles available for the potty from corner trays to "in/out" types with covers. I use both types.

Corner Tray

Hamster Potty

Here's a link to one type of litter which I use:-

Potty Litter Example

I hope this helps but certainly avoid using soil.

Ooh thanks! I'll check these out now for me it's easier to be able to buy them in a pet shop and the ones near me are very small and sell either shavings, hay or care fresh/litter but I'll check them anyway.

Unfortunately Delilah will not stand for anything in her toilet corner and has destroyed things I have put there previously or moved them aside or even just peed right in front of them so I think hers is a case of scrubbing her toilet corner down twice a day and keep sweeping her shavings around.

I might buy a couple of different bedding materials and see which one works best. I have another hamster, a male Roborovski, that lives upstairs because his smell is worse than male mice and he is allergic to EVERY type of bedding even shredded paper but he might get along with hemp

No soil for the hamster but I'm willing to test it with the mice, anything to get rid of that terrible smell.

[ExtremelyFluffyHamster]

Originally Posted by dave123791

I have never tried using soil so I cant comment on that. I use hemp bedding from zooplus and I have never had any problems with the smell. I clean out the corner in which Jenny pees every 2 days and put some new bedding in so it doesn't smell of urine. I also have a vanilla candle which smells beautifully. I used carefresh before I started using hemp bedding and the quality of it wasn't bad but the price was. Whereas the hemp bedding is cheap and it lasts very long.

That's all I can think of, i hope that helps.

The hemp sounds promising or other people have suggested alfalfa. I feel very wary of buying all these expensive bedding materials for none of them to work (as i have done in the past)

I like to sprinkle vanilla in mouse cages and put some in the water, it helps! but not for hamsters... Delilah only smells because she hasn't been too well and there's no cure for her sadly

[TheGoldenDwarfTV]

Hello,

I believe, ErinsAnimals, sometimes uses sanitized peat and she bakes untreated peat at a certain temperature to kill all bacteria however it has been known to discolour the hamsters fur at times. Don't quote me on this as I may have got something wrong.

Take care.
D

[Pebbles82]

I don't think that link works Golden Dwarf, just tried it. It sounds like you need an extractor fan in the room to change the air round all the time - which isn't really a solution as fitting one is a major job, but you can get plug-in air purifiers. I just googled to find out about them for mouse odour and the info I found said they remove mouse odours but it has to be one with both a hepa filter and a carbon filter. They're quite expensive, but it could really help. This one is one of the less expensive ones and one reviewer says it works well to get rid of cat odour.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bionaire-BAP...epa+and+carbon