The smell varys, you'll never know how bad it is until you smell it. All of the females I've had carried cinnamon and Belle doesn't smell hardly at all, whereas Myrcella does smell quite strong, it gets worse if you handle them during that time too. Although, it isn't disgusting and you can only really smell it when she's out of her cage. I have males and females in the same room, so that could have something to do with it too. The females get extremely energetic and Myrcella is almost impossible to handle. Winston, one of my boys, starts huffing and squeaks as well, it's really loud and then they all start huffing to each other once winston starts, Winston is the only one who squeaks though, he's extremely vocal.
I've found females to be more energetic, I've only ever had 3 female syrians though, so maybe someone with more experience of females can help you a bit more
