Stinky Cage

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Weedelly

Weedelly

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi. I have been using vetbed for a couple of months now. I put puppy pads down and then the vetbed on top. It's obviously been washed quite a few times by now and wicks completely. There's never any wet bits now.
I cleaned the cage out yesterday proper good clean with a spray , put clean vetbed back on. And within a few hours it started to smell again :(, and tonigt it's absolutely stinking like I havnt cleaned their cage out for a week :/. Any ideas on why its so smelly?
Thanks :)
 
Hey.

I had a similar problem when I use fleece on my piggies. I have to buy new a lot. I think what it is, is if the bed is thick and the outside is being cleaned but not the padding inside.

An idea is if you want a thick bed, get a old pillow case, buy cheap fabric and stuff it so when you wash it, it all pulls out and can be washed.

Hope this helped :)


Fern x
 
Are your pigs males? Are they dragging their bums around the cage after you clean it?
If they are, that's boar stank you're smelling.

To prevent them from scent marking, I usually leave dirty item in the cage after I completely clean everything. Usually small item like a fleece bed. Then take the bed out the next day. This way, they won't be trying to scent up the cage.
 
lissie said:
Are your pigs males? Are they dragging their bums around the cage after you clean it?
If they are, that's boar stank you're smelling.

To prevent them from scent marking, I usually leave dirty item in the cage after I completely clean everything. Usually small item like a fleece bed. Then take the bed out the next day. This way, they won't be trying to scent up the cage.
Click to expand...

Sorry, this may be a naive question - is boar stank an offensive smell?
 
How strange. I use vetbed and towels and it never smells. I wash it every three days on 60 degrees.
 
My boars stink to high heaven straight after the cage is cleaned out (and I am very thorough). I think its a boar thing...
 
Overcleaning can cause issues, I'm speaking mostly in terms of male rats here but the general point is still valid. If you take away the scent completely, it doesnt smell of them and they scent mark to establish their territory and scent marking stinks, theres a careful balance to be met between cleanliness and stink with my rats (and new boars) I dont clean everything in one go. For the rats their bedding lasts two weeks so one week their bedding is cleaned their hammocks are washed weekly on a day different to their bedding, and their toys are washed fornightly unless rank and this works for us. If I cleaned their cage everyt 3 days like I did when trying to find the balance they absolutely hum. With my boars I would never clean their bedding and their toys on the same day id space it out a few days and I didnt have many scent marking issues vs cleaning everything thoroughly in one go. The same is true for hamsters, they scent mark so I only ever do 50% bedding changes not full ones and they smell less that way removing their scent entirely is stressful and they feel the need to scent everything in a mad rush around the cage they orient by scent more than eyesight so its important to them.
 
Fair point, @Bekki ... I do the same with my rabbit (who will wee everywhere if I clean everything at once).
 
Y
lissie said:
Are your pigs males? Are they dragging their bums around the cage after you clean it?
If they are, that's boar stank you're smelling.

To prevent them from scent marking, I usually leave dirty item in the cage after I completely clean everything. Usually small item like a fleece bed. Then take the bed out the next day. This way, they won't be trying to scent up the cage.
Click to expand...

Yeah they are boys. Well they have a fabric tunnel and like a cosy thing aswell and I tend to wash them seperately from the vetbed. It was a really strong smell and has died down a bit now. So it is maybe just them marking their scent. They also don't get on all that well. I mean they don't fight or anything but they aren't exactly best buddies they don't really take much to do with each other unless they're scared lol. One sleeps in the wooden house and the other sleeps in the cosy thing and they don't really like one another going in their sleeping space. Whereas my boyfriends guinea pigs always cuddle in together and give each other kisses and stuff lol.
So I'm guessing mine are more likely to scent mark. Does that sound about right? Thanks
 
T
Bekki said:
Overcleaning can cause issues, I'm speaking mostly in terms of male rats here but the general point is still valid. If you take away the scent completely, it doesnt smell of them and they scent mark to establish their territory and scent marking stinks, theres a careful balance to be met between cleanliness and stink with my rats (and new boars) I dont clean everything in one go. For the rats their bedding lasts two weeks so one week their bedding is cleaned their hammocks are washed weekly on a day different to their bedding, and their toys are washed fornightly unless rank and this works for us. If I cleaned their cage everyt 3 days like I did when trying to find the balance they absolutely hum. With my boars I would never clean their bedding and their toys on the same day id space it out a few days and I didnt have many scent marking issues vs cleaning everything thoroughly in one go. The same is true for hamsters, they scent mark so I only ever do 50% bedding changes not full ones and they smell less that way removing their scent entirely is stressful and they feel the need to scent everything in a mad rush around the cage they orient by scent more than eyesight so its important to them.
Click to expand...
thats good to know about the hamster. I rescued a hamster last week and still unsure of some stuff. I got him a new cage the other day and he seemed to be darting around the cage all over the place. So I guess that's what he was doing
 
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