Gerbil smell VS other rodents

[velcro]

How come gerbils don't smell bad? I'm really amazed how long their bedding lasts before I have to clean their cage. I think the longest I've gone was 2 1/2 weeks before it needed to be cleaned and it still didn't smell that bad.

I think I read something that they don't smell because they are desert animals so they aren't peeing as much. But wouldn't their urine smell even more since they aren't drinking that much meaning that their urine would be more concentrated?

Just curious... I've been looking into getting hamsters again or other rodents, but because they are smelly, I think I might just stick to gerbils now. lol

[vandragonking]

my friend had a mouse but in the end she got rid of it because of the smell and the wheel was covered in poop. so rather than cleaning the wheel she took the mouse and everything for it to the spca. She always had to keep it in the other room because she couldn't stand the smell in her room. But my gerbies hardly smell at all. i have their tank in my room and i only clean it every couple weeks because it gets dirty. not because of the smell.

[gerbillover2000]

Okay, taking a wild stab here, but I think I heard somewhere that it was because the lack of amonia in their pee.
You could probably look it up to find out for sure.

[claudettebillie]

Jul 17, 2008 8:27:16 GMT -8 vandragonking said:

my friend had a mouse but in the end she got rid of it because of the smell and the wheel was covered in poop. so rather than cleaning the wheel she took the mouse and everything for it to the spca. She always had to keep it in the other room because she couldn't stand the smell in her room. But my gerbies hardly smell at all. i have their tank in my room and i only clean it every couple weeks because it gets dirty. not because of the smell.

Hmm, I babysit a girl who has a pet mouse- I barely smell it. She does clean the cage every 3-4 days though.

[RitzieAnn]

Gerbils drink less water than other rodents, so there for pee less. Pee smells. This pretty much sums it up

I clean tanks about every 4 weeks.

[Gerbiee]

Just about the mice. Males do smell but I found keeping them on carefresh helped a lot. Female mice barely smell. And as for hamsters dwarfs tend to not smell as much as syrians do.

[velcro]

Ahhh! if it is the ammonia theory, that seems to make the most sense.

Jul 19, 2008 5:36:19 GMT -8 Gerbiee said:

Just about the mice. Males do smell but I found keeping them on carefresh helped a lot. Female mice barely smell. And as for hamsters dwarfs tend to not smell as much as syrians do.

omg syrians are really smelly! haha
but not as smelly as mice. I can't believe that anything that small be so smelly?!
claudettebillie - if she cleans it every 3-4 days, that's actually pretty often, which might explain why they aren't that smelly

Your opinion, can you put these in the order of the smelliest to non-smelliest?
(its not in any particular order right now)
-gerbil
-rats
-mice
-syrian hamster
-dwarf hamster
-robo hamster
-chinchilla
-rabbits
-ferret
-guinea pig
-jird

I guess if you're not sure you can list down what you think they are in the order.

[toady]

My gerbils do smell. Only 2 days after they have been cleaned out and new woodshavings and hay put in( as per pet shop recommended) they can really be smelt. I have 3 girls in our living room but the smell is making my husband moan about maybe moving them. Where am I going wrong? They are in an aquarium and even use a potty which I wipe out every day.

[Deleted]

When mine 'go' in the bathtub while playing it has a really strong smell. But the bedding does fine at absorbing it. What kind of bedding do you use? I wonder if it would smell less with a different kind. Maybe they are reacting to a specific food or food brand or treat. Maybe if you play around with their diet-remove one treat at a time and see if there is a difference in how much they smell. Although elimination diets are hard so hopefully you can find a simpler answer.

Uhura

[velcro]

Jul 24, 2008 14:14:03 GMT -8 @toady said:

My gerbils do smell. Only 2 days after they have been cleaned out and new woodshavings and hay put in( as per pet shop recommended) they can really be smelt. I have 3 girls in our living room but the smell is making my husband moan about maybe moving them. Where am I going wrong? They are in an aquarium and even use a potty which I wipe out every day.

sometimes you get a gerbil that's just naturally smelly.
I have a female gerbil that used to be smelly. I don't know what I changed, but she doesn't smell anymore.

Maybe you can play around with the bedding? try using carefresh? Its supposed to be super absorbent. I've used it before and it works well... but ironically I hate the smell of carefresh. lol

Now I use aspen bedding. The smell is pleasant. It doesn't work as well as the carefresh, but the woodsy smell covers up anything nasty

[marcrox247]

Ya i think its the lack of amonia!! Mice do smell more than gerbs, specially the males! Alothough they are deadly pets! Really friendly etc, but the do poo and wee alot and sometimes on ya! Thats wat i love about the gerbs is that they rarely do that and wen they do its not bad!!!

[toady]

They like eating grapes. They are very watery so if I stop those then that may mean less urine. I think I will cut down their fresh stuff quite a lot and see if that makes a difference. I would love non smelly gerbils.

[ohmylokix]

Well, you shouldn't give them a lot of fresh food anyway-- they could get very sick!

[tugaac]

RATZ dont smell .... there just like gerbil .. maybe even better ; )

[picklepot]

I am currently using aspen bedding (since I finished off my big bale of HemCore). The gerbils smell divine in it! Every time I pick one up, I can't resist holding it to my nose and taking a really deep breath. They don't seem to mind -it probably cleans the fur out nicely.

My rats and hamster didn't smell either,although I don't remember whether I used to get quite that close, but my gerbies never ever smell bad.