# bad smell



## MeAmandaTee

Ok so i just started using liners for my hedgehog i've only had it for one night and it seems to work really well other then the fact that the blankets i have are the wrong size lol but the one thing i noticed thats bad is the smell. his poop doesnt smell that bad but the pee.....well that bothers me lol. i gave him a bath thinking that maybe he was just a little smelly but no its his liners. i do have him in a aquarium untill i can get enough money to build him a C&C cage so it could be poor air ventilation. i do have an air purifier but its not really usefull since the smell is mostly in his tank. does anyone have any tips on how to get rid of the smellyness? he doesnt use a litter either just so u know.

PS i know that these kinds of questions have been posted before but all i got for an answer was the air purifier. which probably will work when he has his cage but untill then i need some ideas. he was using aspen shavings before which masked the smell good.


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## Puffers315

Personally if it was me, I'd switch him back to aspen until I got the C&C made, then start using the liners. I mean there is some other things you could attempt, but its probably not going to help him in the end, keep in mind he's breathing the smell too. Other ways to cut down on odor would be using a box of baking soda (not in the tank of course) or something that will absorb odor. I'm not sure what a C&C cage runs cost wise, but I know Sterlite storage bins are not overly expensive, 15 bucks maybe? Its a good cheap way to put him in something other than the stinky old tank.

But yeah, my vote would be going back to aspen until the C&C is done.


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## tracie

Is he litter trained? You can just put some litter or aspen where he pees...


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## MeAmandaTee

no he isnt litter trained im just going to put aspen in a small spot of the cage and see if he decides to go there. i hope that he does because this smell is killing me lmao i love him but yuck. 

the reason i decided to switch to aspen so quick was because of all the horror stories i've heard from using wood shavings.


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## tracie

You COULD litter train him. Do you know how? It would make everything easier. I had my hedgehogs on a fleece liner in a C&C cage, and it still smelled.

Or you know what I did? And anybody correct me if this is the wrong thing to do, especially in a cage with poor ventilation. I got one of those pet odor sprays from walmart that you spray on the carpet when the cat or dog takes a pee in the house, and sprayed part of the fleece with that. It took the smell away for awhile, and the spray said it was safe for animals. You would still have to constantly wash the fleece, but it won't smell in between washings so much.


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## MeAmandaTee

I noticed that fleece doesnt absorb, do you put anything underneath the fleece to absorb liquids cuz i think this is one of the reasons it might be so smelly is because his pee is just sitting there


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## Hedgieonboard

If its not absorbing well you can put another layer of fleece under it or another way is to get a few layers of flannel and sew it with no exposed seams (some people will use high grade quilting cotton too or diaper felting for the in between layers if you are going to go the sewing route) I think the reason its not going away though is because of the ventilation issues with a tank. I have one layer fleece in each cage and I never have pee standing because it drys so quickly. Mine is litter trained but at times does pee on the fleece. I personally would stay away from using any type of air freshener/cleaner products because it can be bad for their respiratory systems. You could always try a bowl of baking soda on a shelf near the cage. Also because of it being a tank you will probably want to do a full cage clean with fresh liner everyday so there isn't a build up of smell. These are all temp fixes because I think the only way to fix it long term would be to get the hedgie into a new cage as soon as it can possibly be done.


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## LarryT

Hedgieonboard said:


> I personally would stay away from using any type of air freshener/cleaner products because it can be bad for their respiratory systems.


I will have to totally agree with that!


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## Nancy

Don't use any types of sprays or air fresheners in his cage. They are not good for him. 

Babies and some adults have very very strong smelling urine and really about the only thing you can do is clean the liner daily. Fleece should be fine as a liner but there are some fleeces that won't absorb anything. I got some beautiful soft green fleece one time, almost a velvet like finish on it. Well it is almost water repellent. If they pee on it, it stays in a puddle until I soak it up. Needless to say, I threw that fabric out. lol Don't use fabric softeners either as it makes things not absorb very well. 

Warm/hot weather brings out the smell even more.


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## Olympia

My girls are both on fleece and the only way I found to not have any smell is to change their liners every morning. It means buying a lot of fleece and more laundry but their room never smells and I have a very sensitive nose. I also clean the bottom of the cage with a baby wipe (unscented) before putting the clean liner.


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## MeAmandaTee

ok well im gonna try and find a liner that absorbs better so that there's no puddles or put a layer of flannel underneath  thanks guys


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## jinglesharks

tracie said:


> You COULD litter train him. Do you know how? It would make everything easier. I had my hedgehogs on a fleece liner in a C&C cage, and it still smelled.
> 
> Or you know what I did? And anybody correct me if this is the wrong thing to do, especially in a cage with poor ventilation. I got one of those pet odor sprays from walmart that you spray on the carpet when the cat or dog takes a pee in the house, and sprayed part of the fleece with that. It took the smell away for awhile, and the spray said it was safe for animals. You would still have to constantly wash the fleece, but it won't smell in between washings so much.


Yeah, I wouldn't do that. The thing is, with cats and dogs, they can get away from the spray. They're not going to be only on the couch or wherever they peed, where with a hedgehog, that's their only option. And when they say it's pet safe, they're only thinking of dogs and cats, not hedgehogs. Hedgehogs are tiny and sensitive. I wouldn't risk it, even though it might be safe. We just don't know. Unfortunately that's the case with a lot of things with hedgies- we just don't know yet, and there's really no safe way to experiment.


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## MeAmandaTee

Well i wasnt thinking of using any sprays or anything just wondering what ppl do to keep there little ones cage fresh, once i get my c&c cage and i put the air purifier close to it im sure it wont smell nearly as much.


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## jinglesharks

MeAmandaTee said:


> Well i wasnt thinking of using any sprays or anything just wondering what ppl do to keep there little ones cage fresh, once i get my c&c cage and i put the air purifier close to it im sure it wont smell nearly as much.


Don't worry, I wasn't talking specifically to you  Just want to make sure everyone's hedgie stays safe. I assume the C&C cage would help a lot. Pepper has a wire cage and it doesn't smell that badly. I clean everything once a week, and around the 6th day it starts to get a little smelly if I'm sitting next to him (he's housed on the kitchen table right now) but it's not so bad. Basically regular cleaning is all you can do.  But I'm sure with a tank it'd be pretty much impossible to keep it smelling good for any length of time. So I'm sure it'll clear up!


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## MeAmandaTee

im actually thinking of going to get the cubes today to build it,


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