# How can you make a hedgie cage smell less?



## Electric_Eff

My boyfriend and I just got our first hedgie about a month ago, so we're still learning as far as how to care for him and stuff. His name is Roman and he's about 6 months old  he lives with my boyfriend since I have five cats that love to hunt, I live with my parents, and my mom hates all kinds of rodents :roll: but anyway, my boyfriend is a little frustrated right now. Roman has been crapping all over his cage ever since we brought him home. The wheel his previous owner gave us isn't that good (my boyfriend is going to get a better one as soon as he gets his next paycheck) so we're pretty sure that's why he hasn't been using his litter box. The thing is, no matter how much my boyfriend cleans Roman's cage out, it still smells awful and it just keeps getting worse. Is there anything we can do to diminish the smell? And is it solely from him using his whole cage as a litter box, or should we be bathing him regularly?


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## moxieberry

What kind of cage is it, and what kind of bedding do you use?


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## AngelaH

Are you using any food that has fish in the ingredients? I've found that fish ingredients really make Thistle's poop and pee STINK, knock-you-on-the-floor stink. It actually seems to be her favorite, but I just can't handle the smell so she doesn't get any anymore. 
It seems like hedgies just poop a lot, its a hazard of becoming a hedgehog owner. When Thistle was a baby I had to spot clean out poop everyday, now I can get away with every other day. I was also frustrated at first, but I've gotten used to it now and its also gotten better. 
Hedgehogs should not be bathed very often, it will dry out their skin too much. 
What kind of litter are you using? What kind of bedding? Maybe there is something that will be easier to clean or mask the smell better. Fleece liners are working well for me, I have a bunch of them and they are easy to pull out and put in a fresh one. I also use a CSBW and it tips down a little so the poop and pee runs off into the litter pan making cleaning easier too. 
Good luck! I'll be interested in seeing what other people suggest.


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## Shell

I was thinking I must have the cleanest hedgy in the world because I keep bragging how he doesn't ever smell. Then again, I clean his wheel every day and I check his feet in the morning to make sure he didn't drag poopy feet into his bed. If so, I give him a quick foot bath and put a fresh one in. I think your main problem is that your little guy really needs a good wheel to keep most of the poop in one place. Is your cage easy to clean and has lots of ventillation? I've heard aquarium type cages can get quite smelly. If you use fleece liners, they can be changed everyday to keep the cage fresh.


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## Draenog

I have the same problem. He smells SO much. My other hedgehog didn't smell at all! But my little boy... it's horrible. There's fish oil in the food but I don't have much choice and everything has fish oil in it. He isn't potty trained (I'm trying, but so far it isn't working out...) and I always clean up everyday (wheel/poop).
Fleece liners smell horrible, even though I changed them several times a week. I've switched from fleece back to shavings and it seems to smell less, I don't know what kind of bedding you use but maybe that works for you as well?


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## MurE

I find that choosing foods with no fish or seafood in it helps a lot. I use Natural Balance Chicken and Pea and Natural Balance Duck and Pea. I also add Science Diet Chicken and Rice to the mix, but it's not as good. I'm switching to a no fish/seafood version of Blue Buffalo when the Science Diet is finished. I hear that hedgies love it.

Some hedgies pick up litter training very quickly. For Poggles, it took almost 6 months before he was using it all of the time. The Carolina Storm Wheel and the litter box that it came with really helped with the litter training. I put recycled paper pellets in the litter box as a base and added ripped up little squares of regular newspaper on top. Ever since the addition of the newspaper pieces, the smell has really reduced. I think the paper wicks up the fluid and dries quickly so that nothing is soggy and gross. 

The rest of the cage is covered with fleece liners that I sewed. I change out the liner and fleece bag, wash the whole cage, litter box, and wheel with soap, and put fresh litter down every week. When I have a load's worth of liners, I wash them all together. When I wash the liners, I wash his dome cover too.

Once a month (or more frequently if he's dirty) I give Poggles a full bath with Aveeno Moisturizing Body Wash and Aveeno Shower and Bath oil. His skin is actually more moisturized if I wash him more frequently because the Aveeno products are really good for preventing dry skin. Plus I can check his nails and give them a trim.

With all that, I hardly notice the smell. Of course fresh poops are still stinky, but if I'm around, I stick a little square of newspaper over it. I figure it will prevent poopy feet later, plus it looks better 

Good luck!


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## Draenog

The fresh poops are the worst, if he's pooping I can smell it at the other side of the room sometimes :shock:


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## MurE

Whoa, that's pretty intense! I can't smell Poggle's poop from across the room. Only if I happen to be leaned in and taking a sniff. Maybe that's the difference between fish oil in the food and no fish oil in the food? My mother has a very keen sense of smell and she used to complain about Poggles smelling bad every day when I first brought him home. I slowly phased out his old food and introduced all the non-fish/seafood versions and she hasn't complained for a long time. Once in a while she'll mention it just before it's cleaning time, but that's waaaay better than before.


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## Draenog

Yes it is. And his cage is in my bedroom, so sometimes I'm laying in my bed when suddenly I'm like.... aaaaaahhh no don't poop right now!  
Everyone at home here is complaining. It's weird though since I fed my other hedgehog the same food and she didn't smell at all. It's very hard to find proper food here and everything has fish oil in it...


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## MurE

Yeah, I had to spend a lot of time searching for a non-seafood/fish version. It seemed like all of them had fish oil too. So far, the only brands that I can find with versions without fish oil are Natural Balance, Science Diet, and Blue Buffalo. Halo has a treat that has no fish oil too. 

Another good option is to supplement with baby food. I recently added that to Poggle's diet. I tried an organic chicken and vegetable and he seems to really like it. He doesn't eat very much though so I freeze small amounts of them into ice cube trays so that I can defrost a small amount at a time. It's a good way to add veggies Poggle's diet because he refuses most veggies that I give him.


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## Draenog

They don't sell those in my country.

Does the babyfood makes it less smelly? He gets veggies sometimes, but he doesn't like everything (so far broccoli is his favourite)


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## MurE

It's too bad they don't sell those in your country. 

The baby food doesn't have fish/seafood in it so it should technically make it less smelly if you were to replace part of the regular food with it. It's not a good idea to replace all of the kibble because you still want all the vitamins, taurine, etc that they add to the cat food. I was experimenting with baby food because there was a discussion on the forums about how eating pure kibble might be less healthy because it's so processed. So some of the people were saying how baby food might be a good addition to their diet because it has no seasonings or preservatives. 

I made sure to pick one with meat in it because one of the people said that their hedgie will eat any of the baby foods as long as she mixes a meat in. 

Some of the people are making small batches their own mixes by cooking and blenderizing a mix of veggies, meat, and cat food together. Then they freeze them into freezer trays so that they can serve them in small portions. I'm really tempted to try this because all the food would be super fresh, but I don't know how my mother will feel about me putting cat food into her blender  Tee hee hee!


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## Electric_Eff

moxieberry said:


> What kind of cage is it, and what kind of bedding do you use?


It's a pretty big cage, not an aquarium type, made of metal, and it's got two levels to it so he's got a little ramp to climb up. It's got bars and lots of ventilation. His bedding is an old t-shirt that his previous owner gave us and one of those little stump thingies that he can crawl under to hide or sleep. We line his litterbox with newspaper, but the rest of the cage floor isn't lined at all. And the smell is kind of syrupy almost, like when it gets super strong it sticks in your nose and throat. It's hard to describe, but doesn't really smell like crap. XP


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## MurE

Electric_Eff said:


> It's a pretty big cage, not an aquarium type, made of metal, and it's got two levels to it so he's got a little ramp to climb up. It's got bars and lots of ventilation. His bedding is an old t-shirt that his previous owner gave us and one of those little stump thingies that he can crawl under to hide or sleep. We line his litterbox with newspaper, but the rest of the cage floor isn't lined at all. And the smell is kind of syrupy almost, like when it gets super strong it sticks in your nose and throat. It's hard to describe, but doesn't really smell like crap. XP


Maybe if you put down some fleece liner on the cage floor it would act as an absorbent layer and reduce the smell. It might just be that there isn't enough absorbency in the litterbox. Just an idea.

I'm not sure about a syrupy smell. I've never heard it described that way before.

Oh, and be careful with the t-shirt. Make sure there are no loose threads. They can get wrapped around toes and cut off circulation. You can pick up a fleece pouch if you want for him to sleep in instead.


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## Draenog

About the syrupy smell, I've read it on here before and it was connected to diabetes. Here's the thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17618&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=syrup
What are you feeding him?

Mine def. doesn't smell like syrup. It's just a horrible smell. :?

MurE I think I'm gonna try the babyfood. Of course not as a replacement, but I hope he likes it. I'm not even sure if we have a blender :roll:


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