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Post by bunnyluv on Jul 19, 2011 12:09:19 GMT
Hi
I have 4 girl Degus in 1 massive cage and it smells!!I only cleaned the pull out tray 2 days ago,and I clean the wood shelves and toys everyday as they wee on them.I use wood pellet cat litter and they still smell.
Advice please on what to use,or how to stop them smelling
nicolax
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jul 19, 2011 12:19:23 GMT
I must admit I've never had this problem, I have 6 goos (3 boys and 3 girls) all in my room and clean them out once a week and they never ever smell. What feed do you give them? Perhaps this could be a cause? Mine get pah degu nuggets and timothy hay with dandelion and marigold.
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Post by bunnyluv on Jul 19, 2011 12:23:34 GMT
Degu nuggets,timothy hay ,fresh water ,no treats.
My two original degus didnt smell ,but I gave two girls a home and since they have been in the cage it smells!
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jul 19, 2011 12:33:02 GMT
how strange! Maybe they don't drink as much and it makes their wee more concentrated? You know what they say, you can lead a degu to water but you can't make it drink lol, I can't think of anything to suggest, perhaps someone else has had a smelly cage and has some tips for controlling the smell? Sorry I'm no help lol.
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Post by bunnyluv on Jul 19, 2011 12:43:13 GMT
They do drink alot more water than my original goos,so obviously wee more,they also wee everywhere unlike my two who wee on the bottom of cage.I dont know what to do about this,there stinking the house out ,but I love my goos.
Thanks for your reply,I appreciate it.xx
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jul 19, 2011 12:47:28 GMT
You're welcome, at least it's summer and you can open the window lol. My brothers rats used to smell pretty bad until he started buying them these buscuits that blocked the smell, but they are designed for rats, ferrets, rabbits and guinea pigs, so I'm guessing they're going to have sugar in.
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Jul 19, 2011 12:54:17 GMT
I had similar problems in the past, when my degus lived in a tall parrot cage.
Now that I have a wooden DIY cage however, I can use lots of bedding, without having the degus throw it outside the cage. These types of enclosures stay clean far longer than the average metal/wire cages.
If the wooden shelves are left unprotected, there is good reason to believe that they have already absorbed a good amount of degu urine...which would in turn end up smelling bad.
Your best idea would be to line the edges of the shelves with thin strips of kiln dried pine wood and cover the shelves with a few centimeters of appropriate bedding.
This would stop the urine from further penetrating the wood.
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Post by bunnyluv on Jul 19, 2011 12:58:18 GMT
I have tried changing the cat litter as well,but I will try covering the wood,with tiles? dont lknow what else I could use thats Degu proof.
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Post by moletteuk on Jul 19, 2011 17:50:20 GMT
do you know much about the history of the two girls? A diabetic would wee a lot more than usual, and also the wee has a sour, slightly solventy type smell, if that sounds familiar at all.
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Post by bunnyluv on Jul 20, 2011 11:25:46 GMT
Yes the cat litter is Degu safe,I made sure of this when I researched before buying it.I also clean the toys,shelves with a safe disenfectant every week.
I have put a safe tile over the top of all the wooden shelves,so I can wipe it clean.
I am also gonna try changeing the substrate.
Thanx for all your advice everyone.
Nicolaxx
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 20, 2011 18:55:15 GMT
Nicola, I see that you are going to try a new substrate, and that's great. But . . . can I ask you to perform an experiment with the cat litter? Can you take a glass filled with water and drop in say six litter pellets? The only reason I ask is because one of the reasons that cat litter works as it does is the fact that the components that make up the litter are compressed under great pressure to end up in the small pellet size. Once liquid is added to it, it begins to expand and keeps on doing so while there is any available moisture. Since degus are huge chewers, and will often ingest what they chew, there is concern about the litter being ingested, expanding in the stomach of the degu and then rupturing through it, causing the death of the degu.
Other substrates that are known to work really well are of course Megazorb and Carefresh. One that is gaining a huge following here is Finacard. It is well priced and works wonders absorbing odors!
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Post by grumpy89 on Jul 26, 2011 21:31:01 GMT
Mine stunk when we first got them, because we were recommended cat litter.... i pretty quickly looked for other stuff (thanks to this forum) and got finacard which doesnt smell at all, and doesnt get spread out quite as far as the pellets did outside of the cage! it seems much better for them, as they drag some of it into their bedding when we clean them out, so they seem to much prefer it!!
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Post by malteser60 on Jul 27, 2011 11:42:39 GMT
Another thing, can I ask what type of shelves you have? If it's good quality kiln dried pine the wee takes longer to absorb in and so they are much easier to keep clean. I have had experience with both cheap pine and good pine. So, for example, the cage I have came with cheap plywood-type pine shelves. They lasted, oh, about 4 months. Now I have re-arranged the cage and bought a set of shelves from ebay. They are supperb. I can see the wee just sitting there and so far not much has soaked in. In contrast, I bought a shelf (single) from P@H, and whilst it's not bad it definitely is not as good quality. It's already looking quite horrible. At least it's a small shelf so doesn't really contribute towards any smells.
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