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Odor
- Thread starter Suzanne
- Start date
- Messages
- 584
Odor? Tegus themselves do not stink in my experience. The only thing I have seen that makes them stink is feeding of fish or seafood and/or eggs. (which I choose to feed sparingly and infrequently) And that's only when basking and/or about to poop. What does stink is their poop and urine itself. If you get them on a routine of taking them out daily and placing in a large tub of warm water you will find most will readily "go" and that gets that out of the way. OR many will eat and then "go" quickly after as mine does. (grub, go, let's play!) Usually when put on said regimen they will more times than not hold it until they get out of the enclosure. If not many times they will have a single area in the cage where they prefer to go and you can concentrate cleaning efforts in that area first.
For substrate I use cypress mulch, personally. (and have used it for almost every herp I have had over the years) I have also seen and heard of people using aspen. I recently found a source of aspen cheaper than pine shavings to use with my rodents. A local breeder said it helps with the smell of the rats and mice so I'm hopeful. Anything to kill the odor and not have to change out cages every other day! Bobby also told me a trick with my rodents that seems to help. I now put Arm and Hammer across the bottom of rat cages and in corners of mouse cages. Even using different substrate and baking soda I reduced the number of rat breeders, sold the mice and switched to ASFs. Short story, they all stink just some louder and more offensive than others.
I hope some of this helps.
For substrate I use cypress mulch, personally. (and have used it for almost every herp I have had over the years) I have also seen and heard of people using aspen. I recently found a source of aspen cheaper than pine shavings to use with my rodents. A local breeder said it helps with the smell of the rats and mice so I'm hopeful. Anything to kill the odor and not have to change out cages every other day! Bobby also told me a trick with my rodents that seems to help. I now put Arm and Hammer across the bottom of rat cages and in corners of mouse cages. Even using different substrate and baking soda I reduced the number of rat breeders, sold the mice and switched to ASFs. Short story, they all stink just some louder and more offensive than others.
I hope some of this helps.
Hi,
Thanks. your answer is helpful. I have been feeding them a lot of sardines lately so maybe this is why they stink because we clean out their enclosure on a very regular basis. So I will cut back. I have only recenlty acquired these tegus and they came to me with a little bit of a shedding issue. When i rubbed off a bit of dead skin from the tail area I noticed a very strong musky odor it was probably so pronounced because the skin was not able to breath properly but the tegus themselves defenetly have an odor to them. Hopefully this will be corrected with a change in there diet.
Thanks. your answer is helpful. I have been feeding them a lot of sardines lately so maybe this is why they stink because we clean out their enclosure on a very regular basis. So I will cut back. I have only recenlty acquired these tegus and they came to me with a little bit of a shedding issue. When i rubbed off a bit of dead skin from the tail area I noticed a very strong musky odor it was probably so pronounced because the skin was not able to breath properly but the tegus themselves defenetly have an odor to them. Hopefully this will be corrected with a change in there diet.
