GliderCENTRAL

They STINK!!!

Posted By: Anonymous

They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:03 PM

My gliders stay in the bathroom, so that my other animals can't get to them. But any time I go into the bathroom, I'm almost sick from the smell. I had heard they're not very smelly animals but mine are awful! I clean the cage fairly regularly, but it still always smells right after. I don't know what to do..I really can't stand that smell anymore...and needless to say, either can my parents.
Posted By: dranger1108

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:11 PM

what diet do you have them on? are they boys? are they neutered? Neutering the boys will help with the smell...
How often do you clean the cage?
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:14 PM

is it a bathroom where people take showers???
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:26 PM

i wanna say i heard somewhere that if you try to cover their scent with some kinda fragrance that the male will try to battle the smell with his, so there might be smelly stuff he is trying to out smell with? mine dont stink, mine are in the living room, only time i can smell mine is if i get right up on the pouches.
also i heard that diet can effect this as well, something about too much of the calicum stuff, that if they get too much it will add to the smell. maybe someone knows more about this, i never had a problem with smell. a bathroom seems like a wierd place to keep a suggie....
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:28 PM

Remember that smells that they don't like will make them "mark" more, so as Lindsay said, if there are showers going on in there, they will feel the need to mark more. Also, if you're cleaning everything at once, you will definately get alot more marking. Make sure you just wash a few things at a time. Make a schedule like:
Monday - Wipe down bars, wash hammock'
Tuesday - Wash a pouch
Wednesday - Wash any plastic hanging toys

...you get the point. Make sure there there is always something that they can feel comfortable with that has a scent on it. I leave this crazy vine/ball thing that I made forever ago in my cage and never wash it. This way, I can wash whatever, and I just hang that ball by the thing I just washed to make it smell like them.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:29 PM

i agree with the bathroom being a weird place. Since it is soo small and closed in, the smell will be A LOT worse than if you had them in a big open room.. also, the more you clean and spray smelly things, themore they will mark.

do you have males or females? are they neutered? There are soomany things that can cause this.. first thing i would do is take them OUT of the bathroom.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:49 PM

Originally Posted By: LindsayAnnG
first thing i would do is take them OUT of the bathroom.


I aggree; Mine are in my bedroom and I can hardly tell they're there by the smell. I have 2 girls and a boy in there so it shouldn't be too bad if you do the same.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:52 PM

Originally Posted By: LindsayAnnG
i agree with the bathroom being a weird place. Since it is soo small and closed in, the smell will be A LOT worse than if you had them in a big open room..


i knew someone from college that had a pet cat, and had the litter box in the bathroom, when ever i would go there and have to go to the bathroom i thought i was gonna die, cause the smell just like took over that small space.

so to top that off they are also trying to scent their pad, and since bathrooms take on smells of the soaps and such i think this makes things worse. also like above, dont clean it all at once, so they always have something they marked to make them feel safe and less need to mark. but it's still regulated a little.

i have a big dog in the house with my guys, and they dont really seemed bothered by each other, the suggies are up high out of sight from the dog most of the time, and i let him outside when ever they come out to play.

id say to move them outta the bathroom, as i just can't see that being an ideal spot for them. more room will provide better ventilation to help with the smell, and it might calm down the marking as well.
Posted By: BeckiT

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:54 PM

Originally Posted By: Chewk
My gliders stay in the bathroom, so that my other animals can't get to them. But any time I go into the bathroom, I'm almost sick from the smell. I had heard they're not very smelly animals but mine are awful! I clean the cage fairly regularly, but it still always smells right after. I don't know what to do..I really can't stand that smell anymore...and needless to say, either can my parents.
You've already been asked some great questions, but I have a couple to add. How big is the bathroom? Is the bathroom ventilated at all? I had thought about moving one of my cages to my bathroom as they stress being with the other gliders, but, my bathroom is 16x8 and has 2 cross-vented windows to allow air circulation. I didn't end up doing it because the cage wouldn't fit where I needed it to..

Oh, and here's a quick summary of the other questions that have been asked:
Are your gliders male or female?
If male, are they neutered?
What diet do you feed?
How often do you clean the cage?
Is everything in the cage being cleaned all at the same time?
Do people shower in that bathroom?
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:57 PM

Originally Posted By: outofstep

i have a big dog in the house with my guys, and they dont really seemed bothered by each other, the suggies are up high out of sight from the dog most of the time, and i let him outside when ever they come out to play.


I think the problem here may be the 4 cats ohwell I have a monster bulldog and there is NOTHING he won't do to try and get to those suggies shakehead I've had to stuff a towel under the door to the bedroom every night since I got them in fear that they would escape and get in the living room with him. *sigh* I guess you just gotta keep 'em separated in some cases. dunno

But definately, if the cats don't care and you have a place for them up high, I would DEFINATELY put them in the open. If not... the bedroom or even just a bigger closed off room.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:57 PM

We have all of our gliders in one room and it is the same size as the bathroom. We do have a ceiling vent in there. It is an enclosed room. We have had at one point 14 gliders in that room. The only time we had an issue with smell was when we got Stewie and to be honest he made me sick to my stomach how he smelt.
I had never cared for a male before and I thought that everyone had to crazy. I thought for sure there was no way someone whould choose to have their house smell like that. We tried everything and it was not till he was on a good diet with fresh fruits and veggies that the smell got better. Now as long as we rotate cleaning you harding smell anything.

There are many people here who have 10 even 20 gliders in one area that will tell you diet plays a huge role.

If you ask anyone that has taken in rescues they will tell you the same thing and it will take some time for their system to "clear out".
If they are on a good diet and you use a rotating cleaning practice and you still have a problem then you may wan to contcat your vet to see that there is no parsite issues.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 02:59 PM

I would think the humidity from hot showers would not be good forthe gliders. Humidity also seems to amplify smells.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 05:19 PM

thats why i was asking about the shower.. the humidity created by showers
1.) will make it smell REALLY bad
2.) isnt too good for the gliders lungs

Posted By: Gossamer

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 08:12 PM

Gliders do have a smell to them. I'm assuming Maverick is a male, so he will scent mark alot. My male is neutered and he still smells. Having them in the bathroom makes is so much worse. I have 3 cats that have access to my gliders and they don't bother my gliders - they don't even look at them anymore as a matter of fact. They only will go in the room if I'm there, and the gliders don't care - they are used to them.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 08:24 PM

Do you get them out and play with them? Are they always in the cage in the bathroom with the door closed and how much interaction do they get?

Are you only allowed to keep them in the bathroom? A bedroom with the door closed (when you are not home) would work just as well, wouldn't it?

Poor little guys...
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 09:25 PM

also wanted to add one more thing , is there any wood in the cage? wood will hold the smell cause it absorbs into the wood, if so try taking it out, that might also help
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 10:29 PM

Ok too many questions to keep track of!! Yes Maverick is a male and unneutered. Two of the cats will go in there and sit and stare at them, one jumps up on the cage sometimes. I'm really not even allowed to have them at my house so that's why they're in the bathroom. And my parents can smell them from upstairs. Nothing goes on in the bathroom - no showers, no perfume, or spray stuff. Diet - Darcy's. The cage is usually cleaned once a week, I usually leave their fleece stuff and do that at a different time than the rest of the cage. No windows in the bathroom... umm can't think of what else to add..
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 11:38 PM

You should be really careful about the cats ! Besides the fact the the gliders are probably scared to death of them, if the cat jumps on the cage and the gliders are out of the pouch the cats claw could scratch the glider.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/08/07 11:41 PM

I have a cat..it is declawed, but it loves to "bother" my gliders....but when the cat leaves...the little stinkers bark until she comes back lol
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/09/07 01:45 AM

that's why i keep the gliders in the bathroom...away from the cats.
Posted By: Srlb

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/09/07 02:16 AM

I have to agree, I would get them out of the bathroom. Just not an overall good place for them to be all the time.

Two, teach the cats not to mess with them. A spray bottle works good and cats catch on fast.

Three, I would change their diet. Darcys diet is a good diet for SICK gliders, but it offers too many vitamins, which may be part of the cause of the smell of your gliders.

Four, Get your male neutered. That will cut back on some of the smell.

Five and probably most important. If the gliders are really smelling THAT bad, I would get them in for a wellness check and make sure they dont have something else going on such as a UTI or bacterial infection as those can lead to bad smells as well.

Only clean the cage once every other week. (What size cage is it?) and the pouches/toys the opposite week you do the cage.

Dont leave the door constantly closed so the gliders will get proper air flow.

Make sure you change the tray daily. Most times people think it is thier gliders when it is the leftover food that smells.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/09/07 04:49 AM

i would definately have to agree with that tray thing! the only time i can smell my gliders unless i have my face in their cage is right before i clean out the tray and the wheels. Once i clean the tray, wheel and vacuum up any spillage around the cage you'd never know they were there.
Posted By: Kim Schrader

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/09/07 05:01 AM

the cage i have also has an aftersmell after cleaning, but here is what i do. i use lysol wipes on the cage part and i use 1part bleach and 10parts water for cleaning the toys. then i put the cage in the shower with steaming hot water to rince the lysol off the bars. and yes, males mark a lot. so keep something in their cage that smells like them..their favorite pouches would be good.
Posted By: pheonix

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/10/07 01:17 AM

Look see, I thought I was being really good and responsible about cleaning their cage every week... and now I find out that's contributing to the smell! lol

My guys are in a reptorium so I can't change the tray. Though I do have a fleese at the bottom that I change every 2-3 days. (Is it normal for the gliders to pull the fleese out and hide under it?) Plus I was cleaning the cage and toys all together. So thank you for that tip! Won't they get bored though if they have the same toys for two weeks? Cleaning the cage itself every other week will help a lot. Looks like these guys are less work than I thought! lol who knew!
Posted By: ValkyrieMome

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/10/07 01:32 AM

I change the toys out frequently - just not the fleece items. By that I mean pouches, hidey holes, things like that. I'm not referring to the fleece on the bottom.

And, yes, it is normal for them to pull it up if they can. I think people have devised ways to tack it down. I don't have a rept, so I don't know. Mine have trays, and they pull the paper towels thru if they can.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/10/07 02:55 AM

The stinkiest thing in my cage is the wheel. I have to wash that thing twice a week. I love the safe stealth wheel but I guess all that running around gets their little systems going. My old wheel had an open back to it and they would hang their little booty off the wheel when they went. Now everything just gets caught inside the wheel and spins around with them. If I put the nail trimmer insert in the wheel the stink is even worse. I gave up on that thing. If you have a similar wheel to the one I have I would clean that a lot. It makes a big difference when I clean just that one toy.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/10/07 03:32 AM

I can tell ya they stink lol my male loves to pee in his pouch. i hear they pee every 20 seconds? that is alot and the males go around the cage rubbing their scent glands all over it.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: They STINK!!! - 06/12/07 08:31 PM

My gliders live in my room, the male is intact b/c they were a breeding pair. (That is soon to change) and I don't have much of a problem. I have noticed that putting them on BML has helped the smell ALOT. When I first got them they were kinda stinky. I have a febreeze air dealy on the other side of my room and they don't feel the need to compeat with that, its VERY weak sented though. They also haven't seemed to mind Oust. Just make sure you keep the spray off their cage bars and toys ect. My bedroom door is closed alot, but as long as the fan is on and I let it air out a bit at night theres no issue with smell. They'll always have a sort of sweet musty smell to them, thats just their nature. But bathrooms are sooo small just a tiny bit of smell could make it alot worse. I bet if you got a fan in there and opened the door for a few hours a day it would help tons. Also watch their diet, I've noticed certain foods make them smell more. (or maybe thats just me?)

Oh and I doubt they pee that often. If I wake my guys up I give them about 30 minutes to jump around and go to the bathroom. After that they are normally good for atleast an hour. Mine never pee in their pouches, but for some reason the boy likes to poo in them! ugh what a booger
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