Few q's

[DStruct]

First of all I have a question regarding smell because every so often, about once a week.. my vivarium doesnt smell very fresh! Its not majorly strong to the point its smelling the room the vivarium is stored in, its only inside the vivarium that smells.. like when I open the window it is smelly.
So what I have been doing once a week, is just leaving the window open for an hour whilst the geckos are inside their hides.. this is my method of 'airing out' the vivarium, and hoping to get abit of the smell out.

I remove their poop daily with a pair of tongs, and I will wipe their poop area with a baby wipe every so often too. I change the water daily, and also clean out the water bowl and mealworm bowl every so often too, once a week roughly. I keep the moss inside their hide damp, I spray it daily too. This brings me to another question, because every time I do this I dont only feel nasty for disturbing them but the type of rock hide I have can be a little dangerous for them when I remove the top half to spray the moss, the geckos will move and I have to be very careful when placing the top of the hide back into place because their tails can easily be hanging out and it would definitely injure them, stupid design if you ask me!

So what I want to know is about the smell.. is there anything else I can do to help with the smell, is it a normal thing to 'air out' like Ive explained I do or what do you guys do?
And what about the daily spraying of the moss... I dont like disturbing them but Its important that we have too.... I am afraid of them becoming stressed or something. I do try and do it very quickly without even lifting the top half completely off, quickly open up a gap spray inside and then return the top of the rock.. This way I am spraying the geckos with water as well as the moss, but its always a risk of squishing the geckos when placing the top of the rock back into place. eeK! Essay

Any tips are welcome

 

[NikkiC223]

I too, sometimes smell something "not so fresh" but I know its when my leo has pooped. As soon as I clean it, it goes away. Are you making sure you get all the poop? Sometimes Teak will poop in a different spot than normal so I don't always find it right away.

 

[DStruct]

Yeah pretty sure I am, maybe its just fresh poo then.. I was concerned that it was the moss smelling mouldy or something, I arent sure

 

[indyana]

As silly as it sounds, I would smell the moss once in a while and replace it if it starts to smell weird.

My cage gets pretty stinky if my gecko has pooped, especially while the poop is wet, so I always clean up the poop and then wash the area. Also, because mine is on paper towel, I have to replace the paper too, but it sounds like yours might be on tile?

Most cages have screen vents, so if your vivarium doesn't have any, that could be why the smell builds up. In that case, the airing out might be a good idea.

 

[DStruct]

It does have vents yeah, I use reptile carpet myself. Any words about the spraying and disturbing them whilst sleeping?

 

[indyana]

Maybe the carpet retains smells? I have never used it myself, so maybe someone else can comment on that. If any of the fecal matter is still wet, then it will smell for a while until it has dried out.

With my own gecko, I usually wait until he is active before rousting him up and taking him out. He seems to get up on his own right after sunset. I have a holding container that I transfer him into and give him some buggies to eat while I do a thorough cleaning and check of his cage. Short of that, at least waiting until after sunset should ensure the geckos are starting to wake up and not dead to the world when you open the hide to spray the moss.

 

[DStruct]

Thanks indyana

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Every 3-4 days when my snake poos I KNOW it. In fact, I bet the dogs know it, the mice know it and the geckos know it too. It is the most vile, nasty, disgusting, and penetrating smell on the planet. It's a good thing she's pretty and amuses me or she might be headed out the door with the poo! Once her poo dries (usually 8-12 hours because its BIG) the smell is almost gone.

Geckos have the same issue but since their poo is small ans usually less nasty (in a moisture content kind of way) it dries out in an hour or two (especially if they poo on the heated side of their bin) and isn't quite as gut wrenchingly stinky. It might be the poo drying more than the airing out that diminishes the smell in your geckos cage but I bet the airing out speeds it along and makes your gecko happier during the process...haha.

 

[DStruct]

haha well that was an amusing read dr thanks for that, makes me feel i am doing good at least!

 

[NikkiC223]

Maybe the carpet retains smells? I have never used it myself, so maybe someone else can comment on that. If any of the fecal matter is still wet, then it will smell for a while until it has dried out.

With my own gecko, I usually wait until he is active before rousting him up and taking him out. He seems to get up on his own right after sunset. I have a holding container that I transfer him into and give him some buggies to eat while I do a thorough cleaning and check of his cage. Short of that, at least waiting until after sunset should ensure the geckos are starting to wake up and not dead to the world when you open the hide to spray the moss.

I have repti-carpet in 2 of Teak's hides. He doesnt poop in there but you can easily wash it and ring it out to get it to completely dry again. I haven't noticed any smell on them since I've had him.