Is there anything I can do to make his cage smell better?

[Vincent]

Hi! This is my first time posting in these forums, although I read through them a lot before I got my hedgehog. My parents both agreed that a hedgehog was a better birthday present than another kitten, so lo and behold, I got Vincent!
So far, I haven't had many problems with the little guy. He's 3 months old (approx.), from a pet store, and just beginning to grow out of a very nasty attitude. But my parents have been complaining about the smell of his cage, and suggesting I do something about it pronto.
Vincent has a very large cage (actually built for a ferret). I moved the two levels down very close to the main one, so that there was no chance of him falling and hurting himself. For a little hedgehog, though, Vincent makes a BIG mess, and with all that room in the cage, cleaning it is a big job.
It's lined with paper towel, which gets changed every three days. I wash all his toys every three days, too, just to make sure they're not the cause of the smell. Vincent himself gets an oatmeal bath at least twice a week. But even one day after a cage cleaning, the entire thing smells like hedgepoop.
Is it okay to put something like baking soda underneath the paper towel? I'm pretty sure that the majority of the smell is coming from the urine that sinks down to the plastic base of the cage. (That gets rinsed too, but not nearly as often as the paper towel is changed.) Would that be harmful to Vincent in any way, or is there a hedgehog-specific product that will do the same thing?

[CATELAN1989]

[QUOTE=Vincent]But my parents have been complaining about the smell of his cage, and suggesting I do something about it pronto.

My parents did the same thing and I got an air freshener, and it helped so you might want to try that. :)

[HogMom2B]

I light those oil candles. The kind that melt the wax/oil and then it evaporates and the candle goes out when it is all gone. They smell really good and disperse the smell quickly and all over. Also when it warm enough I take advantage and air out the room that my hedgie lives in. I definetely try to stay on top of it, but yeah it can be a lot of work sometimes.

[HedgeMom]

Do NOT use air fresheners or aromatic oils around small mammals. They damage respiratory systems and are very unhealthy for them.

A clean hedgehog doesn't smell. Fresh poop smells for a few moments and then it dries and doesn't smell. Unless you're feeding poor quality food. Poor quality food will make a hedgehog smell.

I use liners and I clean every single day. The wheel gets cleaned every day. The liners cleaned of all poop and they get replaced every other day.

If you're smelling urine outside the cage, imagine what it smell like to Vincent, whose nose is thisclose to the floor?

You need to spend more time on cleaning.

[LoriL]

Have you tried litter box training him? Is there one particular area in the cage that you've noticed where he seems to prefer to go? You can place a litter box in that area.

Or quite a few people put a litter box in front of and under the wheel. When he goes then place the poop in the litter box. You'll have to stay on top of cleaning the rest of the cage so the rest of the cage stays clean and the only poop smell is in the litter box.

It took us quite a while, but we discovered that Lucy prefers to go in the corner behind her wheel and on the base of her wheel, so we bought one of those corner litter boxes and made some adjustments to it (cut some holes into it so we could place the wheel in it). Now Lucy goes in there and everyday I remove the paper towel and rinse it out with hot water and wipe it dry. Put in fresh paper towel and no nasty smell. Of course, the wheel gets cleaned everyday with a vinegar/water solution (1 part vinegar, 3 parts hot water).

I use liners in the rest of her cage, and I change those every 2-3 days because she does get some poopy feet from running in her wheel. But really the liner doesn't smell from poopy foot prints. She gets a foot bath every couple of days also.

[groovychic]

Congrats on the new hedgie! First of all I would reccommend putting Vincent on litter instead of paper towel. Litter is more absorbant and doesn't stink like paper towel which isn't too very absorbant and pretty messy. Also you said that you give him a bath twice a week.....a hedgie doesn't need a bath that often. It will dry out his skin. Give foot baths as needed if his feet are poopy, other than that a bath every couple weeks is fine. Also as others have already said please do not use any air freshners/scented oils or candles around your hedgies. They have very sensitive noses and are not good for them to be around. I also find that feeding a higher quality of food helps in bad smelling poos. Even though baby hedgies are messier and have nasty poos. Try offering a higher quality of food.....Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul, Royal canine slim, Wysong, etc. Instead of cheaper foods found at walmart. Hope this helps!

[Tsukiko]

yesterday's news brand litter is really good at absorbing odor. i put a thin layer of baking soda in the litter pan, then the litter. my little girl is really good about going only in the box unless she's mad at me. paper towels just aren't absorbant enough to handle the amount of mess baby hedgies make imo. like everyone else has said, high quality food helps out on smells too.

[Nancy]

One thing I have against ferret cages, even for ferrets, is that they are very difficult to clean. Trying to thoroughly wipe down the levels through the little doors is just about impossible so unless you have one of the ferret cages with the huge doors that take up the whole front of the cage then washing down those levels would be difficult.

While air fresheners, oils and scented candles are not good for their respiratory systems, there are electric air fresheners that clean the air. I have one from Walmart that was very inexpensive and takes replacable filters. There are filters for different odors, kitchen, bath, pets etc.

I think you need to clean the cage more thoroughly and more often.

Also remember that babies are poop machines and their poop is smellier than adults. Babies need their cages cleaned sometimes as often as 3 times a day.

Quantity and smell will improve over the next few months as he gets older. :)

[FiaSpice]

I may repeat what other said but whatever...

Bathing an hedgie twice a week is too much. Once a month is ok. Footh bath can be done more often if needed.

I woudn't put air freshener or such because they have a trong sense of smell and it could annoy them (or hurt them).

I'd use bedding instead of paper towel. I use Yesterdays's News witch is recycled newsprint de-inked and my cage never smell even if it's full of poop.

[Vincent]

Using air fresheners and scented candles aren’t an option in my house, as my mom is scent-sensitive, so don’t worry about that. ;)
As for litter boxes, Vincent has no interest in them. I’ve placed one in his cage, and moved it around to try and see if he’d use it in different areas. He seemed to avoid using it more than anything, so I just gave up on that. I’ll place one underneath his wheel, though, and see if it makes a difference.
I think I will replace the paper towel with Yesterday’s News cat litter; I’ve read that article about people finding staples in them, but I’ve used it for quite some time with my cats, and have yet to encounter a single weird pellet. I’ll be careful, but from what you guys all say, it should help. :)
I’ll stop bathing him so often, save for the occasional foot bath. He really needs those.
I’ll also keep an eye out for all the cat foods you guys mentioned. I’ve never heard of any of those brands, but I’ll see if I can order any over the internet.
Thanks for all the suggestions! :D