(I really hope this is the right category, I am very new to this forum) I own 2 male sugar gliders. The one is fixed, but the other is too young yet. I have found a great vet to do it when he is old enough. I feed BML with the appropriate fruits, veggies, and mealies, and a bit of yogurt or baby food as licky treats. I clean their pan and wipe down the wheel and bars every other day. Their fleece ropes and pouches are washed every week (not on a day when I clean their pan out). They are in my bedroom as their noises at night don't bug me much now that I am used to them, but now my whole bedroom smells like sugar gliders. I love them very much, but I just can't stand the smell. I don't have any other place in the house for them. I can't stand the smell any longer, it's just too strong, so I hope someone has some suggestions to take it down to barely noticeable. Thanks!

How old is your intact male? Gliders can be neutered pretty young. What do you use to clean their cage? Have you done a thorough cleaning of the cage. Like taking it outside and washing it with soap and water with the hose? You can also try a different diet that may change the strength of their odor.

He isn't quite 4 moths yet. And the vet wants to wait until he is four months. I use dish soap and water and rinse. And once a month use vinegar also and rinse the cage off with the hose. What diet would you recommend?

You can try hpw and One user on this forum her name is Candy has a similar hpw diet that has a few extra things in it. She has a website explaining how to prepare her diet its called glider kids. Also what kind of wheel do you have?

The wheel is basically a raptor wheel. I'll go check hpw out.

Ok good just making sure it wasn't a wodent wheel cause those things hold the smell really bad. It sounds like your're cleaning things properly. You can try cleaning with bleach or trying an animal safe brand cleaner that has a deodorizer in it and then rinse it just to be safe since gliders are sensitive to cleaners.

Okay I'll try that. I found some deodorizer on Sun Coast sugar gliders website that I also might try. Thanks for your help.

What are you using to wipe down the cage? If you're using something that leaves any sort of residue or scent it could be triggering your guys to over mark. I use 50/50 water/vinegar with some drops of eucalyptus essential oil and dawn dish soap to clean.

I do think you might be wiping the cage down too often in general though. There's a fine balance between too often and not often enough for boys in particular, and they'll mark it up purposefully if they don't find it familiar enough.

Does your youngest male have any sort of bald spot or colored staining on his chest? He could be coming into maturity and flaring up his odor because of that as well.

Neutering your other male will be the best way to reduce the odor.

You might also try another feeding plan. BML has a large amount of protein which can also make the glider's urine have more odor.

Check out some other options for their diet. I have links on my web page to help you locate the information.

http://www.gliderkids-diet.com/Staple-Recipes.html

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Originally posted by BarefootBubbles

(I really hope this is the right category, I am very new to this forum) I own 2 male sugar gliders. The one is fixed, but the other is too young yet. I have found a great vet to do it when he is old enough. I feed BML with the appropriate fruits, veggies, and mealies, and a bit of yogurt or baby food as licky treats. I clean their pan and wipe down the wheel and bars every other day. Their fleece ropes and pouches are washed every week (not on a day when I clean their pan out). They are in my bedroom as their noises at night don't bug me much now that I am used to them, but now my whole bedroom smells like sugar gliders. I love them very much, but I just can't stand the smell. I don't have any other place in the house for them. I can't stand the smell any longer, it's just too strong, so I hope someone has some suggestions to take it down to barely noticeable. Thanks!

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Go to Dr Brust's website, www.asgv.com .....association of sugar glider veterinarians. You will find very valuable information there.

The asgv is not a reliable site and has links to being a prop for Pocket Pets, the dreaded mill breeders. There may be some tiny scraps of half truths on those videos, but most of it is all geared toward the "sale". I'm sure that this reference was in relation to the section on diet in which pellets are encouraged and that other diets make the smell worse. There is in fact some horrible and cruel information twisted into those video's.

At any rate:

Barefoot, your issue does not sound to be one that should bring up the heated parts of the diet debate, but yes...among the approved diets you may find one other than BML that will help...as Candy outlined.

I'll come right out and admit I didn't take the time to read all the replies. But from what I read, you had some good info, questions and advice given.

I would like to suggest changing your cleaning routine. Even so it's true the intact males are more stinky, and when he's old enough to be neutered it will make a difference, you could still have issues with odor based on over-cleaning.

I agree, if you can get your cage hosed down a few times a year and in between use v/w solution for wipe downs. Every other day is a bit too frequent, your gliders will be inclined to over-mark, neutered or not.

Drop pan cleaned and wiped down with the v/w solution daily to every other day minimum should be sufficient. I prefer daily cleaning of drop tray, but have skipped a day here and there, and on rare occasions skipped up to two days.

Wheel can be wiped down weekly, and thoroughly cleaned every two or three weeks as needed.

Fleece, can be changed weekly, but sometimes I just swap out the sleeping pouch and maybe one or two more frequently used fleece items and leave some in for another week.

The rest of the hard plastic accessories, can be wiped as needed and washed thoroughly every week or even two weeks. I usually wipe off (spot cleaning) as needed to remove waste matter (poo, pee, or food), and really wash every couple to three weeks as needed.

The cage bars can be spot cleaned as needed as well to remove waste matter and wiped down every week or even two weeks if spot cleaning is kept up. The cage floor is probably what will need a little more attention for spot cleaning and wipe downs.

I have tried many regimes and this is what I found works best on controlling odor. I keep my gliders in my bedroom, and rarely is the odor bothersome unless I skipped something a bit too long (which I've occasionally have done). I can't take my cage out for a good hosing, so a few times a year (3-4 pretty much now) I'll use a steam cleaner along with the v/w wipe downs before and after steam cleaning to remove any gooky coatings. Other than that I use v/w alone in between (try at least every week or two at the most), and afterwards I replace some of the fleece and toys that have been in the cage the previous week.

Hi all--I am getting my gliders (a neutered male and a girl) in a couple weeks. I was planning on feeding them the OHPW diet. How would that rate on the smell scale? The Womabaroo powder is the protein but I wasn't sure if it is better than BML or not. My husband is completely against the gliders and so I need to minimize the smell as much as possible.

Thanks!

We have two neutered males. I use fleece liners and change them daily. Along with the regular cage and pouch cleaning we order fresh eucalyptus to hang in their cage. They love chewing on it and playing with the leaves. I haven't been bothered by the scent since I started this routine. There is a place in California that ships us the eucalyptus that doesn't use pesticides. Hopefully this helps :)

http://eucproducts.com/

Is it just the males that get a bit funky? I've had a young female who doesn't have any smell to her at all. I change the pan every other day and wipe down the cage floor every other week with vinegar/water solution.

All gliders mark, so if over-cleaning or adding too much scent to cage and accessories they will all over-mark causing a stink. The males, I believe the unaltered males have more odor, I have not personally experienced this, but understand from what I have read over the years. I have a neutered male and two females, my boy was neutered when I homed him, and I do not know his origins to know how old he was when neutered, but neither he or the girls stink themselves. However, they can make the cage a bit stinky, but I've pretty much found a routine (mentioned above) that reduces it quite a bit unless I alter frequency more or less.