• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Terrible smell coming from container?

D

dfree

New member
I appologize if this is posted twice or somewhere else that is shouldn't be. Computer glitches. Anyway, got our snake on Saturday, put her in a Sterilite Walmart brand plastic container as I was told to do by the breeder with several layers of paper towels in the bottom, her water dish and a hide box. We drilled numerous holes in the lid of the container. On Monday when I opened the box up the smell that came from it was horrible. There was no poo, but the paper towels seemed moist in one corner by the water dish. We fed her Monday, so I cleaned out the container and put fresh towels, etc in. Then Tuesday when I opened it up again, the smell again about knocked me out. Again, no poo, just moisture on the towels around where the water dish is. Is this normal? I had read that corn's do not emit a "smell" like a garter would. Could it just be the plastic container itself? And if so, is it safe for the snake to be in there with that smell? Mid July we are getting a 30x12x12 herp cage from a relative, so I was hoping to keep her in this until then, but wow, what a smell!
 
Yep, no regurge. The smell was there the day after we brought her home already, and she had not been fed for 7 days before that. There is nothing but moisture-no solids or semi solids of any kind. Just a nasty smell.
 
I have had Sterilites that smelled bad in the past, but I wouldn't say they smelled terrible. No matter how much I cleaned them, the smell would always come back. So, I think that is one possibility. I also have a corn that has a distinct smell to him. Again, not terrible, but definitely noticeable. Just throwing ideas out there...
 
If you sniff the snake herself, does she smell?? Are you positive there is no regurge??
 
I appreciate all your ideas. No, when we take her out, she doesn't seem to smell at all. I didn't notice it the first day we met her last week. Only when you open the container. Definitely no regurge that I see, although this being my first snake, not sure if I would "see" it, but I think I would, right? It's not just liquid that comes up in a regurge, is it? Pardon my ignorance on this. I thought I had read all the books and new a little about what was expected with a snake, but things are freaking me out. The moisture on the paper towels isn't any certain color, which makes me think it might be water from her dish.
 
Ok, what if you make her another container and put her in it, then does everything smell? Or, take her out, put her somewhere safe, wash the container with a mild bleach solution and rinse very well, put it back together, does it still smell???
 
That's what I would think. She may be musking. We have all our snakes in glass vivs with aspen and yet one of ours is a musker and no matter what we do there is always a "smell" to her viv. But I wouldn't describe it as horrible. Just a smell.
 
I've kept snakes in sterilite containers from walmart also, and I have noticed that there IS a certain different smell to the container, but it was never anything unbearable. I also used paper towel that often got a bit wet at times, and I figured the smell came from the wet/drying out paper towels... Plus I had cardboard tubes in there too that would smell when they got moist, but like I said, it was never anything unbearable...
 
Okay, so, stupid question. What makes one snake musk and another one not do it? Is she unhappy about something, or she just does this? And will she stop if that is what she is doing, and anyone found any good ways to stop the smell from permeating the entire house?
 
I assume my one does it territorially since she is not aggressive AT ALL! Now I do have one that is pretty darn aggressive and she musks you whenever you pick her up so that would be her being defensive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top