Can someone post a cleaning schedule that works well for them and keeps smell down? Please include when to switch/wash pouches. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thanx.gif" alt="" />

Kristy

This is my schedule for cleaning:

Every day: take out food dishes and water bowls, pick up any dropped fruits/veggies out of the cage, wipe down bottom grate and one or two sides of the cage (Alternating sides) with Clorox wipes and spot clean any BML splatter, give fresh water.

Then every other week I clean the whole cage (just the cage itself) with vinegar and water.

On the weeks I don't clean the cage I clean toys and bedding. I use Carefresh and it lasts me two weeks. For the cage I have with papertowels at the bottom I clean everyday.

I clean wheels every week and wipe down daily because they tend to get dirtier than anything else in the cage.

I switch out pouches often, about every three days. But I have little blankies in every pouch and I never give a new pouch without leaving one of their "smelly" blankets in there for them. I have a lot of pouches so I do laundry whenever my clean one start to get low. I wash in my regular detergent and then dry (no dryer sheets).

That's just how I do things at my house. You may have to experiment around a bit and find what your glider will tolerate. He/She may like things to smell more like him. If you find he is still marking a lot, then cut back more on the cleaning.

HTH <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumb.gif" alt="" />

I change pouches twice a week, and cloths around the cage at the same time. I change the undercloth at least that often and when I do I try to take a damp cloth to the bottom. If I know something was spilled that will get cleaned up sooner too.. and I clean their "glider kitchen" we now hang an upside down bowl in the upper part of the cage and their feed bowls go in that and I swap it every few days... or when they spill a lot in it! and I steam clean the cage itself once a week. I put the gliders in their travel cage or a bonding pouch on someone else when I do that. The toys and plastic/wood items get cleaned every other week when I do the steaming, the wheel every week... otherwise its just spot cleaning with the steamer before I remove them if they are obviously dirty.


To clean toys: I put them in the tub, add some dish soap and fill it with SCALDING water and let it sit. Once cooled enough to handle I scrub everything down then rinse and let air dry.. then I replace in the cage.

I have discovered that the biggest smell creater in my cages are the wodent wheels. These get cleaned at least once a week if not more. My cage pan gets cleaned every couple of days. I don't use bedding in the pan. That cuts down on a lot of the smell. I have 20 gliders, and the only place you can smell them is in that room.

Thanks for the info!!

What kind of Clorox wipes do you use? I've seen people talking about those...

Kristy

Just the regular Clorox wipes that you can buy at the store (Wal-Mart, groccery stores, etc.) I like to use the blueish-green container. No real reason why except that I think the odor is not as strong as the other kinds (I think there's a lemon and a Kitchen Orange scent and a lavendar one). I stick with the same one to clean so my gliders don't have different scents every day.

when using clorox wipes.. make sure u wipe ur cage down really good afterwards with another rag bc if u read the back of the bottle (even on the bleach free) u will notice... "toxic if ingested, call poison control if ingested"
just giving yall a heads up.... be careful! I just recently figured this out so now i just use a hot wash rag to wipe the cage down... of course its not as good as the clorox wipes, but its better than risking my babies licking it!!!

also- glad I use a stealth wheel- it takes at least a week to really smell and just soaking it and rinsing it off cleans it most of the time!

I can not tolerate any smell so I take Marsi out (in pouch) and clean the whole cage, trade for new pouches and toys 2x a week. Wednesdays and Saturdays.The night before I clean,while she's out playing, I trade her pouch for a new one so I don't have to make her go to a new pouch during cleaning. You will know when it's time to clean. At least for Marsi's cage it get's all sticky on the wire where she's peed. Time to clean now!

With 12 cages here, we wash cage #1 and wash toys and change pouches in cage #7 the first day, then wash cage #2 and wash toys and change pouches in cage #8 the second day and so on. We take our cages outside for a plain water wash from the garden hose and have plenty of pouches at hand.

Frequent cage/pouch washings cause the glider(s) to mark excessively. The gliders like to mark everything so it smells like home, just the way they want it to smell.


Jen