Feeder Albino Mice and their smell!

Question
Hello,

    I own a desert king snake as well as other reptiles. I have had hamster (dwarf) and ended up not really keeping them as one had a health problem and the other died from natural causes. My question pertains to the albino feeder mice sold at a local pet store for $1.99. I feed a mouse to my snake once a week. I got sick of buying a mouse every weel so I decided to breed them. In this process I have obtained the saw dust, water dispenser and certain rodent food. Of course I have gotten attached to most of them, there are five now and I only started with 8. There a few that are too big to feed and I want to keep these mice. The only issue I am having with the cute little guys are that their bedding smells terrible. I change it about twice a week. My question is, how do I keep their hygiene to a cleaner level? The smells mixes in with the sawed wood and makes this stinky smell that lights up my room, and it's just not very pleasant. Is there anything I can do? It seems as if though the smell comes from the saw dust itself rather than the mice, so it may be their urine that smells? or the males with their hormones and whatnot.. Just wanted to know if you have any tips.. Thank you!

Answer
The best thing for both you and your mice is to feed your snake frozen pinkies. That way the mice won't suffer and your room won't stink!

All male mice smell bad once they reach maturity. The smell mainly comes from their urine which they use to mark their territory and attract females. If females are present or nearby they will smell worse as each male is competing for the females.

Cleaning them out more often won't help as each time they are placed in a new cage they will need to establish and remark their territory.

I think it would be easier all round if you gave your snake frozen pinkies. There have been case of mice killing the snake so it's best not to risk it.

Please feel free to ask any more questions.