Help help help. Smelly enclosure

[Kimmi]

please help. My lovely panther is now a year old and happy (well not today as he's shedding) but over recent months there is a smell in his mesh enclosure. The best description is like dead bugs (Morios) but I have scrubbed with a Cham safe cleaner, tried the washable green substrate, washed the fake flowers etc and pascal doesn't seem to smell himself but the odour emitting from the enclosure is horrid. I have honestly washed everything and am at my wits end. My Yemen funks too but he's in a glass enclosure and that's more humid and 'normal' smell x

 

[GrimCamel]

I'm not sure but it could it be mold you're smelling or some other fungus?

 

[Kimmi]

There honestly isn't anything to see at all and I've scrubbed xx Thank you for trying though x

 

[jawsnaws]

Is there somewhere hidden in the enclosure where there is trapped or standing stale water? All you need is a bug carcass floating in there for things to go pretty funky...

 

[Kimmi]

No there really isn't. I don't have free standing water in his x there is an occasional dead hopper but I wouldn't think that would cause it and it's always not when there's a dead one xx.

 

[JamesBryan]

Can you pin point the source of the smell, it must be coming from one particular area if you have cleaned it all.

 

[Kimmi]

I honestly can't. It's like a waft everytime I pass it. Can't smell it as I'm individually cleaning xx.

 

[SocialNumb]

When in doubt, throw everything out?

I got nothing.

 

[guanagator]

Take him out, dissassemble, sanitize, and smell everything before it goes back in. Leaving the stuff in direct sun after cleaning really helps in my opinion. The culprit(s) may surprise you, also do you have a drip tray that may be holding water all the time?

 

[Lathis]

Do you have real plants? It could be "root rot" where the roots stay wet for too long. That's a terrible smell that starts small and grows. A quick repotting with river rocks under the soil in the bottom of a better draining pot will fix it.

 

[Kimmi]

Oooo yes I do have real plants. And I keep them very wet so that there's plenty of moisture. Have you just solved my issue ?? X. I will be sending you a virtual kiss if so xx.

 

[Lathis]

Oooo yes I do have real plants. And I keep them very wet so that there's plenty of moisture. Have you just solved my issue ?? X. I will be sending you a virtual kiss if so xx.

Took me forever to figure what my funky smell was... my giant pothos was staying too wet. Smelled like a weird combination of moldy earth, spoiled fruit, and something unmentionable. Its easy to fix - depending on the plant, it should bounce back just fine once you let the soil drain better.

If you get your nose near the pot, it should be pretty clear if that's the source. Good luck!

 

[Kimmi]

Thank you all. The root rot is the culprit x. All out and an unhappy shedding and new environmented pascal x.