Smell?

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mochiboy

New member
Joined
Mar 29, 2012
Messages
3
Hey I have a question, when i firstgot my chins they didnt smell too bad, but now eveyrtime i walk by their cage i can smell this bad odor. I think its the pee, because their poop or themselves dont smell. Any advice on how to change it or is it just natural like that?
 
Change out the litter and you can wash it down with vinegar if the smell is still lingering. If you use wood the pee will tend to make more fragrant odor if you dont scoop out the pee spot everyday...
 
im not exactly sure where the pee spot is, im waiting for my fleece liners to arrive. Right now, the person i adopted them from has a carpet like thing underneath( not carpet but like multiple tiny pine needle-like things), but doesnt cover the whole pan. Im not exactly sure where they pee at, i never see it, or if i do its in random places not in one collective place
 
im not exactly sure where the pee spot is, im waiting for my fleece liners to arrive. Right now, the person i adopted them from has a carpet like thing underneath( not carpet but like multiple tiny pine needle-like things), but doesnt cover the whole pan. Im not exactly sure where they pee at, i never see it, or if i do its in random places not in one collective place

So you clean the cage or no? The smell is not going to go away if you leave urine in there for a month...
 
Oh yeah...and cages can stink if they haven't been scrubbed down. Dirty cages can just reek even if the bedding has been changed out. I've gotten cages from people with cats or dogs and they smell because the cages have been sprayed by the cats or marked by the dogs.

Chinchillas should not smell much at all. Liners or not, you are going to have to clean the cage on a very regular basis. I changed out litter in my pans twice a week and am constantly scrubbing down pans and cages to maintain cleanliness and also odor. (I have about 250 chins here and it really doesn't get all that stinky until maybe the evening before I have to clean cages. With one cage of chins there really is no excuse that it would smell enough to complain about it. Cleaning is just part of having chins.
 
I was doing a search. Great to read this!!!! Before I was changing my girls one time a week. But now I am changing the bedding every 3 days because it smells. Does it also make a difference how many chins you have in a cage??

As for scrubbing down the cage I tend to do it once a month.. But I might as well do it twice.. Just to maintain cleaness.. :)
 
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More chins equals more urine, so yes, it definitely matters. I have 2 in each FN142 and scrub down the pans weekly and the whole cage monthly. If anyone is kind enough to urinate outside of their cage, saturating the bars in the process, then I'll scrub the whole cage sooner.
 
Dirty cages can just reek even if the bedding has been changed out.

Definitely have to agree with this. I had no idea how dirty my chins cage was and always wondered why it smelled. Turned out it was filthy underneath, looked like nobody did a full clean in years. By far the grossest thing I ever had to clean.

Everyone is right though, cleaning is a part of having chins. I clean my chins cage everyday by shaking out the liners, brushing the shelves, then changing the liners and fleece every three days and washing the pan a few times a week with water/vinegar. Everyone who see's it says "wow, she doesn't smell at all".

I think you should put the chins in a cat carrier or whatever and wash out the WHOLE cage. If you can, bring it outside and scub it down with soap and water and throw out all the dirty stuff. When you get your liners, your going to have to sweep them clean every day and wash every few days. If you can't keep up with it, then you aren't right for chins.
 
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