A few questions I have

[boardinggamer]

1. When I clean the cage should I change it around like I heard to do with hamsters?
2. Rin made a huge mess with her hay in the holder. Whats the cleanest way to give them the hay they need?
3. Is it possible to potty train them? I am trying by putting all her droppings in the litter try and hoping she realizes it and starts using that. will that work?

Please help me with these 3 things. Thanks ahead of time!

 

[javachin]

You probably shouldn't move everything around. Maybe once she settles in after a few months, but its not necessary. Hay will always be messy no matter what you try to do. Its like confetti to them. You could try to get a hay rack and see if that works, but avoid the metal/wire ones. You can potty train them for urine, not poop. Some take to the urine training and others flat out refuse. Its just something you'll have to try.

 

[KaylaD]

I am some what new to all this myself, but here is what I have learned so far
1)yes, they seem to enjoy different toys and things to be rearranged. Like exploring something new.
2) I dont think there is much you can do, they like pulling hay out to find the perfect piece lol... Just sweep it up often so they dont pee on it lol
3) mine use a litter/potty box to pee. But they are constant eaters so that =poop machines! There is no avoiding it! But they dont smell and are easy to sweep up

 

[Stormcrow]

1. I put new toys in my chins cage every week, but I don't mess with the basic setup is.
I tried it in the past and mine don't like it so...
Doesn't really matter i guess as long as everything is there

2. I had the same problem.
- You could put the hay in a feeding bowl, but mine just dragged it out right away.
- You could put it into one of these metal balls that you can hang up in the cage, but I don't like this since I have heard and read many stories of peoples chins hanging themselves in it.

I have a small house where they like to go to nap especially during daytime (or when the lights are on) and i put their hay in there. They eat the hay inside their little house, and its rare that i find some in another spot.

You could also go for alfalfa cubes, since these are a neat alternative; they supply your animal with the same food, but in a compressed and thus less messy way.
Not every chin likes these though.

3. you can potty train them, so they pee in a bowl, but they poo whenever and wherever they feel like it (even in mid-air)
This doesn't work with every chin, but if you are lucky...
My chins come from a breeder where they were on shavings. I have put them into a big metal cage with wooden planks as floor. Then I have put in 2 aluminium dog feeding bowls (the cheap kind) in there with shavings in them.
Dunno if it is the association they make with the shavings or I am just lucky, but they pee almost every time in the bowls. Sometimes there is a little "accident" somewhere, but it's rare.
Dunno if your method with the droppings would work, but imo the best way is just to look where they pee (mostly in a corner) and then put a bowl there.

a few more poty training tips
- make sure the "pee-bowl" looks different then the one that holds their food (at the start I had the same bowls, they went in both )
- be sure the bowls are heavy enough otherwise you will be busy cleaning up the shavings in the cage all the time
- don't wash out their potty every time, if you completely remove the scent you could also remove their association bowl=pee
- if you have troubles covering all the spots they pee, buy more bowls and remove one every week. That way you got every spot covered at first and narrow it down later on
- if they do pee somewhere they aren't supposed to, be sure to clean with some vinegar/water mix. It may stop them from doing their thing there

hope this was of any help for you!

 

[boardinggamer]

Thank you everyone. This all really helped

 

[Lirana]

You could also go for alfalfa cubes, since these are a neat alternative; they supply your animal with the same food, but in a compressed and thus less messy way.

Timothy hay, not alfalfa. Alfalfa's a treat. I believe it doesn't have as much fiber as Timothy hay.

 

[chocochin]

I thought hay cubes were supposed to be maybe an addition to regular hay, but not a replacement? That was my understanding but someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'm always hearing loose hay is most important..

 

[javachin]

I thought hay cubes were supposed to be maybe an addition to regular hay, but not a replacement? That was my understanding but someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'm always hearing loose hay is most important..

It can be, but not preferable.

 

[javachin]

Timothy hay, not alfalfa. Alfalfa's a treat. I believe it doesn't have as much fiber as Timothy hay.

Alfalfa cubes are fine especially if you want to switch types of hay. You can even get combo type hay cubes with alfalfa and they are perfectly fine.

 

[ticklechin]

Lots of breeders/ranchers feed cubes and no timothy, some even feed only alfalfa hay loose, its fine. Some feed no hay at all and the chins are still fine-I personally don't agree since I think loose hay is important mentally also.

 

[chocochin]

Oh my perhaps someone should open a "hay feeding" debate, because this info is way different from what I've heard from other users on this site! Oh well my chinnie is happy and quite messy with his loose timothy and occasional cube.

 

[boardinggamer]

Oh my perhaps someone should open a "hay feeding" debate, because this info is way different from what I've heard from other users on this site! Oh well my chinnie is happy and quite messy with his loose timothy and occasional cube.

Rinny seems to like taking all the loose hay and just scattering it around the bottom of her cage. I think she is the messiest Chinchilla ever xD

 

[chocochin]

It took me awhile to learn tricks about minimizing the amount of hay that gets tossed everywhere. I dunno if that's just cause I don't have a hay holder, but I figured out eventually that Ganache would throw hay from some places but leave it/eat it from others. Now I just put hay in his one spot and it doesn't get wasted as much.
If it seems like she's really moving it around a lot, try putting it in different spots, or try a different type of hay perhaps. But yes, there will always be a bit of hay mess

 

[deliamaj]

my chins make a huge mess with hay, it literally ends up covering half the cage floor. i just got them a cage-like box thing to hold the hay so maybe it will be less messy, but i have seen some posts that suggest this is not safe. is that the case?

i originally had a wood hay manger for them but elena hated it, she was constantly trying to pull it off the cage wall. it didn't hold very much hay anyway. i don't know how they will respond if i start moving their food and litter box around to put the hay in a different corner. (i can't move the hidey house because elena's safety spot is behind it. yes behind it, not in it.)

please let me know about the hay cage, i think i will take it out of their cage until i get some expert opinions. thanks,

Dani

 

[boardinggamer]

my chins make a huge mess with hay, it literally ends up covering half the cage floor. i just got them a cage-like box thing to hold the hay so maybe it will be less messy, but i have seen some posts that suggest this is not safe. is that the case?

i originally had a wood hay manger for them but elena hated it, she was constantly trying to pull it off the cage wall. it didn't hold very much hay anyway. i don't know how they will respond if i start moving their food and litter box around to put the hay in a different corner. (i can't move the hidey house because elena's safety spot is behind it. yes behind it, not in it.)

please let me know about the hay cage, i think i will take it out of their cage until i get some expert opinions. thanks,

Dani

Rinny always goes behind her litter tray, I actually took her hidey house out since she never really used it and I got a couch and hammock now. As for the hay holder, I have a wood one since I heard the hanging metal ones are bad but if its one that goes on the side of the cage I think it would be safe? I don't really know. But Rinny doesn't move the hay to a spot in the cage she just takes it out of the holder and leaves it all on the ground around the holder. But I am ok with cleaning the mess every morning.