Cleaning questions for apartment dwelling-chins?

[kenko]

Hello! We are looking to relocate from a ground-story house to an apartment-styled condominium unit at the end of the summer.

Mips has fleece covers in his Ferret Nation, and I've been shaking them out once a week in our backyard--but being that we'll be on the top story of a building, I'm thinking that it might be pretty bad form to shower the people below with little poops and hay. My working plan for once we move is to first roll up the fleece, put the whole thing into a paper grocery bag, shake out what I can inside the bag, and then maybe shove the fleece immediately into the washer so whatever hay bits that are caught in the fleece doesn't get all over. My biggest fear is that since I'm not giving the fleece a full-blown shake, residual hay bits and wood shards might get in the washer and lead to problems in the future...

Is this a sound plan? Any nifty cleaning tips from current apartment/condominium-dwellers?

 

[TaylorMadeChinchillas]

We start off by sweeping most of the big stuff up with a little mini broom and dust pan. The smaller stuff we then vacuum up.

 

[chins4life089]

I don't live in a apartment I live in a house but what I am have seen people do is buy a vacuum and vacuum up all the hay and little poops then washing them what I would recommend is getting a Dyson vacuum the portable ones (I will leave a link for one below) and get the pet package with it. It is a bit pricy but it is worth it. Now if u want to go a little bit cheaper u could get a shop vac and use that but it could take longer to clean all the hay and poops up. I use a Dyson to clean all the poops up and just dump it in the trash or woods.

Now if u want switch to bedding u can switch to that, then get a big hosed shop vac and just suck up the bedding, I have seen people do that 2. Also if u go with a Dyson I would get the handheld not the standups.


Dyson vacuum: http://www.dyson.com/vacuums/handhelds/dc58/dc58.aspx

Ps. Just look through there website and find a tools kit that's for u. I hope I could help

 

[Kathy_Bunny]

I use a mini shop-vac from lows that was $30. I vacuum daily and it picks EVERYTHING up. I vacuum, then shake it (not much comes out), and then I pop it into the washer. I think it would be fine for you to shake it from the balcony/stair area if you vacuum it first =)

 

[ServantofBlueberry]

I got a bucket head shop vac from home depot, its just the top which sells for a little over 20 bucks, and it sits atop a five gallon bucket, which was three or four bucks. Best investment ever.

 

[The Nofs]

One of my family members has went through 3 washers because they (and one of their kids) did not take the time to get the hay and stuff off of things around the house. And have had to call repairmen numerous times due to clogging/blocking from (primarily) the hay. It can and will eventually cause issues with the washer and dryer over a period of time.

I have a second vacuum that we use just for the chin things, I take the brush attachment and vacuum off EVERYTHING before putting it in the wash. Works like a charm

 

[Shenanigans]

If you have the space for a full size garbage can, whenever you take out the garbage and put a new bag in plan on changing the liner. If you can bring the can over and roll up the liner enough to get it into the can it's not too hard to shake it all the way out without getting too much of a mess around it.

 

[Dreamlite]

I live in an apt but Iuse regualt pine chips so Idont have to worry about fleece. Its just too much bother.

 

[Smidgeyy]

I'm in a second floor apartment with nowhere to shake it off either. XD

Before I was born, my parents bought this freakishly heavy vacuum. The things older than me and it still works. Lol. It's probably like 40lbs though so I hate using it. >.< We had another one but it broke(not sure if it was the hay that broke that or if it was just cheaply made) so I've been consistently lugging this thing into my room to clean the cages. It gets literally EVERYTHING off, then I pop it in the washer. I try to pick up most of the hay first, as I'm afraid I'm going to break it Lol.

 

[Shenanigans]

(this is kind of a not 100% nice thing to say, but if it's community washers you probably don't bear the cost of replacing them at least. Although they may not be happy if they keep getting clogged up with hay and may clue in on it being your chins)

 

[chrisbradley6]

maybe this isnt 100% nice to say either (but i agree with you Shenanigans) but I live in a 3rd story apartment.... and I shake out liners from my balcony! i do the best shaking I can INSIDE the cage as I'm picking it up, but i do give it a hard shake outside before it goes in the washer. I might start shaking it out in the laundry room (tile floor) and sweep up any mess.

 

[e.murphy518]

At my apartment I go down to the dumpsters with the dirty fleece in a bag and shake them into the dumpster. Seems to work just fine

 

[kenko]

I know that this is a super late response to an old thread, but thanks for all the additional advice--we just moved into the new condo and although we will have our own washer and dryer, I'm still really invested in keeping them as nice as they are now! I will probably go with a combination of first vacuuming and shoving them into a bag to take downstairs to shake. Mips is a little rattled from being rudely awakened and then riding across town, but he seems to have settled! If anyone else has any additional cleaning/keeping things clean tips for apartment-style living, I would love hearing them! Thanks!

 

[mercynursie]

I make a trip to the local laundry and use one of the heavy duty machines to wash(of course I shake and sweep before going). I had washed my liners in my regular washer and had forgotten my vinegar rinse. Daughter was waiting on me to finish washing so I decided to be nice and run them up to the laundry. I was sooo surprised at how much more urine/soiling that the commercial heavy duty washer got out that I always take my fleece there now.

 

[seachin]

Ridgid Shop Vac from HD with the standard filter replaced with a dust filter, replaced the standard hose with the wider diameter hose. Does a MUCH better job cleaning dust and doesn't clog up as much with hay.

 

[cybrmartian]

I do not live in an apartment but with the amount of Chinchillas i have we have to do some form of cleaning everyday here. With the number of our breeding herd growing at the rate it is and the number of rescues we have been taking in and finding appropriate homes for (This amount seems to be constantly growing). We use a 2 1/2 " hose shop vac so we get no stoppage while vacuuming and we only have to empty after vacuuming. We use Fleece here so we change the fleece out and wash the tiles which we get at Lowes for alot cheaper than the Chin Chiller, They will also cut them for you to and if you find a broken one they can cut that part off and sell it even cheaper. sorry off topic. But we completely clean one cage every week, which means take Chins and all belongings out, Wash wood shelves and let air dry, wash all other items and allow to dry, Clean inside and outside of cage with 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water and clean any walls near the cage. The fleece we wash in a special heavy duty washer we bought just for them and dry them in a heavy duty dryer (Cheapy washer and dryer, just heavy duty and not our personal clothing ones) I wash my liners on a sanitary cycle so it gets super hot as well. i tried a laundromat but i don't have enough time in the day anymore and saw no difference in my liners.

Hey Kathy if you want you can come intern cleaning my cages, he he. Of course you have as much time as me. BTW, get back to studying!