Dirty Chin Spin

[LovinHedgies]

I just bought my little girl a chin spin about 2 weeks ago. It was that last accessory I needed to make my FN completely safe for her (she came with a wire wheel :impatient: ) Anyways I haven't seen her run on it yet (I assume she does this at night) but she has already made it incredibly gross. I wipe the running area down every evening, but the wooden inside is stained and nasty now. How do I clean that? Am I going to have to detach this huge wheel every week to clean the wooden part?? Ugh, I knew my hedgies messed up their wheels, but she's even worse LOL !!

 

[Sandi]

Is she urinating in it or is she have soft poos? I'd be concerned if it is soft poos. Maybe she decided to make the chin spin her new potty, if so, that would make it a very expensive litter pan, sorry.

 

[addictedtochins]

I don't know...after you clean it and let it dry I think you can rub some vegetable oil with a old rag on there. It should coat the wood and prevent liquid from being absorbed

 

[LovinHedgies]

She has normal poo - its all over her cage. I'm pretty sure she is peeing on the wheel and then running on it which makes it mix with poo and really really gross The weird thing is her feet still look clean....hmmmm
I hope I didn't just buy an $80 litter pan. :-(

 

[eroomlorac]

I've never heard of this before. I wonder if she's afraid of it and spraying it? I doubt it but it's a thought. My girls occasionally poop on their wheel but since it's kind of dry, it just flies off the wheel...........and usually out of the cage and on to the floor. :wacko:

 

[caiti]

I don't know...after you clean it and let it dry I think you can rub some vegetable oil with a old rag on there. It should coat the wood and prevent liquid from being absorbed

I was thinking along the same lines, although I didn't know you could do that with vegetable oil. I was just thinking if there was a safe waterproof stain you could use. Might be worth looking up.

 

[LovinHedgies]

Why do I always get messy animals?!? Haha - I guess pets do take after their owners
I will definately pull it out tonight and try cleaning it with vinegear and water and then rub vegetable oil on it. I was so excited when the wheel came, I thought she would love it for sure!

 

[VEEK]

I had the same problem! My mosaic peed inside the wheel within the first 2 days of buying it

So, like yours - the wood is stained and it was definitely depressing. He did it twice and hasn't done it since, thank goodness but I ended up cleaning it out with vinegar & water also.
The vegetable oil trick sounds cool, I'm going to do that later - just in case!

 

[Sesame]

My chin had never had a wheel before, so when I first got her the Chin Spin, she was super curious, excited and scared of it at first. The first few times she couldn't figure out how to make the wheel turn. Then, she figured out that it was fun running in the wheel at top speed, but she couldn't figure out how to make it stop turning. As a result, she had peed in fear on the wheel and tumbled out quite a few times. Her wheel wasn't that dirty (especially since she's had the wheel for about 2 and half years now) at the time, but maybe your chin is going through a similar experience as mine did? So, maybe once your chin gets the hang of how to use the wheel, the excitement pee will stop?

Or, maybe trying to litter box train your chin might help decrease the mess in the wheel?

 

[LovinHedgies]

Thats a great explanation of why she might be peeing on it! I did clean it and the next morning there was more pee on the inside Hopefully as she gets used to running on it the peeing will stop! I do wonder though how they stop the wheel if they get it going full speed - the inside is so slippery. Does anyone put down some sort of "gripper" on the running surface?

 

[menagerie]

Everyone here hops on and off while it's moving. I wouldn't put anything on the surface.

 

[DevnChip]

There's definitely a learning curve on these chin spins. They're heavy and it seems to take a little effort to get one going, so it would make sense if it's tough to stop. We've had one here for just a short while. Has it been a month yet?

Chipper has decided it's great fun to get his chin spin going and then just stop and let it rock him. He drops his body and turns his butt to the wood, kinda turns into the spin, slides a little on the metal, and it slows from his weight almost immediately to a gentle rock. That's what I see, anyway. Then he sits and zones after it stops - like he's waiting for a bus. Sometimes he gets off after the zoning, sometimes he runs it again. He hasn't peed on it yet, just poo.

 

[mercynursie]

I don't have the actual ChinSpin,but I have a homemade duplicate of one and mine can be adjusted so far as how easy it is to spin by tightening/loosening the bolt/nut that goes directly through the bearings(in the center of the wheel).I will loosen/tighten mine according to how crazy the chins are on it.I just recently had to tighten Roo's a little.After a year of having it and hardly using it,he has started participating in the frequent dueling wheels/saucer competition in the chinnie room.He has gotten so fast on it that he was actually going completely around/upside down!!! So I put the brakes on his roadster and now he has a speed limit just like everyone else!LOL Just remembered about the vegetable oil post earlier-I'm not sure I would do that.Vegetable oil will turn rancid/spoil/stink so I would definitely confirm this one with someone who has already been using it for a long time.