We have a male chinchilla, not sure how old he is but probably 2-3 years old. We have chin-proofed a spare bedroom and let him out for about an hour every night. He has started urinating on the bed. The first time he did it was no big deal, just washed the comforter and sheets. But now he does it 2-3 times a week, and it's incredibly annoying to have to wash the comforter and sheets 2-3 times a week.
Does anyone have any tips to try to get him to stop this behavior? The bed is the only place we have noticed that he urinates on when he's out of the cage. We do have a tablecloth underneath his cage that he has urinated on once or twice, but that's not a big deal cause it's easy to clean. The floor isn't carpeted, it's hardwood so maybe that's why he doesn't go on the floor?
We are going to start putting a bowl out with some wood shavings in it to hopefully attract him to that when he's out of the cage (we don't use wood shavings in his cage cause it has a wire bottom and we have unscented cat litter underneath that). Is there anything else we can do to try to deter him? I know we can't scold him. Obviously we could not let him on the bed, but I have no idea how I could block the bed off to make it so he can't jump on it, especially since we lie on it when he's out.
Does anyone have any tips to try to get him to stop this behavior? The bed is the only place we have noticed that he urinates on when he's out of the cage. We do have a tablecloth underneath his cage that he has urinated on once or twice, but that's not a big deal cause it's easy to clean. The floor isn't carpeted, it's hardwood so maybe that's why he doesn't go on the floor?
We are going to start putting a bowl out with some wood shavings in it to hopefully attract him to that when he's out of the cage (we don't use wood shavings in his cage cause it has a wire bottom and we have unscented cat litter underneath that). Is there anything else we can do to try to deter him? I know we can't scold him. Obviously we could not let him on the bed, but I have no idea how I could block the bed off to make it so he can't jump on it, especially since we lie on it when he's out.