FN Cage Questions

[Julyetta]

I have a 2 story FN. I have 1 chinchilla, Meeko on the top, and a pair, Rudigar and Molly on the bottom.

I got the bass deep pans for the cage, and have covered them with a fleece bottom.

However, I am still finding poop EVERYWHERE outside the cage. It literally gets in every nook and cranny in my house.

Also, Meeko's cage can stay clean for 2 weeks without cleaning it. (I do not leave it that long, thats just how tidy she is).. but the bottom 2, I'm finding its literally every other day they start to smell. and they DESTROY everything. They do not leave their fleece bottom nicely laid on the bottom, they have to bunch it up. They move around all their houses. and poop 4 times as much! 4 times! Theyre is only 2 of them!
They also tip over their water and food bowls CONSTANTLY, and wont drink from attachments to the door (I've tried). They rip their hay EVERYWHERE. it almost seems like they dont eat it, just put it everywhere and on the floor.

Anyone have ANY suggestions that would help with keeping them cleaner/less smelly. I have roommates and now they HATE them because I am constantly having to clean up after them.

Please help!!!!

 

[Sovay]

Well first, to deal with poo, I've used cardboard in between the cage and the tray. It keeps the poo in, is inexpensive, and the chins can chew it.

Secondly, I imagine the pair are either playing together, or establishing dominance. This is a personal opinion, but 1/2 of a FN cage seems small for 2 chins, especially if they are still establishing their rank. They may be peeing all over the place to claim their territory. If they are running around chasing each other that would cause food, poo and hay to fly and fleece to bunch up. Are they using a litter box? If not, I would go back to bedding and hold of on fleece until you can get them to really use a relible spot. Pee on fleece (again, my opinion) smells terrible after only a day or two.

Other suggestions: keep a dust buster nearby to get flung poos, drape a sheet around the cageto keep things from flying across the room....

If I think of anymore I'll post again. Good luck!

 

[GorillaJTA]

I have a 2 story FN. I have 1 chinchilla, Meeko on the top, and a pair, Rudigar and Molly on the bottom.

I got the bass deep pans for the cage, and have covered them with a fleece bottom.

However, I am still finding poop EVERYWHERE outside the cage. It literally gets in every nook and cranny in my house.

Also, Meeko's cage can stay clean for 2 weeks without cleaning it. (I do not leave it that long, thats just how tidy she is).. but the bottom 2, I'm finding its literally every other day they start to smell. and they DESTROY everything. They do not leave their fleece bottom nicely laid on the bottom, they have to bunch it up. They move around all their houses. and poop 4 times as much! 4 times! Theyre is only 2 of them!
They also tip over their water and food bowls CONSTANTLY, and wont drink from attachments to the door (I've tried). They rip their hay EVERYWHERE. it almost seems like they dont eat it, just put it everywhere and on the floor.

Anyone have ANY suggestions that would help with keeping them cleaner/less smelly. I have roommates and now they HATE them because I am constantly having to clean up after them.

Please help!!!!

Have you tried weighing the fleece down in various spots? Just a piece of stone or a house in a couple of corners.

As for flipping the food bowl, I use one that is attached to the side of the cage- no flipping.

You need to bottle train them. Some bottles do not flow as well and you have to make sure it flows if you are ever going to get them to drink.

I would not use cardboard around the cage as they could eat it and I would not cover sides of the cage to ensure airflow. Flying poop is a way of life. I put backstops on my wooden shelves since that is where most flying poop was coming from in my cage.
The hay issue is the hay issue- they are going to throw it everywhere to find the piece they want. Chins are not a clean pet to have.

 

[Lillybabe]

You can try shelves with backs, that helps some with the poo. However, chins poop a lot. It's a sign that they're healthy. Two chins poop far more than one chin. My girls have two level FN all to themselves and they still get poop everywhere. The liners have to be changed about every three to four days and I clean up poops everyday. It is just how chinchillas are. There is no way to have them make less of a mess. With fleece, you just have to clean everyday. When I used bedding I did not have to clean everyday but bedding got everywhere and things smelled fairly quickly.

If Meeko truly poops that little, you might want to check that she's healthy. Chins are suppose to poop a lot. My malo guy was a lot cleaner than the girls because he wasn't as healthy. He ate less, so he pooped less. Some people cover on side of the cage with fleece. If you cover all the sides like some people do for birds there will not be enough air circulation for the chinchillas and they could overheat. Cardboard is one of those things you have to be careful with. If eaten it's an impaction risk since paper expands when wet.

How small are their houses that they can move them around? My girls are still young but they never move their wooden house. I don't think they can. The house probably weighs more than both of them put together. If they are pulling up the fleece you might try putting tiles at each corner. This has helped keep my fleece in place some and gives them places to lay that are cool. I keep a litter pan in one corner. I'd try to get them to use the litter pan, it's cleaner. There are several threads discussing how to litter train chinchillas. It just doesn't work with all of them though.

I was apparently posting at the same time as GorillaJTA... *laughs*

I forgot to mention hay. If they are not eating the hay it is possible you need to switch hays. Some chinchillas are more picky than others. My girls throw hay around, as all chinchillas do, but when it's a hay they like it gets thrown around less. They particularly like the Meadow Grass Hay from Oxbow. They gobble it up as soon as I put some in the cage. My bag of just timothy, they will barely touch. I think this is because I need a fresher bag. They eat the botanical just fine... and it's mostly Timothy.

 

[mistywaterwoman]

I agree with the opinion that 1/2 of a FN is too small for a pair. They are likely tearing up the cage every night from sheer restlessness. You would do well to invest in a smaller cage for your single chin (like a Fiesty Ferret or another FN 181) and let the pair have the whole 182 for themselves.

Regardless, you are always going to find that the pair are more destructive than a single chin. They play harder and are in competition for food and chews, and spur each other on to mischief. It's part of the charm of having a pair in the first place.

If it were me, I would get a whole 'nother FN 182 and use it an excuse to get another chin to pair with my single.

 

[javachin]

Short of covering the bottom walls in that hardware mesh people have used to make their cages baby-safe, there's no real way of keeping poops inside. You can put up cardboard or whatever to try to keep everything in, but inevitably things will fly out. As for the pair being messy, there's not a whole lot you can do to make them stop. If they are establishing dominance, playing, etc. its going to happen. Even if you were to separate them, you can't be sure they're just not messy as individuals.

If you really want to make a big change, maybe make a melamine cage with smaller holed wire so nothing will escape? If the pee smell is also concern, you will just have to commit yourself to cleaning their part of the cage more often.