Hay & Fleece

[RockWrapsody]

I cleaned out the bedding in Izzy's cage and replaced it with fleece. I put a small glass pie dish in the corner with bedding in it. The problem I am having is that Izzy throws all of his hay out of his bin and onto the bottom fleece. Not doing much good having a fleece covered bottom that is full of hay! I will take a pic, that is all from last night. Maybe I am feeding to much hay at night? Also, should I clean out all the hay on the bottom each morning so he can have clean fleece?

you can see the hay box and all the hay ends up on the bottom over night

This is Izzys mess!

Show Off !! LOL

 

[ChinnyMom]

chins LOVE to make a mess of their hay! lol. and there really isn't much you can do about it.

my boys get a good size handful daily of hay, and they still make the same mess that your Izzy does. seems they have to find those 'perfect' strands of hay, and all else gets tossed aside.

if the hay on the cage floors here doesn't look or smell like it's been peed on, i put it up on a wide shelf and put a small amount of new hay in the hay boxes. quite often i find the old hay will get munched on, even when they is new hay to toss about, lol.

you may want to try positioning your corner hammock a bit different, if Izzy doesn't see to be going in it. looks like it is on an angle and i don't know if he'd be comfy laying in it that way.

 

[RockWrapsody]

Chinnymom, that is only the bottom half of his cage..............mr spoiled has everything at the top of his cage. His favorite place to sleep is in his tube! LOL
Here is a pic of his whole cage.

 

[ChinnyMom]

'mr spoiled' is right! lol. but don't you find those itty bitty doors to be a pain in the tookus come cleaning time? it'd drive me bonkers!

 

[RockWrapsody]

There are also doors on the right side of each level. Full side doors! I had to put an S hook in the latches to keep Izzy from getting out. He figured out how to push them up with his nose. LOL

 

[Shooper]

Cage looks great, even with hay on the floor!!

 

[ChinCity]

Have to agree - good looking cage and he knows it. I have the same issue with hay (not quite so much hay), but it's still a pain to clean the fleece. Takes forever to pick it up.

 

[Woodrow724]

I don't know if this will help but I found that if I give them hay only at night, they tend to appreciate it more I guess. They eat the stuff they "tossed out" at night the next day, and for some reason they eat more of it than when I was just replacing it morning and night. I also keep an eye on how much they eat so I can give them a little less if I'm just tossing the leftovers every day. My boys will usually go through 2 handfuls a day. So I usually give them 3 fresh handfuls every night. They have tons of cubes and other hay "toys" too.

 

[Lillybabe]

I am not sure if this will help or not, but what about putting the hay box closer to the bottom of the cage? If he throws it out he might make a smaller mess that way... plus if he can sit on the bottom of the cage and sift through it maybe he won't want to throw it all out. The ledge next to the hay box seems a little narrow so maybe he isn't comfy hanging out there to select the "perfect" piece.

 

[RockWrapsody]

Good idea Lillybabe, will try that!

 

[Lillybabe]

I forgot to mention.. you might want to put a ledge close above it.. so less poos are likely to drop into it from above. However, if you change the hay out daily... I don't really see it as an issue so long as he's not actually peeing in it. Those lil poos get everywhere anyway.

 

[mistywaterwoman]

Give him one small handful of hay in the morning and one small handful at night, and he may learn to eat more than he wastes.

 

[kurilla22]

I keep the hay at the bottom of the cage in a pan and my little rascals like to take all the hay out of the pan and pee in it. hahaha
No matter how many times i clean the pan, soak it, they still pee. Chins are just weird and they do what they want when they want. : )

 

[ChinnyMom]

kurilla, do you also have a litter pan in the cage? your chins may be confused as to where they are supposed to pee. try a fleece hay bag (there are members here that make and sell them) or try a hay box mounted to the side of the cage.

 

[kurilla22]

Oh yes lol I have multiple liter pans. And I tried the hay bag but they payed more attention to chewing the fleece than the hay. And I just recently switched them to a hay box and they didn't understand how to get they hay out lol One does well with peeing in the litter pan, the other not so much.

 

[wranglersarah]

That's what I have done.... put the hay box closer to the floor and that keeps MOST of the hay in one place when they toss it about.

 

[ChinnyMom]

both my boys have their hay holders right down on the cage floor, along with their pellet dish and litter pan. every night they pull all the hay out of the holders, but at least it doesn't make a mess because it isn't falling from up in the cage somewhere.

now..... when hay seed heads take hold in the fleece and neither the vacuum or snapping the liners outside gets them out...... that's a pain in the tookus! lol.

 

[Lillybabe]

You all are making me question my decision to change to fleece! Chins are such brats, they love to make a mess. Plus, they always seem to want the pellet or piece of hay that is at the bottom. Silly chins.

 

[summerdays]

do your chins always use the litter pan with the fleece liner in there?

mine don't ugh..

 

[ChinnyMom]

my Guss is pretty good lately about using his litter bowl, but Rhino might as well not have a litter bowl at all in his cage, the lil monkey....... lol.