New Chinchillas and questions

[Fizznchillie]

My family and I just bought chinchillas this past week. Today we cleaned out their cage for the first time and I have some questions. First, when we had rats, they seemed to only want to use the bathroom in one spot in their cage. We were expecting this and so we left one level relatively bare of things to do, so they could use that as their "bathroom" space. Our boys don't seem to care where they go, they even go in their food. Are we doing something wrong?
Second, we got a wire sided cage - the inside has plastic inserts over the wires and slip covers for the ramps so it will be good for their feet - and when the chins are playing, they throw out pieces of their paper bedding (pellets of paper) with every jump. After just one day we have TONS of paper pellets and poop all over our floor. Needless to say, we are hoping to find a solution to this because we would prefer not to have to vacuum the room every day (and replace the vacuum bag every week). Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Smidgeyy]

Chinchilllas will poop everywhere... Some can be trained to pee in a litter pan, but they're going to poop everywhere no matter what you do.

You want to make sure plastic is completely covered in fleece, or replaced with wood/metal. Chewing plastic can be deadly to chins so you need to remove the possibility. Also be careful with paper bedding... Paper swells when wet so that can cause issues when it's ingested.

They are messy litter creatures... It's common to find poop, wood bits, and bedding all outside of the cage. You can make poop guards(just a wooden/fleece box around the cage so it helps block some of the mess... But ultimately, you're going to have to vacuum daily. That's part of owning chins. Lol.

 

[Amethyst]

As said the paper bedding is dangerous, the only pellet litter that is apparently safe is the one that turns to sawdust when wet. Safe bedding would be aspen or pine shavings or fleece pan liners (assuming the chin doesn't chew the fleece). Also make sure you don't have any plastic, not just the pans, if they get a big enough chunk chewed off and swallow it, it will cause a blockage, just like the paper litter, which requires expensive emergency surgery to remove.

I totally can relate to the peeing wherever, my current two will take two steps from where ever they are and pee, luckily they only pee in the cage though. You can try pee training them though (they poop everywhere they have little to no control over it), if you do a search on here you should find threads about litter training, but it can take weeks to months. Some chins also just don't want to be bothered to pee in one spot, and some decide after months or years they don't feel like peeing in a litter pan anymore.

As for peeing in the food bowl, you could try a different type of bowl, like a ceramic hooded bowl used for birds. You could also try a coop cup, that attaches to the side of the cage, sometimes just getting the bowl off the floor can help. If they are peeing on the hay too try different holders (just steer clear of the wire or plastic ones) and mount them high enough that they can't sit on top. Once the hay is on the floor of the cage though, it's common for chins to pee on it, so you will go though a bit of hay. If more hay is being wasted the eaten though you should find a different hay, they may not like the one you have. Hay is an essential part of their diet (roughly 75%) so you want to make sure they are eating it.

I would get rid of the ramps all together, chins hop not walk so they really don't need ramps. Also, if the cage you got is or is like a ferret or critter nation, with the wire ramp/ladders those are dangerous too, chins tend to pull the fleece off exposing the ramp which can catch and break feet and toes. If the shelves are too far apart (more then a 4-6") just add perches and ledges.

Mess is part of chinchilla ownership as said, however depending on what you have the cage sitting on you may not have to vacuum daily. If the cage is on carpet you could put down a sheet on the floor under the cage, then just move the cage pick up the sheet and shake it out daily. If it's on a hard floor (wood, tile, vinyl) you could just get a broom and dust pan and sweep up the mess daily. There are poo guards you can buy or make as mentioned, but they don't eliminate the mess 100%. You can also get metal pans made from some place like Bass Equipment that will give you higher sides for the pans.

On a side note, I suggest a shopvac (with the 2" hose) for a vacuum for chinchillas, it really makes life easier, it is much better at vacuuming up hay, litter, and sticks without getting clogged as often. You also don't need a bag for it, you just dump it out in the trash. Or even get a small bag-less vacuum if only for the chins, it will be cheaper in the long run then using up a vacuum bag a week.