Potty Trainning

[Beanbag_131]

Hello,

So I got a baby chin about a month ago. (I love her sooo much already!) I was wondering if there is anyway to train her to go to the bathroom in on place? If I can "potty train" how do i do it and any helpful advice would be appreciated.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Chinchillas can be trained to pee in a potty. Poop, on the other hand, cannot be controlled. It will continue to be everywhere. To train them to us a litter pan, find the place where the chinchilla pees the most. Place a litter pan there, preferably not a plastic one. A lot of people use a glass baking dish. Put some of the soiled litter in the pan to give the chin the idea that it is ok to go there. That's all you really need to do other than cleaning it daily, if the chin decides to use it. Some don't.

 

[Godofgods]

iv thought about trying that, but my chinc like to throw everything adround that aint bolted down. I dont see a littler pan of any type staying in one place all to long. Anyone else had this problem and find a solution?

 

[rem]

It seems pretty rare, but my babies don't chew on Plastic... They will nibble on it if it's new, but they won't even scratch it.

I guess I've been very lucky, as I put a new plastic corner tray in (same one here) filled with the lots of bedding, and my two guys immediately starting using it.

Now, here's the *REALLY* lucky part... they also use it to poop in. I'm finding almost no poop anywhere else in the pen, other than their bed (which I empty daily). There is tons of poop in the tray, and very little outside of it.

Like I said, I think I am very lucky on this one.

On a side note, several people stated they use vacuums to clean the pens, do you put your babies somewhere else (another pen, or play area away from the vacuum) while cleaning?

I've only used tap water to clean the pens out with, and I've been told the ideal solution for the deep cleaning is 10% vinegar / 90% water. My wife uses this to clean our dwarf hamster's pen out, but I wasn't keen to use it on the chins' pen, what do you all think?

~Richard

 

[Pikaia]

You have to be careful Richard. Just because your babies don't chew on plastic, doesn't mean they won't in the future. Several chins have started chewing on plastic out of the blue and it can be dangerous. Do you have wooden or plastic shelves? Were you just talking about your litter pan being plastic? My shelves are made of kiln dried pine and I use a small glass pyrex dish for a little pan.

Whenever I'm vaccuming the chin's cage out, I usually put them in their playpen. Since it's been so hot, they can't leave their room. Since I'm busy concentrating on cleaning, I have a travel carrier that I put them in. I give them sticks and a toy to keep them busy. It only takes me about 5-10 mins, so they are back in the cage right away. Unless I'm doing a weekly cleaning, then I block them off the bottom or top of the FN.

Vinegar/water solution is safe for cleaning chinchilla's cage.

 

[Chin_Parent]

Chinchillas really have no control over their bowels, and just poop willy nilly, so they're probably just eating the poop that isn't in the litter pan, Richard, or spending most of their time in their bed or the litter pan.

The heaviest dish that you can find would be good, Godofgods. While chinchillas are surprisingly strong, most of the won't be able to move a heavy dish, or really have any interest in doing so.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Peroxide is also safe for cleaning cages. It leaves no residue behind and is harmless if they get some on them. oh, and both vinegar and peroxide are a lot cheaper than that cleaner.

 

[Rebecca1122]

Where can you find soiled litter/bedding?

 

[ChinnyMom]

the soiled bedding IMO should come only from the chin that you are trying to potty train. risk of disease being spread from another chin's soiled litter is too great.

if you are just getting your chin, ask the breeder/rescue/etc to put some of the litter from the chin's cage in a ziploc, and add it to the top of the bedding you've put in the litter pan at home. should help.

 

[Rebecca1122]

Okay, thank you. And if the breeder can't give that to me, I guess I can just get some from my own cage.

 

[ChinnyMom]

exactly. if when you first set up your first chin's cage and you have litter all over the bottom pan, just scoop up some wet litter and put it in the litter pan when you go to start potty training.

or you could do what i did with Rhino, put the litter pan in the corner I wanted it to be in, from day one, and told him he was to use it. lol! it actually worked pretty good though, and there's only the occasional pee on his fleece liner.

 

[Rebecca1122]

Thanks! I have another question that is sort of unrelated...
I have been going through things that I am going to put into the cage when I get it, and I feel like it is going to be really empty. Is the cage normally empty when you first set it up? Because with all of the expenses with everything, I don't know how many toys and accessories I can afford and buy to start off with.
Of course as the year progresses I will buy more things, but I also don't want the cage to be too empty for my new chin.

 

[ChinnyMom]

Rhino's cage was pretty empty when i first got it and put in shelves (cage came with wire shelves, yuck) - just wood shelves, his log house, and his litter pan basically. i got a small order from Camphor Chins (including a corner hammock), then got Rhino a larger cage and more shelves, then some fleece items from AnnieO, then a couple orders from a Canadian bird toy supplier, then an apple wood order from a fellow member on another forum. bought some fleece from the local fabric store for additional liners and to go on the cage top and down the back. i also go into petsmart fairly frequently and pick up one or two chin safe items from there (yucca bird toys and coloured pine toy pieces). i'd say i ordered stuff once per month for a little while there, and now have various wood pieces/toy supplies left over to make more toys from (if Rhino ever demolishes the 14 hanging toys in his cage, lol!). the issue i have is that shipping is so ridiculous up here, and so i try to get as much stuff locally as i can.

 

[Andrea]

My three girls are potty trained for the most part...as ChinnyMom said it is best to either put some wet litter back into the pan OR to just not clean the pan so that the urine smell remains. I change the pan out every other day because it is usually pretty soaked at that time. They will get lazy once in awhile and pee on their fleece liner but I am happy with their level of potty training overall. I think I have spent at least a thousand dollars on supplies in the year I've had them...their cage is pretty packed now but it has taken awhile to get it to the point I wanted it to be at. I haven't added anything new in a few months and they are really liking the set-up. Just keep in mind that with any fleece products, you will have to replace them at least once per year if not more.

Good luck!

 

[yellnpsych]

Thanks for this thread! I'm bringing my chin home next week and have been wondering how he will transition from an all-shavings surrounding to all-fleece with the exception of the baking dish potty. Hopefully the breeder won't think I'm crazy for wanting some of his shavings! :laughitup:

 

[ChinnyMom]

Andrea, why do you say fleece items need to be replaced once per year? with regular washing, wouldn't they last longer than that if they don't get chewed?