What does "cleaning the cage" actually mean.

[Biohack]

Hey everybody,
I'm thinking about getting a chin to live in my apartment with me but I have a question about cage cleaning. I ask because I had rats when I was a kid and when I cleaned their cage it entailed taking it outside and hosing it off. That really isn't a very good option in my apartment complex so I was wondering what sort of things one actually needs to do in terms keeping the cage clean. Also any other advice pertinent to keeping a chin in an apartment would be valuable.

 

[AZChins]

You would need to clean the soiled bedding at least once a week. Maybe once every couple of months you'd want to clean the cage with a cleaning solution...soapy water or vinegar.

Keeping a chinchilla in an apartment is actually pretty easy. I had my first chin in an apartment and he made an ideal pet for a small space. I didn't have to walk him outside like I would have to with a dog, I didn't have to scoop a litter box so that I was nice.

The only thing about keeping chins in apartments is that you will need to make sure that you are allowed to have one. Sometimes a pet deposit is required, sometimes they won't allow chins at all. I was lucky because the management company that ran my complex allowed for caged pets with no deposit...

 

[Biohack]

Ok that's good to hear. Now when you say wash with soap or vinegar is that something I can do in the sink? Or should I just wipe down with a wet cloth? How did you do it when you were in your apartment?

 

[Zoaea]

Also, if you let your chin free range in an apartment they destroy the wood work, very bad when you move out. But, I don't think chins should have free range anyway. =P

Cleaning also involves sweeping up poos (they are dry pellets not juicy) and hay that gets thrown free of the cage. I usually did that every few days with 1 or 2 chins, and daily now that I have 6. The hay is what ends up being the hardest, I prefer the chins on a smooth floor surface over carpet because of this.

Some people make chinchilla houses and they usually do 'poo guards', I want to get those, they should cut back on whats thrown free of the cage.

Chins are one of the best apartment pets I think, unless of course the apartment complex does not allow them.

 

[akane]

We aren't allowed to use hoses here. They have locks on them. Not that a pair of pliers can't get around that....

I roll up the fleece which has all the urine, wipe the metal tray off with just water, dry it, take the plastic tray in the shelf and dump it in the trash can, scrub it with vinegar, and replace. Then just roll out a new thing of fleece. I'm debating something stronger for the metal trays but vinegar will strip the galvanizing and bleach causes rust. I have a nontoxic coconut based cleaner I might use. If nothing else the trays are only in the $20 range and they'll still last years even if I use vinegar or bleach. So far there's been no urine on the trays though, just poop and chin dust, so I'm not motivated to try anything.

Most toys can just have any stuck poop scrubbed off them. If they really need cleaned a bath tub works fine but you'll take the color out of any blocks or bird toys because it isn't waterproof.

 

[Biohack]

Ok thanks everybody I appreciate it!

 

[becky12883]

When I have to do a full scrub of the cage and pans, I do it in the bath tub. We didn't have access to our hose spigot until a couple weeks, and can't use it during the winter. I have also taken cages to the do it yourself car wash to clean them really well too. The only thing with using the bath tub to clean is that you will need to get a screen to cover the drain so it catches all the hay and poop, otherwise it will clog and your landlord probably wouldn't be too happy.

 

[my3esses]

I've only had my chin a little while but I can't see when I'd ever need to really hose down the cage. I have a ferret nation cage and wipe it down with a wet (water/vinegar) wash cloth once in a while, mostly to get the dust from their dust bath off of it.

Daily cleaning includes vacuuming up scattered poop and hay inside and outside the cage. I change the liner usually 2x a week, could probably get by with once a week if your chin uses a litter box for pee.

 

[mrsmitchell]

I use a small hand broom and dust pan every other day, then every few days I empty the litter pan bedding, once a week I spray down the cage bottom with vinegar and water. You could probably sweep up or dump all degree then wash and rinse the bottom in the bath tub or shower with a bucket of water.

 

[mrsmitchell]

*debris not degree

 

[AZChins]

When I was in an apartment I would actually wash the pan from the cage in the sink in the kitchen...and usually just used a bucket and a cloth to scrub down the cage in the bathroom. Back then I used soapy hot water to scrub the cage and I would rinse it and then dry it with a towel...it was more time consuming than being able to spray it with the hose. But, in the Spring and Summer the apartment complex would actually put out hoses for people to wash their cars.

Another option and this sounds weird, maybe, is to take the cage to a do it yourself car wash and scrub it and hose it down there. That may not be a good option depending on how large your cage will be.

One thing is for sure...the more you clean it, the easier it will be to clean it each time. If you let cages go for longer, they can get so much more difficult to clean. Keeping on top of cleaning makes it much easier to have chinchillas around.

 

[Godofgods]

It depends how clean your chins are. Obviously you need the change the litter/bedding as needed. But if you have a chin that doesn't like to use it, then cleaning becomes a little bit more of a hassle.

I have 2 male chins in a FN cage, and 3 girls in another FN cage. My males use there litter and rarely ever pee on the Bass Pans (metal trays). There for other then a daily sweeping of pellets and left over food, the trays stay in good condition.

On the other hand, i have two girls that use the litter, and one that woke up one day and decided that she no longer was going to. She pees all over the trays every night. So every morning when i get up i have to go through a lot of paper towels to clean up that mess. But even with that, every now and then i need to take the trays out and scrub them down with a water/vinegar mix to clean up whats left behind and any stains before the become more permanent.

I clean mine in the tub just because of the size of the trays. They wouldn't fit in a sink.

Of course fleece linings would work good in this situation if your chin is good with fleece and you have the ability to wash and dry them as needed.

 

[e.murphy518]

I am a college student and I have 2 chinchillas in an average sized 2BR apartment. They are great pets to have in an apartment because they are fairly quiet, you don't have to take them outside, and smell is not really an issue as long as you keep up a very simple cleaning routine. I found that filling the whole cage pans with bedding was far too annoying and wasteful to change all the time so my routine is as follows:

I have a double level Ferret Nation cage 182 with metal Bass Equipment pans. I have 3 sets of fleece pan liners that I made myself and I tuck them in around the edges of the pans so that usually no pee or poops get onto the pan itself (except when they tug up the fleece). I also have two Pyrex dishes (one on each level) filled with aspen wood litter and they usually contain their pee to those.

Once a week I will wrap the dirty fleece liners into a ball (with all the poops and hay and aspen shavings on the inside) and I put them into a plastic bag. I then use a little shop vac and vacuum up any excess poops from the cage pans and the shelves. I put the new, clean liners into the cage and I change the bedding in the litter pans. I take the bag with the dirty liners out to my building's dumpster and shake them out over the dumpster, bring them back in and toss them directly in the wash. It works really well as a system and there is never a bad smell. When I do all this I also take a cup with a little bit of white vinegar mixed with water and dip a paper towel in that to clean their metal flying saucer and any pee spots that have gotten on the cage pans, I then dry it all down before putting the new fleece in.

Other than that the only real cleaning I need to do is picking up stray hay and poops that have fallen out of the cage but if you keep on top of that and you do it once or twice a day (it takes like 3 minutes for my one cage) then it is really easy and manageable.

Something that you should think about for out of cage play time:

I have a small pet play pen that I open up and section off one area of my room near their cage for them to come out and play in. I learned VERY quickly that they love to chew baseboards and wires and absolutely anything so, I bought some more no pill fleece and cut it into approximately 8 inch wide strips that I have tacked over any areas of baseboard that they have access to in their play area. That has stayed in place for around a year and now they don't even bother trying to chew it. For wires and other things you don't want chewed, just make sure they are out of the way of the play area or you cover them with cardboard.

Overall, chinchillas are awesome pets to have in an apartment! I love my chinnies

 

[Biohack]

Thank you this was really helpful. I was wondering how I should protect my baseboards.

 

[Gnoller]

I used to do a weekly wipe with vinegar around my cage when my chin was peeing near the top of her cage and it would drip down but she uses the bottom now and only in one place so I just put extra liners there. I used to have problems with poo being flicked everywhere but I attached a large sheet around the sides and rear of the cage which cut it down heaps. I just to vacuum once a week to get all the poops that still manage to flick out.

To protect the baseboards, I've placed small lengths of pine in front of the boards to give something else to chew on. Chins do learn quite fast, if they know they'll get told off for doing a certain behaviour, they're less likely to repeat it over time.

 

[Idgie]

I only have Idgie in a one level cage with a solid bottom. Once a week I empty the whole cage out, remove all the bedding, and wipe it down with water and vinegar. I find a solid bottom so much easier to clean than an open bottom that fell into the tray below. It was so hard to clean the wires.
Her cage already has 3" metal walls around the bottom, so nothing much comes out. But I have hardwood floors, so I just sweep them up daily.