Peeing in an inappropriate place!

[Scarlett Empress]

Smokey has a sand box in the bit of my bedroom that I partition off for her to play in - I put a bit of peed on sand in there from the box in her cage, in the hope that she would realise that if she needs to pee while she's out, that's the place to go.

This evening is actually the first time she needed to pee while she was out playing - probably because I got her out a bit earlier than usual. Anyway - needless to say, she didn't do it in her sand box! She was too busy wrecking cardboard boxes up the other end of her play area, so I guess it was too far to run to the loo - it's a reasonably big area.

So - where she did her pee, it was on my wooden floor - it's an old parquet floor that we found under the carpet when we moved in, so it's been sealed at some point but that was years ago - I don't think it really sunk into the wood though, mostly she seemed to have mopped it up by presumably having an accidental roll in it while playing (which is how I noticed, when she was suddenly running round with a soggy back - couldn't see what she was up to under her mound of cardboard!) and I have wiped the rest up - but I don't want to leave any scent there, as of course I don't want her thinking that's a great place to pee in future!

I know I shouldn't use any strong smelling stuff to wipe over the area, but is there anything I can safely use to get rid of any scent, and try and discourage her from doing it again?

Also wondering how I can encourage her to use her sand box - or whether it would be better if she had one either end of her play area?

Any suggestions will be much appreciated! I think we'll be in enough bother when someone notices she's chewed the wardrobe doors, without adding to any peeing problems!

[RubyDG]

For the sandbox try covering it with another box on top. For playtime I have a dish with sand and then a small cardboard box I fit over it, with a 'mouse hole' cut into it for access. Once I did this my hamster was more inclined to use it, I think it makes him feel more secure being enclosed and therefore more likely to use it as a safe place to pee.

[Scarlett Empress]

Thanks RubyDG I will give that a try! I did pop the sandbox up a corner so it was tucked away a little, but perhaps she would like it better if it was more private.

This is the only time she's had a pee outside her cage, and I think it was probably because she didn't have one before she came out to play - it was a somewhat earlier playtime than usual and she didn't have time to go through her very long 'getting ready to go out' routine which always includes having a pee - but I would like her to know where she can go during playtime, as I am trying to increase her out-of-cage time gradually!

[Piebald]

We used to clean the wooden floors with diluted white vinegar.

[Scarlett Empress]

Thanks Piebald I will give that a go! My sister's got some ready diluted for rabbit use, I'm sure she can spare me a few drops!