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Old 03-12-2019, 06:03 PM   #1
Lucyb
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: North east, UK
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Question Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

Hi there, last week I got a little Syrian called Indy and everything is going great, he's already so tame he falls asleep in my hand, he's had no problems with bar chewing etc so I've been feeling pretty pleased with myself.

HOWEVER, we've been having toilet issues. He seems to be having trouble establishing a toilet spot, and has been peeing everywhere from in his small enclosed bed (which means he's sleeping in pee hence is very smelly) to the plastic, substrate-less shelves of his multi-level cage. Next thing I know, he's started peeing in his lovely wooden trixie wheel!
The peeing in the other inconvenient places I can just about overlook, but the wheel, being wooden, is just soaking up his urine so it's very smelly and difficult to properly clean. I really don't want to have to fork out for a second, plastic, wheel after forking out nearly 20 quid for the aforementioned blissfully silent wooden one, but do I have any other options?

For now I've cleaned the wheel and so it will be removed overnight whilst it dries, and I'm just wondering if leaving the wheel out until he properly settles into his new cage and finds a stable pee spot will solve the problem?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Lucy
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Old 03-12-2019, 10:46 PM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

Peeing in the wheel is totally normal behaviour for hams, not all do it but many do even if they also have a pee spot elsewhere.
Wooden wheels do need to be protected before use though, you can use Plastikote water based enamel which is safe & non toxic, give the wheel at least two thin coats to water proof it.
Don't take his wheel away, they really must have a wheel in the cage.
You will never get the pee out of wood so you may as well just leave him with the one he has now & get a replacement & paint that.
Alternatively you could get a good plastic wheel, the best is the silent runner (not silent spinner!) which is easy to clean.
When you have either a painted wheel or a plastic wheel don't over clean, the more you clean the more they pee in it usually! Once a week with warm water, no cleaners or disinfectants with a strong smell, is enough.

How long have you had him now & how much cleaning have you been doing? If you clean too much he won't be able to scent his cage & they do need to have their scent all around the cage, if you clean too much they will scent mark a lot but it can also lead to them peeing in more than one place.
Best to just spot clean pee & not clean anything else or change the substrate for at least the first few weeks, if you have a litter tray in a corner of near the house (even in the house if it's a good size) you can keep adding some peed on substrate to encourage him to use that, even when you spot clean pee it's a good idea to leave a tiny bit of the used substrate so the scent stays in the appropriate area.
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Last edited by cypher; 03-13-2019 at 02:18 AM.
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Old 03-13-2019, 04:10 AM   #3
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

My first wood wheel got pee soaked and hadn't been plastikoted I did give it a good scrub under a hot tap and that worked fine, but it wasn't the one with the cork surface. I would stick it back in for now - and get another wheel that is easily wipe clean, then when you've replaced it, clean up the old one again and keep it for out of cage time/playpen time/emergencies.

They can be got much cheaper than £20! Zooplus sell the wood wheel for about £11(although there would be postage on top) or you could get the plastic Trixie wheel 28cm from Amazon for about £10.

If you get another wood wheel and give it two coats of plastikote, it will be fine. As Cypher says, most hams do pee in their wheels. I found our Syrians do occasionally, but not regularly.

At the moment, with the peeing, you have to be careful not to get into an "itch scratch" cycle. They sometimes pee on everything to scent mark it if there has been a lot of cleaning and their scent has been removed. Then you clean it up - and if you clean everything it makes them want to pee on it more.

So this is a case of time and patience and trying a few things. Do you have a litter tray? You could try putting a litter tray in with Chinchilla sand in it - somewhere near the house. Is there a corner of the cage where your hamster has pee'd (as well as everywhere else?!) - if so - put the litter tray there.

When they are babies also they haven't quite learned control habits. So they sometimes do pee in the nest. That usually stops fairly quickly - especially when they realise their nest has gone as they are very particular about their nest being messed with. If you have to take the nest out then try and leave a little bit of the old nest behind, that is dry - even if slightly whiffy - and let them rebuild it - so it still smells a bit familiar.

Avoid doing full cage cleans and it's not necessary to do them weekly. You can spot clean mostly and do partial cleans. So spot cleaning is removing the odd handful of soiled substrate and replacing it with a new handful - but try not to do it every day - they do get upset about cages being messed with. With a partial clean - when you need to change the substrate, just do the substrate and don't clean anything else. Then another week you can do the wheel and another week any toys etc - that means something always smells familiar so they don't get anxious and want to pee on everything to reclaim it.

Another thing that can make a big difference is actually the layout of the cage and the type of house they nest in. If it's a small plastic house that's solid underneath it will get stinky - they do much better with a larger house that is open underneath and sat on top of the substrate. That makes them able to have more normal behaviours, so they can bury hoards under the nestand burrow down a bit - and better ventilation.

And they're happier and less likely to pee in the nest - also it means they can stay at floor level when gong to the toilet.

Some cages like the Rosewood pico cage - the house is right at the top - along way for a hamster to go all the way down to floor level to pee on the substrate!

If you post a photo of the cage, it may just need some tweaking to help your ham get normal behaviours sorted.

Have to say though that this can be an issue with wood wheels - even if plastikoted - I have found it fine if plastikoted - but some people find they still get pee soaked - depending on the hamster.

I have the Silent Runner wheel - the 12" one - which is a great wheel and is silent - and plastic - but it is expensive. The 28cm trixie wheel is popular and cheap - usually not noisy but isn't silent.

This is the silent runner wheel. I have mine attached to the cage bars to allow for plenty of substrate underneath it. But the bar attachment kit costs another £5.

https://sugarglidershop.co.uk/produc...nner-12-wheel/

Trixie 28cm plastic wheel - not silent - but most people don't find them noisy - although you could be unlucky and get a rattly one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Exer...xie+28cm+wheel

Zooplus Trixie wood wheel - maybe the one you have - needs two coats of plastikote on the wood and cork running surface. And that adds another £4 for the Plastikote.

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small..._wheels/609617

The silent runner is expensive, but I think it's a good investment. It is totally silent and spins really well and easily. It is also the only wheel I've had that hasn't broken! Had mine about two and a half years or more and it's on it's second hamster!

I really like it attached to the bars as it makes life easier. Depends on your cage though - the silent runner is 35cm tall on its stand - wouldn't fit in the Hamster Heaven for example.
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Old 03-16-2019, 11:15 AM   #4
Lucyb
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

Thanks for the help everyone! I've plastikoted his wheel now after a thorough clean so hopefully that will solve the problem of the wheel smelling. Serendipity it's funny you mention the Rosewood pico because that's exactly what he has, hence the problem! However, I put some substrate in his sputnik which is right next to the house and he's started peeing there which is actually pretty convenient as I can just empty it out daily, so it seems like the issue is sorted for now
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Old 03-18-2019, 06:13 AM   #5
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

That sounds good. You might want to think about upgrading him when you can though because apart from the base being a bit small, the cage has fall risks due to the height - it's quite a long drop from the top to the bottom with shelves to bounce off on the way down and ladders to land on. They do much better with a cage that is lower and wider basically - more floor area and less height.

The Alaska cage would be a good upgrade and I think he'd be very happy in there. It also has a nice big front opening door so it's easier to interact with the hammy. It's normally about £34 but it seems to be on offer at the moment.

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small...r_cages/284288

Have a look at the reviews I had exactly the same issue when we got our last syrian - got a cage that wasnt't suitable for the hamster and had to upgrade him within a few weeks. He was happy as larry in his 80 x 50cage. They do love doing things at floor level and only really climb if they have to, to reach something.

It has quite a deep base so you can put a good 4 to 5" deep of substrate in which cushions any falls and allows them to dig and bury things under their house etc. It will use more substrate initially but with a larger floor area like that you don't need to do full cage cleans very often and can just "spot clean" mainly - taking the odd handful out and replacing it- especially if he uses a toilet/litter tray- so in the long run you use less substrate. Even then it's best to only do "partial" cleans and not clean everything at the same time - so something always smells familiar. Eg wheel one week, any other items another week, subsrate a different time.

Last edited by Pebbles82; 03-18-2019 at 06:19 AM.
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Old 07-14-2019, 02:52 AM   #6
Schwartzie
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

Thanks for this thread. Ragna has peed on his wooden Trixie wheel 28 cm. I honestly had no idea that you had to paint it with something. I looked and you don't get plastikole here. I would have to order it and it says plus 2 weeks to ship. If I had of known I would have ordered and painted it before putting it in. Ignorance isn't always bliss. I have placed it outside in the desert sun to dry. I'm not going to wash it so that the pee stays on so that Ragna can still smell it on the wheel. The only thing I can do right now is keep taking it out during the day and place it in the baking sun. Does anyone have any other advice or know of alternatives to plastikote? I would be very grateful.
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Old 07-14-2019, 04:55 AM   #7
Ria P
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

Quote:
Originally Posted by Schwartzie View Post
Does anyone have any other advice or know of alternatives to plastikote? I would be very grateful.
I would order a plastic wheel as a back up. The wheel is the only thing plastic in Henry's cage because i wanted to be able to wipe it down.
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Old 07-14-2019, 05:11 AM   #8
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

Can you get auro paints? I notice Rodipet sell this as a safe paint for wood items. I'll link the one in case there are various types. As for the Wheel I would give it a good scrub/wash under a hot tap occasionally, until you can protect it. I found that worked well on my first wood wheel. Don't worry about removing the hamster's scent - you can easily tempt them back in it after a clean by putting a smelly treat in the wheel (eg cheese or cucumber)

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/exercise-w...sh-0375-l.html
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Old 07-14-2019, 05:19 AM   #9
Schwartzie
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
Can you get auro paints? I notice Rodipet sell this as a safe paint for wood items. I'll link the one in case there are various types. As for the Wheel I would give it a good scrub/wash under a hot tap occasionally, until you can protect it. I found that worked well on my first wood wheel. Don't worry about removing the hamster's scent - you can easily tempt them back in it after a clean by putting a smelly treat in the wheel (eg cheese or cucumber)

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/exercise-w...sh-0375-l.html
I nearly sat down and cried when I saw the pee on the wheel. I will give it a good wash but the inside is cork or something, will it flake? I will see if I can get varnish or place an order and keep doing that as you said. So not cool Ragna! Hahahaha!
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Old 07-14-2019, 05:19 AM   #10
Schwartzie
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Default Re: Help! New baby is peeing in wooden wheel

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ria P View Post
I would order a plastic wheel as a back up. The wheel is the only thing plastic in Henry's cage because i wanted to be able to wipe it down.
I will look at a plastic silent runner as back up. Thanks Ria☺️☺️
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