WW Toilet Habits!

Holly · 03-16-2007, 02:42 AM

Sparrow and Turner (eight week old WW brothers we've had since Sunday) have a very stinky cage!!

I'm not used to this, as our three Syrians, all started using one corner for peeing immediately and, once I'd realised which corner they were using, I gave them a hamster potty each, and they've never looked back.

Sparrow and Turner seem to be peeing..well...everywhere, really

...I noticed the smell the night before last and tried to find their chosen 'corner'....and found they've chosen about 6 corners! They are also peeing in all three 'nest' areas (as I've bought them two coconut nests, which they love, this could become unpleasant).

I'm guessing that they are very young and not yet able to choose a corner - or perhaps they are 'marking their territory" in a new cage and trying to make their beds smell familliar?

What should I do? I chose a corner for their new potty last night and cleaned out their sleeping areas, putting the smelly bedding into the potty and the non-smelly bedding back in the beds.

Is this the right thing to do? Are Dwarf hams harder to toilet train? I didn't actually have to do anything with our Syrians!

souffle · 03-16-2007, 09:04 AM

They are still young but on the whole I would say they are much more scent orientated with living in groups. Also two in one cage will make it smellier more quickly. They are probably marking everywhere. Just be careful not to de-scent too much as you want them to not fight. Spud, our Campbell lodger seems to pee everywhere including his bed but does use the sand potty so hopefull they will catch on eventually. Keep putting some wee soaked bedding in it.

Holly · 03-16-2007, 12:08 PM

Yes I must admit I worried yesterday about making it tooclean - I sorted out the really smelly pee saoked stuff from the only slightly smelly stuff and put the less whiffy stuff back in the beds.

The smell isn't horrendous - it's only when you get up close and it's clean out day tomorrow anyway (though I'll be sure to put lots of the old stuff back for the scent thing.

I know our friend's Syrian, who was a little younger when he got him than ours were when we got them, used to pee in his bed - and now he doesn't - so I'll just have to hope.

**babyboos** · 03-16-2007, 05:17 PM

maybe try some wooden pelleted cat litter mixed in their substrate it help absorb wee and smells better

Holly · 03-17-2007, 10:55 AM

Well I've just cleaned their cage, replacing about a third of the used bedding to keep their scent mingled up in there (I hope that's right). They've gone slightly nuts, running round and gathering up lots of food with much squeaking - but they seem to be doing it together - and they've now curled up in one of the coconuts together too

It's certainly different taking care of Dwarf hams!

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyboos

maybe try some wooden pelleted cat litter mixed in their substrate it help absorb wee and smells better

I might give that a try - thanks for the tip.

Holly · 03-19-2007, 03:17 AM

Hmm... they don't seem to be using the potty so far

All they've done with it is tidy up the used bedding I put in!

**babyboos** · 03-20-2007, 04:33 PM

they will use it as a bath for a wee while first before one finally goes potty in it
if you can find any poops try placing some in the potty

Holly · 03-21-2007, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyboos

they will use it as a bath for a wee while first before one finally goes potty in it
if you can find any poops try placing some in the potty

I'll do that - they still aren't using it for it's intended purpose but they seem to like going in there!