Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000
Cleaning daily is probably the issue - that is really stressful for them. It isn’t necessary if you have enough substrate in there. It needs to be at least 4 to 6” deep. And if you provide a litter tray he will pee in that (but you need to put it in the place he has chosen as a toilet - often a corner of the cage). Then the rest of the cage stays clean and dry and you just empty the litter tray once or twice a week. They are actually very clean little things - it is only their pee that smells/unhygienic. Don’t worry about poops - they are not dirty or smelly. And sometimes they like to keep a little supply of poops for emergency food rations (and sometimes they eat their poops which is normal - they have two stomachs and can redigest nutrients from their poops).
So ignore the poops unless they start taking over the cage and that can take a long time. If left you their own devices they like to rearrange substrate (sometimes mounding it up against the house to keep warm) and even Chuck out bits of old nest for you to take away and refurbish it themselves.
So daily clean outs will remove all his familiar scent and stress him - he will feel lost and unsettled. They actually leave scent trails around the cage to help find their way around as they don’t see well at all. But also to mark things as their territory.
Stress can lead to illness as well. The sneezing could be allergy to bedding - which bedding are you using? Any wood based bedding can cause allergy and dust can cause sneezing too. But it can also be a sign of being unsettled and unhappy. They also have a very strong sense of smell and perfumed or strong smelling cleaning products can make them feel ill. I just use a damp cloth. Because the pee doesn’t get to the bottom of the cage if the bedding is Deep enough and a litter tray is used. There is no need to use disinfectant unless there is illness or disease. And then it needs to be pet safe and low odour.
Also don’t rearrange things or take them out/away. That stresses them too. They will accept a new thing being added though.
So the thing to do now is start again with the two week settling in time. Ie leave him alone for a day or two and then don’t clean anything for two weeks. It’ll be fine. You could add a litter tray and empty that after a week but otherwise just leave everything for two weeks. Give him chance to find his feet and make it his home. And keep talking gently to him so he gets familiar with your voice and presence.
So the basics for his needs are -
1) 4 to 6” depth of substrate which you can leave for quite a long time if you use a litter tray and just “spot clean “ the occasional handful out of something gets soiled.
2). A house or nesting box big enough to build a big cosy nest and ideally is dark inside - a shoebox house is ideal.
3) Plenty of nesting material. Torn up strips of plain white toilet paper is safest and they like it. A big pile of it in the cage (but not in the house). They pouch it and take it to the nest.
4). A set up that has plenty of overhead cover as they are prey animals and don’t like a lot of open space overhead. A shelf or platform is good for this - something to sit under and climb onto and a good place to put heavier items or a food dish.
5) Only doing “partial cleans”. This means not cleaning everything at the same time do some things always smell familiar and it still feels like home to them. So eg do the wheel a different week to the substrate and toys a different week again. Basically - only as and when necessary. I go about 3 months before changing the substrate (in a 100cm cage) and even then replace some of the old bedding and spread it on top so it still smells familiar. Toys often don’t need much cleaning for a long time and the wheel can just be wiped as and when. But don’t wash it too often or they can stop
Using it as all their scent is gone.
|
thank you for your reply.. sadly he passed away right now and it breaks my heart. i will make sure to follow what you suggested in the future.