Re potty training a syrian

Amys_Mum · 01-30-2016, 06:50 AM

Harvey was potty trained in her old cage, which she's been in for 7 months. I moved her to the Barney in the new year, kept things as similar as I could.

I thought she was using the sand bath for wee instead of potty, but didn't mind as it's big. But it seems she's also been weeing inside the house, which I didn't realise at first because it's so big and there's loads of bedding.

How can I retrain her? As I'm having to change her bedding daily which I'm sure is causing her to wee more!

cypher · 01-30-2016, 06:58 AM

Is the house big enough to put some kind of litter tray in? I think they just get a bit lazy sometimes & can't be bothered to get up, especially in winter!
If not all you can really do is put some soiled nesting material in the litter tray you want her to use, I'd put it as close to her house as you can & hope she gets the idea!

Coco61 · 01-30-2016, 10:45 AM

I am sure that changing her bedding daily will cause a lot of stress and make the problem worse. If her house is big enough inside is she weeing on all her bedding? Can you remove only a part of it? Can you just stop removing it for a while to let her settle?
My boy is a year old in mid March. He moved to a barney on 1st Nov. I think the move and colder weather changed things. He still uses his potty but as it is across the cage under the barney shelf (same position as in earlier cage ) he does not use it all the time. He has a big Guinea pig house and that has a removable slope to one side. His big nest is in the back but the lazy so and so comes forward, reverses under the slope and wee's. Luckily as its removable I can take it off And clean the area without disturbing the nest. But I don't do it more than weekly. He likes his smell and it doesn't bother me.

Amys_Mum · 01-30-2016, 03:24 PM

i don't think i can fit the potty inside, it's a corner house so whilst it is big (20 cm x 20 cm) there's not really the corner space -she's set up her nest right in the middle and because she is chunky and it's winter, she's got enough paper and tissue in there to pretty much fill it to the roof!

She's weeing along the back wall, digging down a litte, which is why it took me a while to realise, because the tissue/nest isn't getting wet but the sawdust underneath is. It was only when i went to do a proper cage clean, and moved everything that the ammonia hit me so i had to clear that whole corner. I left the rest of the cage alone, to protect as much of her smell as I could, and salvaged what i could of her nest - I really tried my best to minimise the impact. I don't know if it's the weather or the move, her potty is right next door, in exactly the same spot it was in the old cage!

So the past few days, i've checked the nest and sure enough the sawdust is damp again, so that's what I'm clearing out each time. I don't want the ammonia to build up again, it's not noticeable outside of the house so it's not bothering me, but obviously it's bad for the ham. So her actual bedding is fine, and not being changed except for any that's right next to the damp sawdust. But I'm still having to disturb her each day, which I know is upsetting - she's scowling at me! - and I'd rather not have to do it, hence wanting to re-train her to not go in her house.

Or do I buy a house big enough to put the potty in the corner and hope for the best? That seems to be my best bet right now! I was just going to get a guinea pig size house, but I think the Rodipet ones might be the way forward .

Pebbles82 · 01-31-2016, 06:16 AM

Hi. That was clever of her trying to wee under the house! They do try to be tidy sometimes I think! Yes I do think they like an ensuite bathroom lol - without having to go outside the house to go to the loo - if the house is spacious they do move the wee corner in there sometimes.

It's a shame as that house in the Barney is so nice, but I agree that a slightly bigger oblong one with the potty inside would probably work. I moved Charlie up from the guinea pig sized one he had, to the one he has now, for the same reason - he ran out of space for his hoards so started hoarding in his potty and weeing in his nest. Since the bigger house he only wees in the potty now.

Either one of the rodipet ones or the one I have would be good (posted it on your other thread). The only thing I think about the Rodipet ones is, if you have a large syrian, the rooms aren't that big in them (except maybe the larger labyrinth house). Check out the Ferplast Sin one I have on the other thread

Whatever you get, I would plastikote it inside first, because you can guarantee if you put the potty in one corner she will choose a different corner to wee in lol. But if it helps, Charlie always uses the back corner nearest the door for his toilet and builds his nest as far away from the door away from the door end, as possible. Which makes sense I guess.