Toilet training

[Snowy_Syrian]

Snowy has picked as his toilet one of the rooms of his multi-chamber house that has a wood floor (the house has some rooms with a floor and some without). Initially I was just putting bedding in there to absorb the wee, but recently he's been moving all the bedding out and just weeing on the wood. The room is small and rectangular with entrances on three sides, which means I can't put a corner litter tray in there, but on Tuesday I found a small shallow tupperware tray that fits and filled it with sand. It partly covers the entrances but there's still room for him to get through. It's not ideal but it's all I can fit in there.

I checked yesterday to make sure he hasn't been gnawing the plastic (which he hasn't), but it was partly tipped up and he's put bedding in it. I couldn't tell if he's been using it for wees (didn't want to disturb it too much). I fear it's been getting in his way and annoying him.

Ideally I'd rather he uses a different room of his house, one without a floor so I can sink the litter tray down below the level of the entrances so it doesn't obstruct anything. But I'm worried he'd just go back to weeing on the wood floor of the other room... How can I best go about this?

(Sorry for the long post!)

[cloudy]

Have you coated the wood? You can buy plastikote for £5 on Amazon. It seals wood and is safe for hamsters.

[Snowy_Syrian]

Originally Posted by cloudy

Have you coated the wood? You can buy plastikote for £5 on Amazon. It seals wood and is safe for hamsters.

No - I imagine it would be too late to do this now, as it would just seal in the urine that's already soaked into the wood?

I had heard of Plastikote but was unsure about using it as he gnaws his house a lot, and I didn't want him ingesting plastic!

[cloudy]

Originally Posted by Snowy_Syrian

No - I imagine it would be too late to do this now, as it would just seal in the urine that's already soaked into the wood?

I had heard of Plastikote but was unsure about using it as he gnaws his house a lot, and I didn't want him ingesting plastic!

I can see your point. It is a difficult one for you. Could you sand off the urine soaked bits and then paint it with plastikote?

[Snowy_Syrian]

Originally Posted by cloudy

I can see your point. It is a difficult one for you. Could you sand off the urine soaked bits and then paint it with plastikote?

Might be fiddly as it's such a small room. Ultimately I fear it may come down to buying him a new house, but ideally I'd like to litter train him first to avoid a repeat performance!

With Plastikote, would you use it all over or just on the floor areas? I'd like for him to still be able to gnaw on the sides and room dividers, as it's good for enrichment and for his teeth.

[cloudy]

Originally Posted by Snowy_Syrian

Might be fiddly as it's such a small room. Ultimately I fear it may come down to buying him a new house, but ideally I'd like to litter train him first to avoid a repeat performance!

With Plastikote, would you use it all over or just on the floor areas? I'd like for him to still be able to gnaw on the sides and room dividers, as it's good for enrichment and for his teeth.

I personally coated all my wooden things with it. I understand it is tricky if the hamster chews. Have you got other chews in the cage such as whimzees?

[Ria P]

One of my Syrians pees inside his (bottomless) house opposite his nest. I placed a S sized Rodipet ceramic corner toilet there which works. The M sized one the other Syrians use who don't pee in their houses, doesn't fit.

You could also try to get him to relocate his toilet by placing smelly substrate there.

[Snowy_Syrian]

Originally Posted by cloudy

I personally coated all my wooden things with it. I understand it is tricky if the hamster chews. Have you got other chews in the cage such as whimzees?

Yeah he has a whimzee (which he does love and chews loads) plus various wooden, sisal and cardboard chewers (which he mainly ignores). I also currently have on order some of the wooden ones that attach to the bars, to try to discourage bar chewing (which he also does - not loads, but I'm trying to get on top of it!). He likes to chew inside his house too though - when he's awake but wants some peace and quiet and privacy, I often hear him gnawing away in there.

[Snowy_Syrian]

Originally Posted by Ria P

One of my Syrians pees inside his (bottomless) house opposite his nest. I placed a S sized Rodipet ceramic corner toilet there which works. The M sized one the other Syrians use who don't pee in their houses, doesn't fit.

You could also try to get him to relocate his toilet by placing smelly substrate there.

Those Rodipet ones look good. I will get him one. It won't work in his current 'toilet' room though, due to the size and the entrances. I'll do as you say and see if I can persuade him to change the room he uses.

[cloudy]

Just to let you know you can also buy chamber hides from this site:
Hamsters | Happy Henry’s Homes

They sell stilts in various sizes too.