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Old 06-27-2021, 03:05 AM   #1
Imogen
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Exclamation Toilet Mayhem

So, my little guy transferred over to a Detolf on thursday and he is absolutely loving it! He's now so much more active besides going on his wheel now and it's fun to see him explore. So much so he's now restarted to slightly burrow!

However, a little bit of an issue here!

I know hammies once toilet trained causes a few issues as they've been moved and have to relearn a new spot to pee in as their environment has changed. I placed the toilet in the same corner as it would've been in the bin but since Thursday I've only seen one little pee in there!

I woke up this morning to hope to see some pee but for the most part dry (I left the pee in for one more night to make sure he got the scent of the pee and should be going there). So, nothing!

I've looked everywhere; no pee on the wheel, no pee in his sandbath, every other corner is dry. No pee to be found anywhere whatsoever! I laid my hand flat over all the substrate; still nothing.

The only place he can be peeing is his hidey house?? I'll have to check that later.

I would hate to find him laying in his own pee, and his food being covered in it!

If he's peeing in his hidey house; how do I fix this? Get him to pee back in a corner? Would you say to remove the toilet and let him pee in that designated corner (as nothing will be there) and try and retrain him back into it?

EDIT: haha, just noticed my old toilet forum popped back up. Now it looks like I'm going on about nothing but hamsters going to the toilet..
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Last edited by Imogen; 06-27-2021 at 03:13 AM.
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Old 06-27-2021, 04:34 AM   #2
Ria P
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Default Re: Toilet Mayhem

Quote:
Originally Posted by Imogen View Post
EDIT: haha, just noticed my old toilet forum popped back up. Now it looks like I'm going on about nothing but hamsters going to the toilet..
Haha, you are not alone. When i got my first hamster in March 2019 i started a thread called: Hamster started to pee in his house!

He did end up peeing in his sand filled corner toilet but it was his decision if i remember right. I'd need to re-read that thread or have a look yourself. I'm sure there's useful advice from the helpful people on here in that thread.
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Old 06-27-2021, 02:44 PM   #3
Imogen
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Default Re: Toilet Mayhem

Update: I decided to clean out his hidey house after 2 days (I know this should be avoided, but needed to find where he was peeing) to my disbelief he hasn't peed there either. No idea now where he's peeing!!
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Old 06-28-2021, 03:45 AM   #4
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Toilet Mayhem

You'll have to wait and see If he's in a new cage he may well have changed habits and chosen somewhere else as a toilet. That corner may be further from his house than before.

I would leave his house alone now or he'll get really stressed with the cage move and trying to settle and build a nest - if he does happen to pee in there it won't do any real harm for a short time.

If he's in a much bigger cage, maybe you could give him a bigger house? If they have a large house - big enough to fit a corner litter tray in with still plenty of room left - they always (IME) use the litter tray that's in the house - kind of ensuite . A shoebox house is ideal - doesn't cost anything. I've also used the Ferplast sin rabbit house - which has a lift off roof. It's far too small for a rabbit. It is quite tall so the door is really large, so it works best if sat directly on the cage base, sort of part submerged (ie substrate inside to reduce the height and piled up round the outside to reduce the height of the door. And A bendy stick bridge over the door.

If it doesn't smell, don't worry about it! You'll know when the pee needs spot cleaning as it'll start to smell strongly.

If you do give him a different house, best way is to just take the old house out and pop the new one over the top, over his nest and hoard and not disturb anything that was in the house. He'll adjust quicker. Although I'd wait a couple of weeks now before changing anything, so he settles ok.
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Old 06-28-2021, 04:57 AM   #5
Imogen
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Default Re: Toilet Mayhem

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Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
You'll have to wait and see If he's in a new cage he may well have changed habits and chosen somewhere else as a toilet. That corner may be further from his house than before.

I would leave his house alone now or he'll get really stressed with the cage move and trying to settle and build a nest - if he does happen to pee in there it won't do any real harm for a short time.

If he's in a much bigger cage, maybe you could give him a bigger house? If they have a large house - big enough to fit a corner litter tray in with still plenty of room left - they always (IME) use the litter tray that's in the house - kind of ensuite . A shoebox house is ideal - doesn't cost anything. I've also used the Ferplast sin rabbit house - which has a lift off roof. It's far too small for a rabbit. It is quite tall so the door is really large, so it works best if sat directly on the cage base, sort of part submerged (ie substrate inside to reduce the height and piled up round the outside to reduce the height of the door. And A bendy stick bridge over the door.

If it doesn't smell, don't worry about it! You'll know when the pee needs spot cleaning as it'll start to smell strongly.

If you do give him a different house, best way is to just take the old house out and pop the new one over the top, over his nest and hoard and not disturb anything that was in the house. He'll adjust quicker. Although I'd wait a couple of weeks now before changing anything, so he settles ok.
Thank you so much; I was looking for a bigger house as I did feel the house was a little too small. I plan on adopting a dwarf at some point when I get a bit more money behind me, and get back into work so I can use the house for that little one if it's still in good nick without any pee soaking through to the wooden structure. I do have a spare shoebox actually that has some nikes in that don't get worn, could possibly use that! As you stated though best to wait a few weeks; which I will to avoid any further stress.

I did lift the lid off of his hidey house when he was running on the wheel again last night, didn't touch it but just looked over and in to see if I could see anything but nope. From what I could see there was nothing yellow so it looked quite clean.

I've tried putting the toilet back in with some brand new fresh sand and placed it in the corner opposite his hidey house so it's very close. Hopefully he'll remember what it's for and use it. Probably not though, but I'll keep my hopes up... He does sit in it though I've noticed, if it's in there he for some reason completely avoids his larger sand bath and decides to just sit and flick in the awkward triangle shaped tray instead...
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Old 06-28-2021, 05:06 AM   #6
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Default Re: Toilet Mayhem

I actually don't bother with a sand bath for Syrians if they've got a sand toilet. They don't seem so bothered about sand baths really. Robos definitely need a sand bath. Ours do the same - use the toilet as a toilet and a sand bath.

With a shoebox house - keep the lid as the roof and cut the base out, so it's open underneath. Then you can take the roof off to check inside so the nest doesn't get disturbed or fall apart. You need to take the roof off anyway to lift the toilet out - makes it very handy! The best place to cut a hole for a door is on one of the long sides near one end. So the other end is darker. They always nest at the darker end and pee in the corner opposite the doorway - so the place to put the litter tray is at the back corner opposite the doorway Putting a bendy bridge over the doorway means he's less likely to block off the doorway and mess up the toilet!

If you don't like the look of the shoebox you could disguise it maybe - eg - put a piece of hemp mat on the roof or stick some round the sides or something.
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Old 06-28-2021, 07:38 AM   #7
Imogen
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Default Re: Toilet Mayhem

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Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
I actually don't bother with a sand bath for Syrians if they've got a sand toilet. They don't seem so bothered about sand baths really. Robos definitely need a sand bath. Ours do the same - use the toilet as a toilet and a sand bath.

With a shoebox house - keep the lid as the roof and cut the base out, so it's open underneath. Then you can take the roof off to check inside so the nest doesn't get disturbed or fall apart. You need to take the roof off anyway to lift the toilet out - makes it very handy! The best place to cut a hole for a door is on one of the long sides near one end. So the other end is darker. They always nest at the darker end and pee in the corner opposite the doorway - so the place to put the litter tray is at the back corner opposite the doorway Putting a bendy bridge over the doorway means he's less likely to block off the doorway and mess up the toilet!

If you don't like the look of the shoebox you could disguise it maybe - eg - put a piece of hemp mat on the roof or stick some round the sides or something.
So handy, thank you for this and letting me be aware about where to place the door.

And really? I know sand baths is a sort of must but wasn't entirely aware that Syrians don't really need a large one! That will give him a lot more room as well as it's a large circle one. So I guess I can save that for future Robo hams etc.
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Old 06-28-2021, 02:34 PM   #8
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Toilet Mayhem

Our first syrian hated sand! He had a little sand bath/salt pig style and used to remove all the sand so he could sit in it and get very cross if you put sand back in it. He did like the bit of sand in his potty though and would sit in the front half for a wash and pee in the back half. Ensuite bathroom They can be lazy as well - why go all the way over there to wash when you can wash and pee in the same place - lol.
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Old 07-06-2021, 05:14 AM   #9
Imogen
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Default Re: Toilet Mayhem

Update: remy has been peeing in his toilet with some sand in it. But has also decided to adapt it as a "bed"... he's been filling it up with a thin layer of bedding and storing all his food in it, weeing in it and sleeping in it by the looks of it!

It was opposite the door on the very right hand side so I did decide to move it to see if that would change anything. It has! It seems hes taken to sleeping right outside the front of the door and is now using the left back corner of his house as a wee corner. It was completely clean when I woke up but he might change it during the course of today...

Guess he's using it for 3 things... utter nightmare to clean since I can't really make a lot of noise past 1am so therefore I do sometimes have to clean it before he wakes up... Any recommendations or I guess I just have to leave it up to him?
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