Author: Debra J. Housel
Keeping Your Cage's Surroundings Clean
All of us who love chinchillas know that although they keep their bodies
immaculately clean, they leave their surroundings a mess.
We have three wonderful standard chinchillas whom we adore. We keep them
right in the living room so that we can see them whenever they're awake
and interact with them often. They have a four-foot-tall wire cage.
Every day several times a day there would be pee down the wall as well as
pieces of hay, wood, food, and cardboard and poops on the floor all
around the cage.
I took to vaccuuming the area three times a day, and fortunately my
husband was tolerant. But then our 20-year-old carpeting in the living
room got so bad that it was threadbare. It was worn right down to the
backing! We had to replace the carpet, and that's when the problem
really started. Suddenly husband didn't feel very tolerant about all the
junk the chins tossed out all over the brand-new carpeting. He
suggested moving them to our unfinished basement! I was desperate to
keep them in the living room, so I tried enclosing their cage with
screening (the kind you buy on a roll at the hardware store to fix screen
doors). While that kept the mess off the floors (but not the pee off the
walls), it was a disaster because within a week the chins chewed big
holes in the screening! I quickly removed it, fearing for their delicate
digestion systems.
Then I had a brainstorm. I went to the local fabric store and bought
some white terrycloth (towel) fabric. It cost about $6. I finished all
the edges by merely turning them under and sewing them down (twice).
Then I "wrapped" the toweling tightly around the cage, making certain
that I pushed it down into the space between the base of the wire cage
and the plastic drop pan. I fastened along the top edge of the cage with
hair clips/claws (the kind that the stylist uses to put up a big chunk of
your hair while she works on another section). This way the chins
couldn't reach the clips/claws or they'd have surely destroyed them.
Overnight the problem was solved! Although I didn't wrap the front of
the cage (where the doors are), in front of the cage is the only place I
ever have to clean now--and then only first thing in the morning. The
towel absorbs any urine and guides all the little pieces of "junk" down
into the drop pan where it belongs.
Now I've made a second "wrap," so I don't have to immediately do the
laundry when this one gets soiled. This solution has been working well
for us for two months now. I hope that if you need to keep your chin's
cage surroundings pristine that this solution will work for you, too.
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