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Post by saffy78 on May 4, 2013 19:22:14 GMT
Hi everyone, I have two beautiful Chins, Anya and Sophia, I have an xtrail cage and I am using sawdust but I am not sure if that is a good idea, alot of the research I have done seems to suggest it's not great for the chins health, also mess wise (because of the shallow trays) is a nightmare, I was hoping to find out what others on the forum suggest that is better suited and hopefully less messy!
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Post by ntg on May 5, 2013 10:20:44 GMT
Hi Saffy! Unfortunately the majority of us on the forum only keep degus and have no experience with chins, although I'm sure many of us would love to keep some one day I've heard of people using fleece liners on their cages, but I'd think that they would need changing either every day or every other day, so it means a lot of washing at the end of the week! Hopefully somebody will be along who can offer you some good suggestions, even if they know of a good forum as an alternative!
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Post by Maravilla on May 5, 2013 10:38:55 GMT
Hi Saffy, do you literally mean sawdust (= this very fine stuff) or normal bedding (= wood shavings)? I do not keep chins either (but would like if I had the space and time) but I cannot imagine that the fine stuff is good for their fur or their lungs. The mess is always a problem with wire cages, but you could try to protect them with acrylic glass which you can put around the cage at height of the levels.
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Post by saffy78 on May 5, 2013 11:36:12 GMT
Hi ntg and Maravilla, I am using wood shavings not sawdust sorry lol, the dust extracted sort, I just had a look at the fleece liners, brilliant idea, I need to do a bit more research but so far so good, and as for cleaning the liners every few days, compared to the amount of mess this morning, I think that would be alot easier! and thanks another good idea is the acrylic glass, I had been told in a pet store that perspex would be good, but I am pretty sure that would be a no no with chins and plastic type materials! I thought there were some chin owners on the site, have I come to the wrong place.....trust me lol!
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Post by ntg on May 5, 2013 11:43:16 GMT
Lol perspex would be fine if you could attach it to the outside of the cage, where the chin can't get to it to have a chew! And it does have chinchilla in the name I know one old member who kept chins mentioned something about making a new forum dedicated to them. I don't know how it took off, but I can see if I can find the link?
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Post by saffy78 on May 5, 2013 12:13:23 GMT
perspex would be pretty easy to attach to the cage, I will have a look into it, a link would be great thank you
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Post by ntg on May 5, 2013 12:34:25 GMT
The one I'm thinking of didn't take off unfortunately here's the link anyway but it's not much good! chinstuff.freeforums.net
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Post by saffy78 on May 5, 2013 19:58:48 GMT
thanks for finding it for me all the same, I'll have a look, I have just ordered some fleece liners for my cage, so hopefully they will be here at the end of the week and no more sawdust.....hooray, thanks so much for the idea
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Post by Maravilla on May 5, 2013 20:14:28 GMT
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Post by saffy78 on May 5, 2013 22:11:30 GMT
thanks Maravilla, I haven't seen that before, I wonder if you have to change the sheets each week, potty training is starting this evening but they might not take to it, if they did, I guess you could clean the poops off and use it for longer
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Post by ilikedegus on May 5, 2013 22:19:55 GMT
Hi I'm surprised no-one's mentioned this horse bedding: www.northerncropdriers.co.uk/product/megazorbStockists here: www.northerncropdriers.co.uk/stockistsIt's far healthier than sawdust (some wood resins are very bad for little rodent's lungs), but isn't much less messy. Unfortunately you can only get it by the sack...I'm lucky in that my county's only stockist is less than a mile away, plus I have a dry shed to store it in too. The other thing we use is just sheets of plain brown cardboard from clean boxes. Soaks up pee fine, then I compost or recycle it when we clean out. It works well (for degus) as it keeps feet off wire floors, which is what some of our cages have.
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Post by Maravilla on May 6, 2013 6:46:01 GMT
I wonder if you have to change the sheets each week, potty training is starting this evening but they might not take to it, if they did, I guess you could clean the poops off and use it for longer I do not use this because I would need around 15 m² which is too expensive. But I am sure there is no need to change it every week. Depending on the amount of animals and the cage size there is a good chance that it can stay in the cage for a couple of weeks (I read something of 4-8 weeks). You only have to collect the droppings regularly.
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Post by saffy78 on May 6, 2013 9:32:16 GMT
thanks ilikedegus and Maravilla, I am really intrigued by the hemp bedding and also the idea of just using cardboard, I think I will experiment with cardboard this week, my liners won't be here until the end of the week and I really don't want to put more sawdust in! I will do a quick check that if the chins eat the cardboard it won't be a problem first, but thanks for the ideas, I really appreciate it
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Post by saffy78 on May 6, 2013 13:28:22 GMT
Just for an update, I have lined the xtrail in cardboard (from the box the xtrail came in!) it was a bit of a job, measuring and cutting out cardboard (my cage has 4 shelves!) and so far so good, both the girls peed in the litter tray as soon as they noticed it (I put some soiled wood chippings in the litter tray and put the tray in the corner of the cage they tend to pee in), so far so good, I am sure there will be lots of pees on the cardboard, but it will be much easier to spot clean for droppings than the sawdust, and I can easily replace a soiled piece, I have the fleece liners coming at the end of the week, but if the cardboard works well I am sure the liners will be even better, another bonus is that the cardboard makes the chins jumping alot quiter, not that I minded the noise atall, but if anyone did it helps..... thank you all so much for taking the time to give me advice, even though it's a Degu site you have completely sorted my Chin related problem out......amazing ty
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Post by ilikedegus on May 6, 2013 20:08:56 GMT
Yes, I should have mentioned that you end up custom-fitting cardboard. I got quicker at it! You can use the dirty piece as a template for a new bit.
Lucky with the litter tray! You have intelligent and civilised chins ;-)
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radar
Newborn Degu
Posts: 12
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Post by radar on Apr 12, 2016 23:01:40 GMT
we have both chins and goos cohabiting and iv found with experience that dust extracted shavings and sand is the way forward. the entire bottom floor of the 3 tier hutch is about 30 mm deep in sand it makes a great play pit
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Post by polly on Apr 19, 2016 16:07:37 GMT
I would not recommend using sawdust or sand for chinchillas. Chins can very easily develop respiratory or eye infections through using this type of substrate, or suffer GI tract issues or gut stasis as a result of ingesting it. If the bottom of your cage is mesh, then simply add fleece cage liners, or terracotta tiles if your chin is a fleece nibbler. Line the tray under the mesh with newspaper. As long as chins have wooden shelves, and other solid surfaces to rest on, then Bumble Foot should never be an issue. Chins have dense fur, and debris from sand or sawdust may work down to their skin and cause irritation with can be difficult to spot.
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Post by kdogbella23 on Sept 21, 2018 22:14:54 GMT
In the cage tile and metal pans are good if you have a glass litter box. For bedding bedding no dust of any kind because of their sensitive lungs. Paper can also swell in their stomachs and kill them. Aspen shavings work best as long as they are not treated. Fleece is very common for covering up plastic trays. If you have something with wire the wore must have squares no larger than 1/2 inch by 1/2 an inch. And anything under wire must be over 4 inches away otherwise they could still eat it. (Aspen under wire is fine.) The entire cage should not be all wire nor all fleece.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2018 22:07:18 GMT
In the cage tile and metal pans are good if you have a glass litter box. For bedding bedding no dust of any kind because of their sensitive lungs. Paper can also swell in their stomachs and kill them. Aspen shavings work best as long as they are not treated. Fleece is very common for covering up plastic trays. If you have something with wire the wore must have squares no larger than 1/2 inch by 1/2 an inch. And anything under wire must be over 4 inches away otherwise they could still eat it. (Aspen under wire is fine.) The entire cage should not be all wire nor all fleece. We do not promote wire flooring or ladders etc of any kind as it can and often does cause bumblefoot.
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Post by polly on Sept 23, 2018 15:43:00 GMT
Wire floored chinchilla cages do NOT cause bumblefoot! As long as solid resting places are provided within the cage, wire floors are by far the most hygienic type of cage bottom. Bumlefoot is caused by dirt or bacteria getting into an abrasion on the sole of the foot!
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