I have had my 2 male chins for about 9 months now. I recently upgraded their cage to a Savic Royale Suite (German version of the Critter/Ferret nation). They race about it and seem to really enjoy the extra space, but of course the change is bringing about some behavioral changes that I just wanted some more experienced opinions on.
First off, they were fairly good about peeing in one corner in their last cage. Granted, it had a lot less floor space, so they had a bit less choice. But since they've moved into their new cage they are peeing *everywhere*. They get the occasional pee in one of their pyrex litter dishes, but I feel like that's mostly chance more so than them making an actual connection. They also seem oddly adverse to getting into the litter dish. We use the same dishes (without litter) when they come out at playtime in the corners to keep the cardboard pen up, and they're happy to hop in and pee in them then, but oddly *not* in their cage. Are they just marking their territory all over their cage to make it smell like them, and establish its theirs? I'm not expecting them to get it overnight by any means, but I'm just wondering if this is usual chin behavior in a new cage...? I'm not used to them peeing in the middle of things; they usually at least find a corner...
Secondly, we're having some issues with them insisting on climbing behind their wheel. They have a metal TicTac Wheel. It's huge - 16 inches in diameter and 5 inches running width. We've put a shelf above the wheel so they can't jump on it when the other one is running. But the problem is the sides: the mounting hardware on the back means the wheel sits about 2 inches or so away from the cage bars. They both seem to enjoy squeezing themselves behind the wheel and climbing the cage bars. I'm just worried one of them is going to get hurt (especially if another one is running) because it looks uncomfortable. Is this just a normal chin thing to do and should I not be too concerned? I know they love smooshing themselves into confined spaces... We even built them a tight crawl space to allow them to do this. Besides building vertical shelves to completely enclose the wheel – which would take up a lot of space, and just seems impractical – I am not sure how else I could solve this...
First off, they were fairly good about peeing in one corner in their last cage. Granted, it had a lot less floor space, so they had a bit less choice. But since they've moved into their new cage they are peeing *everywhere*. They get the occasional pee in one of their pyrex litter dishes, but I feel like that's mostly chance more so than them making an actual connection. They also seem oddly adverse to getting into the litter dish. We use the same dishes (without litter) when they come out at playtime in the corners to keep the cardboard pen up, and they're happy to hop in and pee in them then, but oddly *not* in their cage. Are they just marking their territory all over their cage to make it smell like them, and establish its theirs? I'm not expecting them to get it overnight by any means, but I'm just wondering if this is usual chin behavior in a new cage...? I'm not used to them peeing in the middle of things; they usually at least find a corner...
Secondly, we're having some issues with them insisting on climbing behind their wheel. They have a metal TicTac Wheel. It's huge - 16 inches in diameter and 5 inches running width. We've put a shelf above the wheel so they can't jump on it when the other one is running. But the problem is the sides: the mounting hardware on the back means the wheel sits about 2 inches or so away from the cage bars. They both seem to enjoy squeezing themselves behind the wheel and climbing the cage bars. I'm just worried one of them is going to get hurt (especially if another one is running) because it looks uncomfortable. Is this just a normal chin thing to do and should I not be too concerned? I know they love smooshing themselves into confined spaces... We even built them a tight crawl space to allow them to do this. Besides building vertical shelves to completely enclose the wheel – which would take up a lot of space, and just seems impractical – I am not sure how else I could solve this...
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