What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[ktmul]

Morning, 

We bought a Qute and hamster for our daughter for Christmas. So far so good except that it has decided to use the plastic top floor for its toilet. As a result the pee pours down the side and ends up under the bottom plastic tray. I have left some of the absorbent bedding along the edges but its still annoying. I've read that you can train hamsters where to pee. Has anyone else had this issue and were you able to resolve it. 

Many thanks.  

[soapdragon]

We have had a variety of hamsters over the past 10 years in a number of different cages (tho' not a Qute as it it my understanding that they do not meet the RSPCA minimum with regards to the amount of space). Generally each hamster has found his or her own 'wee corner' and continued to use that specific spot. However, we have just had a problem with our huge hairy Syrian deciding to wee in the plastic tube which runs along the back of his cage. In an attempt to combat this we have removed the tube and washed it in very smelly disinfectant as it seems to be the smell that attracts the hamster back to the same spot to wee. Equally we have removed the tube and will not replace it until Henrick has established another, more acceptable wee area! Hopefully this will be enough to break the pattern of him using the tube; if not then we'll have to remove the tube permanently.

You can buy hamster loos but I am not sure how effective these actually are but might be worth a try if the following doesn't work! If I were you then I'd wash/disinfect the wee area really well to make sure that you remove all the smell and then line the area with newspaper, which may deter him from using that area but, if not, will make clearing it up much easier.

[Patricia W]

My granddaughter has one  and my son has put a Perspex sheet at the back

[Cat tails]

My hamster just ate the plastic loo... in one night... she was of the determined type. You could try to place a loo (or just a ceramic bowl) with something absorbent on the top floor and add it’s poo to it, to see if it will get the drift and then move the loo somewhere else. But all of my critters have peed up there so far. 

My gerbil uses his tubes as loo too, although I’m not under the slightest impression I would able to train him to pee somewhere else. I just make sure I have something underneath it and add some hay to the tubes.