Disturbing my little Frida

[fridakahlo]

I need to give the bedding side of her enclosure a proper clean out and I'm dreading disturbing her. I have had her since September 22 and so haven't done it very many times apart from the spot cleaning. How can I make it less traumatic for her?
Any advice appreciated

 

[RainbowBrite]

Do you have a play pen for Frida? If you were to encourage her into a mug or similar and then transfer her to a play pen were she could play with some nice things then you could get her cage cleaned.

Are you sure it needs a proper clean out? Usually only soiled bedding is needed to be removed.

 

[elusive]

Don’t clean any more than you need to, so remove any substrate that’s peed on or otherwise really isn’t clean enough but always leave some of the old substrate, as much as you can really to retain her scent.
If you do the nest area always leave some of the nest.
Same goes for the food hoard, you can either leave some of it & add some fresh mix if it’s looking a bit old or just replace it with fresh mix.
Good point about the playpen, do you take her out when you clean, it’s always best to put them somewhere safe you can keep an eye on them when cleaning, some hams are fine with a bit of spot cleaning while in the cage but anything more than that you do need to take them out.
I wouldn’t worry too much, as long as you don’t overdo it they soon get over it.
Put lots of tissue in the cage afterwards so she can collect it up to add back into her nest.

 

[Maz]

You could just do one side of the cage- eg the left half or the right half. I used to do this with our first Robo and he would move to a second nest in the uncleaned half for a while. Then 2 or 3 weeks later I’d do the other half of the cage. By then he had re scent marked the first half so he’d move back to his original nest when I did the second half. This way one half of the cage, and all the items in that half, still smelled and felt the same. So less stressful overall.

I’d suggest having Frida out of the cage when you do it. Depending on how she reacts. You could start clearing out one half while she’s in the cage so she can see you re doing something - then get her out before it gets too noisy and messy and goes on a while. You could pop her in a pet carrier with nesting material and a house in a different room (so the cage noises don’t upset her). I also put a fleece blanket over the pet carrier so it’s dark and they can just go to sleep. If you have a spare smaller cage that would do instead.

 

[fridakahlo]

Thanks, really helpful ideas. Once it's all done I'll send photos