Poo Monster?

by peas Wed 22 Jun 2016, 6:56 am

So i had a bit of a surprise today. My mouse, Nutty, fills her wheel with poo. I clean it, an hour later it's pretty much filled with poo. I mean an hour later if she runs on it right away, it might stay clean if she's asleep, dreaming about pooing in her wheel.

She has a giant plastic bin she lives, alone, because she's a mean mean mouse to other mice. That's neither here nor there, but for the last 4 days she's had a giant carboard box filled with toys and ladders and various cardboard tunnels etc, upside down in her plastic bin, it takes pretty much the entire thing up, her wheel is on top the cardboard box. So i haven't been able to see what she's been upto for 4 days, other than when she's on her wheel on top the box.

Today, i flipped over the box, to give her a new look. (now all the ladders and tunnels, glued to together in her box are upside down) and to my shock, there was not a single poo in her box. Not one. I didn't go digging around, so maybe i could find one if i really tried but basically it was clean, no poo anywhere in sight.

I don't get it? Does she really save all her poos for her wheel? And her former cage mate, is just the opposite. Her wheel is always clean. Never any poos, and she runs, i hear her running. Weirdos.

And the best part i guess, is she spent one night without her wheel. So she was presumably in her box all night climbing and chewing, and still no poos. She must of been climbing up to the roof, to poo where her wheel used to be. (i was going to clean it but got too tired so she went a night without it) Like i said, weirdos.

by CallaLily Wed 22 Jun 2016, 10:27 am

It's my understanding that mice have very little control over their poos. They go wherever they are. Neater mice might keep certain spots cleaned up better by moving poop. One mouse's wheel may just be cleaner because they use it less often.

by MouseLover Wed 22 Jun 2016, 1:57 pm

I'd heard that mice are pretty much incontinent and go wherever. However, my girls have a designated pooping spot right now, so I'm not so sure. There always seems to be a little pile of poops in their sputnik, so I just spot clean in there when I see the poops piling up Laughing

So I'm really not sure - their behaviour seems to contradict what people have told me Don't Know

by CallaLily Wed 22 Jun 2016, 3:39 pm

Do you see them actively going to these spots to poo or is it possible they're just moving the poo to those places, after the fact? My mice seem to just drop it wherever they are. In the food dish, on the wheel, on toys, on me, stuck to the glass. Laugh

by MouseLover Thu 23 Jun 2016, 10:29 am

I just see the little poop area so it could be quite possible that one of my mice is "tidying up". Although when I actually see them tidying up, they chuck things through the bars - poops, bedding that's been peed on, bits of food they don't want, all thrown into the great abyss beyond their cage walls Laughing

by CallaLily Thu 23 Jun 2016, 6:40 pm

MouseLover wrote:Although when I actually see them tidying up, they chuck things through the bars - poops, bedding that's been peed on, bits of food they don't want, all thrown into the great abyss beyond their cage walls

Oh my.

by Brynne Thu 23 Jun 2016, 7:35 pm

Ah! The old "Who flung poo?" situation that occurs with wire cages.
I only have one buck at the moment, so he's the only one in wire. Therefore, there is no mystery where the poo comes from. I have cardboard under and behind his cage, but if he kicks anything off of his upper-level corner shelf, it tends to bounce and make its way to the floor of the room.

by peas Fri 24 Jun 2016, 2:46 am

Of course they can hold poos, there isn't poo leaking out of them all day. Think about it, how often do your mice poo on you? Is it just random that they don't? I am sure they can't or don't want to hold poos for very long or as well as a person or a dog or something, but they do have some control over their bowels.

by scaredymouse Fri 24 Jun 2016, 3:55 am

What a funny thread, lol. Most of my mice poop on me, except Delilah and Goose. Very respectful! And I ask my mice cleaning poops out of the nest piece by piece. It's funny because Goose has the strongest smell of all my mice but he has the tidiest tank. Clean nest, clean wheels! He's such a good boy.

Gilly and Furgie won't pee on my clothes, they will walk over to some skin and pee there. And yesterday, I saw something I've never seen before! Jellybean was in the hammock, and I saw her hang her butt over the side and pee! She wanted to keep the nest clean but was too lazy to go downstairs! Ha!

It has been my experience that young mice are messier, especially with the dirty wheels. Anyone could take one look at my tank and know I have a younger mouse right now based on the large number of poops I have stuck to the glass behind the mesh wheel. It just chucks them back on the glass. Splat. I sure love those little stinkers though.

Edit to add: Gilly was snuggle up in my shirt one time when she was young and I see her head poke out with a poop in her teeth and she drops it on my chest, goes back in... And then a few minutes later did it again. Silly mice.

by CallaLily Fri 24 Jun 2016, 7:58 am

peas wrote:
Of course they can hold poos, there isn't poo leaking out of them all day. Think about it, how often do your mice poo on you? Is it just random that they don't? I am sure they can't or don't want to hold poos for very long or as well as a person or a dog or something, but they do have some control over their bowels.

I didn't say no control, I said very little. And that's just my understanding from what I've read and what I've seen. Wink

scaredymouse wrote:
Edit to add: Gilly was snuggle up in my shirt one time when she was young and I see her head poke out with a poop in her teeth and she drops it on my chest, goes back in... And then a few minutes later did it again. Silly mice.

Very nice of her to clean out your shirt!

by peas Fri 24 Jun 2016, 8:38 pm

So now that the box is upside down and no longer hidden, it's filled with poop.

Nutty seemed to only hold her poops long enough to poop on the roof or only bothered cleaning them if you think that's the case, when the box was like a giant enclosed hut. Now that the box has an open roof, she doesn't seem to care about pooping wherever. It will be interesting to see the next time i flip the box over what happens.

by Brynne Sat 25 Jun 2016, 10:29 am

I've had a lot of mice who like to select one cardboard box as a toilet.

by Sponsored content

Poo Monster?

Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?

Re: Poo Monster?