Do habitats get old over time?

[Yannick82]

I notice something strange and was wondering if it's a bug or feature...

I'm at year 20 or so of my franchise zoo and after 15 years or so, I get messages saying the first habitat I ever build is dirty. Its cleanliness is around 49%. I hired 3 additional keepers and assigned them all to that single habitat. I made sure staff room and so on is close to the habitat so they don't have to walk far.
This doesn't help... Cleanliness doesn't improve.
Now, a few years later, the second habitat I build is getting the same issue. For some reason, it can't get cleaned.

Because of the order at which this is appearing, I was wondering if I need to remove the entire habitat and give them a make over.
From a realistic point of view, it would make sense to do this as after 15 years or so, a habitat is aged so it would make sense to make some changes.

I will try this now in game but not sure if it will help... Would be good to hear the response from a dev or so who understands this process.

 

[PeppyPepp]

The most probable reason your cleanliness level is decreasing is because sometimes poo gets stuck underneath the animal's shelter (it happened to me as well and other people). Try relocating the shelter, wait for the keeper to clean it and then put it back.

 

[Yannick82]

Ah yes thx! I removed the shelter and there was plenty of poo underneath.
Thx for the advice. That will solve my issue

 

[Dezessete]

I have the same problem. It didn't help to relocate the shelter, there was nothing underneath it. The cleanliness is around 50% but the zookeepers just walk in and go out again. Sometimes they remove a little poo, but the cleanliness stays at the same percentage.

 

[Charmmy Colour]

I have the same problem. It didn't help to relocate the shelter, there was nothing underneath it. The cleanliness is around 50% but the zookeepers just walk in and go out again. Sometimes they remove a little poo, but the cleanliness stays at the same percentage.

Same, I tried everything, removing the shelters, relocating items, keep water out of the enclosure with invisible barrier, even putting “do not feed” signs all around!

Nothing. The cleanliness stays now at 49% and it consistently seems to decrease a point even three months. Please help

This wasn’t even my first enclosure, and I have zero plants/rocks where poop could be hiding. I should take photos and open a thread...

 

[Wolfen75]

Mh, that problem of yours is weired indeed Charmmy.
I am at year 28 now and don't got that issue on a single habitat.

I had a issue once my crocs wasn't getting/recognizing , no matter what i did.
I finally razed it and rebuild i from scratch, maybe thats the only solution for yours, too.
Important seems to be to destroy the entrace and cut the staff part, take it out the work zones, eradicate all traces the game has into it.

I don't now yet what the problem was, but like in real life, burn it to the ground and rebuilt solved it

 

[Jileha]

Probably stupid question, but just in case: are your keepers assigned the task to clean the habitat? Maybe they just feed the animals.

i don’t know if being tired or unhappy could lead to them not being as conscientious as they should be. If they are assigned to too many habitats, get called to another exhibit for a higher priority task, or the the ratio pooping animal/keeper is oit of balancd, this might cause issues as well.

 

[Dezessete]

Probably stupid question, but just in case: are your keepers assigned the task to clean the habitat? Maybe they just feed the animals.

i don’t know if being tired or unhappy could lead to them not being as conscientious as they should be. If they are assigned to too many habitats, get called to another exhibit for a higher priority task, or the the ratio pooping animal/keeper is oit of balancd, this might cause issues as well.

Yes my keepers are assigned to the habitat. I'm in year 15 now and the first 13 years I didn't had any problems. It's started just recently.

 

[Wolfen75]

Probably stupid question, but just in case: are your keepers assigned the task to clean the habitat? Maybe they just feed the animals.

i don’t know if being tired or unhappy could leas to them not being as conscientious as they should be. If they are assigned to too many habitats, get called to another exhibit for a higher priority task, or the the ratio pooping animal/keeper is oit of balancd, this might cause issues as well.

I don't think you can give them special tasks, they take care for all animal needs, i would suppose with the priorities of water->food->cleaning.
I got all my habitats well staffed, all keepers are at an efficient workload with short pikes of high workload from time to time.
No clue if they start to fail if they don't rest enough, i have spread small resting rooms all over the place to be sure they have very short and easy ways to rest.

I had the croc problem too after several years without problems.
I also had suddenly staff got stuck on a path i build 15 ingame years ago.
No freaking clue what caused that suddenly, but i had to completly rebuild it.

There are many small weired bugs, but so far you can quite well work around them with a little patience.
I hardly enjoyed any game this year like i do with this one, despite the fact i am fighting technical issues 1/3 of the time spent.

 

[Jileha]

I don't think you can give them special tasks, they take care for all animal needs, i would suppose with the priorities of water->food->cleaning.

Yes, you can. Just like the other staff. If you click on one of them and go to the tab with the briefcase, you’ll find the list with tasks. In fairly large habitats such as elephants or mixed habitats, I have one keeper that only feeds, one that only cleans, and one that does both. That seems to work well (so far).

 

[Wolfen75]

Yes, you can. Just like the other staff. If you click on one of them and go to the tab with the briefcase, you’ll find the list with tasks. In fairly large habitats such as elephants or mixed habitats, I have one keeper that only feeds, one that only cleans, and one that does both. That seems to work well (so far).

Holy fur, i can't believe my zoo is running so good, considering the little i know XD
Thanks for the hint.
Thats helpful for huge mixed habitats for sure.