[Engel]

Hi and welcome to HC!

Where abouts in the world are you, I may be able to suggest better cages for you based on where you live.

As for sand, how deep is it? if its a shallow dish it wont do much. I also use a little sieve/ tea strainer to remove soiled sand.

What species of hamster is Hinoka?

With my Syrians I mixed in paper pelleted litter in with the sand to help lock away the odours. For my Syrian I sieve through the litter once every 3-4 days. if you do it more often than they may mark the area to make it smell like them again. The more you clean it the worse it gets. Now with my dwarf hamster I can leave his sand bath a week before sieving through it and he practically lives in his.

One more thing to know, female hamsters come on heat every 4 days, typically lasts 12hrs and it typically starts in the evening and ends at dawn. This makes them smell and secrete a slightly white discharge from her vulva which stinks! So it may be that you can smell.