Recently started peeing in House

[RubyDG]

So my Syrian Spike has always been very particular about using his litter box. It has only been the odd occasion that he has peed inside his labyrinth house and usually on colder days so I have always thought it was when he was feeling too lazy to move much past his warm bed. Recently though he has been doing it a lot more to the point where I actually have to clean out his nest once or twice a week which I didn't need to before. Previously I only needed to do it once or twice a month, he's always been such a clean and tidy ham.

This change has been since the 16th April when he abandoned the open nest he had been using for two weeks and moved back into his labyrinth house. Tonight I cleaned out his nest again and he had used the same spot he stored his food to pee on so his stash was all pee soaked . He seems his usual self otherwise, eating and drinking all the same, bright eyed and full of nonsense. I guess I'm trying to figure out his behavior here, I'm also not happy about the peeing in the house although the floor has been completely removed so his house is sitting directly on substrate. He is still using his litter box and there has been no changes there, he is still peeing and pooping in it but now also peeing in the house. I have also noticed that he keeps blocking the entrance to his house. Usually this bedding is a little dirty but not the dirtiest if that makes sense. In the past he has only done this because it's either dirty bedding he wants out or it's cold (it's not cold at the moment). The only thing I can think of is that he is 8 months now so not a baby anymore and I have noticed that he is now more inclined to 'chill out' and cuddle etc than he was before (not that he doesn't still run around like a maniac) so maybe it's just him getting lazy? That or is he trying to recreate the open nest experience within his own home by blocking the entrance and he doesn't want to make the effort to unblock it and go out to his litter box? Still while the entrance is often blocked it's not every single day, but then would I notice if he peed outside the house just for one day?

I'm not hugely concerned or anything but I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts on this and if they have ever experienced something similar. I think I'm going to try and get a little dish for him to use as a litter tray inside his nest and see if that helps.

[Thin Lizzy]

Serendipity had this problem with Charlie, she'll be able to help you. I've not had that problem with mine so I'm not able to help.

[cypher]

Did the change in Spike's behaviour coincide with your hubby being ill & the changes in his routine Ruby?
I'm just wondering if he was maybe feeling a bit unsettled & feels a bit more secure sleeping & peeing in his house?
I think peeing in the nest & on a food hoard can be a bit of an I'm marking my territory to keep it safe thing!
My Chinese does that in her house, peed on food hoard isn't nice & she does have other food hoards she never pees on so I don't totally get that, just the way she is lol!
My Flynt practically spends his whole life in his labyrinth house & has had a litter tray in there since day one which he's always used. It is hard to find things to fit though, I use the little tins you get from Lush for their massage bars!

[Pebbles82]

I think they start to get a bit more independent as they get older. When Charlie moved into his big house, he also moved his toilet corner in there as well, so it sounds like Spike has done this (it's nice and cosy and private having an ensuite bathroom lol! If you moved his litter tray inside the house in the corner he is using he'd probably just use it in there. The problem is fitting it in! (Cypher's suggestion sounds good - or I now find that having the litter tray kind of buried a bit so the substrate is flat on top of it works well - Charlie likes to cover it up with substrate anyway). Yes I also had the problem of him putting his hoard in his wee corner - because he wanted to spread out a bit and ran out of space for hoarding! He's kind of stopped doing this since he realised I throw anything away that is too close to the potty, so now he just drags things into the doorway (and then can't get into the tube I put down for him lol because there's not enough headroom between his chew and the top of the tube! So I just move the chew out of the way (which he hates lol but has started moving it himself now).

So my suggestion would be - put the litter tray under the substrate/house in the corner he is weeing in. I actually had to replace my house when it got wee'd in the first time because I hadn't plastikoted it - it went in in a hurry when his previous set up broke during cleaning. But maybe leave it a bit to check he keeps weeing in the same place before thinking about replacing it. This second one also went in in a hurry, so I lined it with an Easter egg box for a tiny bit of protection. This was some weeks ago now and it is dry as a bone and he uses his potty, but covers it up with substrate before using it. He has started shredding the Easter egg box for his nest though (clearly it's handy and he's too lazy to forage for nesting lol).

The putting substrate over the door is just to make it dark inside so they feel underground I reckon. Sometimes we don't know what makes them get all independent but I think maybe it is like flying the nest lol and wanting to do things his own way.

As for the hoards in the wee corner, all you can do is throw them away, but maybe you could put some food back in new hoards in one of the runs in the lab house, with a bit showing through the substrate, and he might start using that place if he finds food there. I think they can learn certain habits. Charlie knows if he wees in his nest it gets taken out and he doesn't like that, so it very rarely happens now. But another ham might just find it more of a reason to wee to mark it, so maybe try to leave a tiny bit of the old nest behind even if it stinks.

Not sure which substrate you are using but I still have a mix of Fitch Shavings and some Supreme Cosi n dri. Mainly Fitch and I always make sure there's plenty near his house and he takes that for nesting.

[RubyDG]

Thanks for the feedback guys! . It helps being able to discuss this with people that have more experience with hamsters. As much as I have learnt since I got Spike he is still my first hamster so a lot of things are new to me and there is loads I still don't know.

The change in behavior started before Hubby got sick and his routine went up in smoke but for all I know it could have made it worse as it was a steady increase rather than just all at once - so I think that's a valid point I hadn't considered. I only remember the exact date it started from because I had posted about his relocation back to his labyrinth house on Spike's thread and I know that before that there were no issues with it. Spike's never been particularly OCD about his cage, but I have noticed he is more resistant to any changes in his cage than he was when he was younger so maybe he is becoming more independent and having an en-suite is part of it like Serendipity suggested. I found a ceramic dish to use inside his house, not ideal as it's too shallow but better than nothing. When I put it in last night I hadn't even finished adjusting it and he had climbed in it and had a pee, he is definitely pleased with it. Cypher if you could possibly post a link to the lush massage bar tins you were talking about that would be fantastic!

I use Fitch as substrate and toilet tissue as bedding. Thankfully the house itself is fine pee wise as the place he is peeing has loads of Fitch shoved in it because he prefers the second entrance to be blocked off so the wood's fine (I'm not sure if that made sense but I promise it does!). The entrance he uses is the one on the roof with the ramp under it, so I'm not sure how much darker blocking that off would really make, although it's probably an instinct thing. I do always put back food if I have to remove or clear out bits of a hoard - although I'm sure he knows when I've been fiddling with his stuff.

I'm sure there is a reason he is now peeing in his house but at a guess it's probably a combination of factors rather than one specific thing. It's one of those times where I wish I could just ask what's going in in that little furry head of his. My husband suggested that maybe we need to get him a bigger labyrinth house so I've had a look and the only alternative seems to be the Rodipet one - I've got the Cabin Leif one from Zooplus but I'm not sure if the Rodipet one would be significantly bigger or better: Rodipet® living labyrinth XXL (Housing) - Rodipet® pet accessories shop. It's pricey so I don't want to spend the money if it's not really going to make a difference.

[cypher]

The times I wish I could get inside their little heads lol! I do think sometimes no matter whether we have experience or not it comes down to guess work!
I would have thought that lief cabin is a bit small for a syrian, I don't know if a larger Rodipet one would make any difference to his behaviour but it might be easier to keep clean if he continues to pee in it, even if he's peeing on the fitch I guess some will get on the wood eventually if it hasn't already.
Flynt's the same with the entrances, he only uses the top one & always blocks off the lower one!
Not sure if any of that helps lol! but here's the link to the tins https://www.lush.co.uk/products/square-tin

[Lexieshamster]

Hi Ruby - I had a similar experience. Neville decided early on to use his large cardboard tube as a nest and his wooden house as a toilet. I had to remove the wooden house as the wee had soaked into the wood. He then started weeing in a corner of the tank until one day when I decided to add a second identical tube to the tube he was nesting in (making an L shape which I thought would make him more secure). Once I did this he decided to use the extra space as an ensuite and stored food in the same place. He couldn't quite decide which tube to use as the bedroom and which to use as the ensuite / pantry. I didn't realise what he was doing until he started smelling of wee and decided to investigate. I managed to solve the problem in the end by swapping the smelly tube with a cardboard box big enough for him to have half as a nest with one corner as a toilet and one to store his food. He got the idea right away and so then I put a plastic tray under the substrate where he was weeing so I could clean it out easily. After several weeks he decided he didn't want an ensuite after all and started weeing in one corner of his tank again. So I think sometimes they just decide to make some changes the same way we do in our homes and something small relatively minor can trigger this. I'm glad to hear Spike is using his ensuite potty. Is he storing his food in the potty also? If yes then I'd say a bigger nest is the way to go to give him space to store his food in a designated area.