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Old 04-25-2016, 12:15 PM   #1
Kirstyw
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Join Date: Apr 2015
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Default Where is she weeing??

Hello
We've got our hamster, Nibbles, in a zoozone 1 and 2 joined together. She's got a toilet and a sand bath in them. But she is weeing (at least I hope she is) and we can't find anywhere where she is doing it. Has it just been drying up? The sand bath or toilet hasn't got clumps in so it doesn't look like she's been in there. Went to do a spot clean on it and apart from poo- nothing 🤔

Thanks

Kirsty
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Old 04-25-2016, 12:25 PM   #2
pinkneon
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Default Re: Where is she weeing??

I've been having this issue with my Sweep. Can never find his pee corner anywhere! But when I switched his cage over it smelt like he'd been peeing in his bed! I still haven't found a pee corner in the new cage, so will be checking the bed later. Have your checked your hamster's bed?
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Old 04-25-2016, 12:39 PM   #3
Kirstyw
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Default Re: Where is she weeing??

Hi Pinkneon thanks for your reply. Yeah we gave her bed (some tissue in a corner) a quick feel so we didn't disturb it too much but didn't feel anything. We give her new bedding every few days. She used to have a hamster heaven metro with the penthouse and used to wee on the bedding in that and shove the soiled bedding through the bars! Lol. I can only assume it must be drying up?

Also I don't know if you can help but she's started sneezing about a few nights ago. She's been doing it quite a bit tonight. She's well in herself and running round in her pen and exploring us, climbing on us etc. We've just given her new sand in her bath. She has wood shavings and has previously been ok with them. They haven't been changed in about three weeks only spot cleaned.
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Old 04-25-2016, 12:42 PM   #4
pinkneon
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Default Re: Where is she weeing??

Have you changed the type of sand? Otherwise I'm afraid I have no idea!

When I found Sweep had peed his bed it wasn't wet either, just very smelly!
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Old 04-25-2016, 12:48 PM   #5
Kirstyw
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Default Re: Where is she weeing??

No the sand is the same. �� I don't like taking her to vets because they will just put her on antibiotics. Thanks for your help
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Old 04-26-2016, 04:59 AM   #6
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Where is she weeing??

She could be burrowing down under the substrate and having her wee spot under there Our hamster did that when his house was a bit small. He dug a burrow under the substrate and pee'd in one corner of it. It took a bit of spot cleaning!

Just one thing - I wouldn't recommend replacing his nesting material or substrate so often. It stressed them out when their scent is all removed and their nest is their number one most important thing in life (arguably!).

If you have the substrate deep enough (3 to 4 inches minimum but ideally 6" or more) you should just be able to spot clean mostly - ie take out a handful or two and replace it with a clean handful or two then mix it in so it still smells familiar.

The nest can just be left unless it is wet if it has been pee'd in, and even then it's best to leave part of the old nest behind so they can rebuild it.

Does she have a house to nest in, or does she nest under a shelf?

You could make a shoebox house/hide for her to nest in, and if the house is big enough she might move her wee corner inside the house (that's what ours has done each time he's had a large house) - I think they do it so they can eat, sleep and wee undercover without having to come out lol.

If she does that you could put a corner potty litter tray in that corner, and then you just need to clean out the litter tray every few days (I use chinchilla bathing sand in it).

So you just get a shoe box, cut the bottom out, leaving the lid as a lift-off roof, and cut an entrance door in the front and stand it on top of the substrate (they like to bury hoards under the nest so a nest on the substrate is best). If you put a bendy bridge tunnel or tube over the entrance hole it will also make it nice and dark inside so she's more likely to go in there to nest.

The lid of the shoe box also makes a shelf or platform.

They are quite precious about their hoards as well so if you have to remove any hoarded food (ie if it has been wee'd on) then always replace it with new food in the same place.

I like this video on cage cleaning tips from Erin's hamsters - it really helped me get into a good routine with our hammy and helped him have more normal behaviours and get less stressed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww

At the moment - if you can see a tunnel hole anywhere, have a good feel around in that area under the substrate and you might find some wet.

Having said that, hamsters don't have very large wees, and can sometimes bury it afterwards. Our hammy is a very clean little boy and after he wee's in his potty he either digs sand over the top of the wee, or puts substrate on top of it.
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Old 05-04-2016, 12:18 PM   #7
Hammy992
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Default Re: Where is she weeing??

Sounds a bit gross but when I first got my hammy the only way we could find his pee area was by doing a "smell test" on each section of his bedding until we found it. Its quite common for them to pick a corner of their cage and go in that one spot all the time.
If you do manage to find where she's peeing take a bit of the soiled bedding and put it into her potty sand so she can smell it, then put the potty in the area where she's been peeing. Hopefully then it will register that this is her toilet and she will use that instead, which will make cleaning so much easier. If she's using her nest as a bathroom you could do the same thing with the bedding and try to allocate a specific corner for the potty; when she smells whats in it it might convince her that this spot is much better than getting her bed all wet.
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