The Hiding of the Poop (and Pee)

hamtarokid · 05-13-2016, 08:42 PM

So, I know I'm supposed to be doing daily spot cleans of my hamster's cage, but she hides all her poop and pee down under her nest so I would have to completely destroy her nest to get to it. Is it okay to leave it until I clean the cage every 3 weeks? I don't want to disturb her nest.

cypher · 05-13-2016, 08:52 PM

You do need to remove any damp bedding that's been peed on, try to lift the nest & gently remove anything damp or smelly, poo is fine just leave that for now.
Have you tried putting a litter tray close to the house with some damp bedding on top of some sand to try to get her to use that instead of peeing in the nest?

hamtarokid · 05-13-2016, 09:20 PM

I haven't managed that yet because I'm not actually sure which of her nests she does her business under. She does have a sand bath though. I'll go see if I can find this stuff.

Update: I feel really bad because I messed up the nest she has behind her wheel because I was pretty sure that's where she'd been hiding her poop. But what I thought was poop was actually seed shells, it looks like. So the only place I can think of that it could be is under or inside her cardboard house, but since I'm pretty sure she's sleeping in there right now I'll have to wait until later to see. That'll result in the nest she has in there getting messed up too. :/

Pebbles82 · 05-14-2016, 02:16 AM

I wouldn't worry about the poops

They're not dirty at all. You just need to spot clean the wee area really. If you can't find it, she may well chuck a load of stinky substrate out if it's underground - ours does that sometimes. Using a litter tray as Cypher says, is a good idea. Although you don't know where she is weeing, if you put out a litter tray with some chinchilla bathing sand in, she might decide to use that.

It is tricky when you can't find where they are weeing. Erin's Hamsters has a good video on cage cleaning tips so as not to stress the hamster - and there's a good bit about poops

Your hammie poops are emergency food supplies! They are like little black seeds and not smelly. Sometimes they eat them to get extra vitamins, although sometimes they can hoard rather a lot of them. I usually find the poops don't need spot cleaning until I do a main clean about every 2 or 3 months. Even then I do a partial clean and don't do everything at the same time.

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

cypher · 05-14-2016, 02:48 AM

Don't feel bad about messing up her nest, sometimes we have to, the main thing is to put it all back (except anything wet!) it's any changes in scent they will notice most so you can dig around to see if you can find where she might be peeing then just replace the nest/substrate as close to the way you found it as you can, she may get a bit miffed but she'll soon put it to rights again

hamtarokid · 05-14-2016, 03:20 AM

Man, if it was possible for a hamster to just not pee, that is what I would think is happening. Because I have searched all the spots she digs in and I can't find wet bedding anywhere.

Pebbles82 · 05-14-2016, 03:31 AM

I don't think you need to spot clean the wee area daily - every 2 or 3 days is probably fine - they don't have a lot of urine. If she is peeing in more than one spot it may have dried out

I should try the litter tray or sand bath and see if she starts peeing in it

hamtarokid · 05-14-2016, 03:33 AM

Well, she has a sand bath. She peed in it one time, but not since. Maybe because I scooped it out too quickly and she got the wrong idea? I don't know. If I sprinkle some of her poo in it would she start using it like a litter box, or does it have to be wet bedding?

Pebbles82 · 05-14-2016, 03:48 AM

I'm not sure if putting poops in it would attract her to wee in it - she might just think you've stolen her poops lol! If you've already got a sand bath, then maybe try a litter tray as well - somewhere else. The sand soaks up the pee smell quite well, so yes maybe you did remove all her scent a bit too quickly and she forgot about it. If she starts using the litter tray (or sand bath) I'd just scoop it out once or twice a week. I empty Charlie's potty about every 5 days. It's kind of instinctive for us humans to want everything clean all the time, and hamsters are also quite clean little animals, but scent is their road map - they don't see well and use scent to mark familiar routes and places, so if the scent keeps disappearing they get confused and a bit lost. When they crawl along on their stomachs they are scent marking so they can find their way back.

I'd say, if you can't find any wet substrate I wouldn't worry until you can smell it

cypher · 05-14-2016, 03:58 AM

It needs to be wet bedding really, how close is it to her nest? The closer it is the more likely she is to use it, they can be a bit lazy if they wake up & need a pee!
Once they start using a litter tray & get the idea it doesn't really matter how soon or often you scoop it out but to begin with if she does use it best to leave it a while.