Hamster Nests: To clean or not to clean?

[atsui]

Hi all, I've had a question for a while now about how often I should clean my hamster's nest. He is a Syrian and he has lots of bedding to dig and burrow in so thats where he sleeps. He nests under his popsicle house and I used to spot clean it and remove poop, old food and peed on bedding every day. Thing is, i would disturb his nest every time and I read somewhere else that this is actually stressful to them, and that cleaning their nest every day is bad for them? Their argument was that the food is stashed for their comfort and when its not there all of a sudden it can stress them out. Also, disturbing it can be discomforting to them as they have to re-make it all over again. Ive heard arguments for both sides, and I was wondering about what you guys think, and how often you guys clean out hoards and stuff at home.

[cypher]

It depends on whether they pee in the nest or not, if they do then you do need to remove any peed on nest, my elderly Russian pees in his nest & I find cleaning it out every few days is sufficient, that way it doesn't get too wet or smelly & I don't have to stress him too much, I never remove all of it though, only the wet smelly stuff so it still retains some of his scent.
If they don't pee in the nest then I'll do a partial clean every few weeks.
You don't have to worry about poo or food too much as long as it hasn't been peed on & there's no fresh wet food or veg stashed in there it's fine to leave it for quite a long time.

[dreamtree1234]

I totally agree with all that Cypher stated. It will also be a good idea to have a potty in his cage as well so he will pee in there instead of his nest; some hamsters use their sand bath while others use a different container to pee in. This allows the nest to remain cleaner for longer as you will clean out the potty every few days instead of having to clean his nest or the other substrate areas as often. This will allow those areas to be cleaned every month or so as long as it doesn't contain any fresh foods that are prone to rotting. Not only will this make your hamster much happier and make everything smell better, but it will also save you quite a bit of time and money in the long run.

[atsui]

Thank you cypher and dreamtree for your replies! Unfortunately my little hammy pees in his nest and doesnt use his sand filled potty Ive already made a thread about how to potty train and cypher gave great advice, but as of right now im still trying to get him into peeing in the sand. Looks like ill just have to be patient for now until hes all potty trained! right now im just taking the peed on bedding out and doing my best to not disturb his nest.