Hamster started to pee in his house!

Ria P · 04-09-2019, 12:46 AM

My hamster used to pee in the corner opposite his then little house which made spot cleaning easy. He's moved into a bigger house since and got really lazy. He now pees in a corner inside his house so i have to lift off the top to remove the peed on saturate which of course he doesn't like. How do i get it through to him that i wouldn"t have to do that if he would just pee where he used to? My partner is of the opinion that its his house so he can pee where he wants to. Boys sticking together, lol.

Shannonmcn · 04-09-2019, 01:11 AM

Ultimately the boy is right, in the end he's going to pee where he wants to lol

You can lightly encourage tho, a sand dish in the corner he used to pee in might do the trick. You can buy hamster "toilets" with specific litter material as well if you like but sand works as well as anything in my experience.

But so long as you're keeping on top of it and removing old pee'd on food etc before it goes mouldy, its gross but no real harm done.

Pebbles82 · 04-09-2019, 01:36 AM

That is common when you give them a big house

They like the space and decide to have an ensuite toilet - so you need to put a litter tray in that corner. Although if the house isn't big enough to fit a litter tray,that is tricky. Was it the Ferplast Sin Guinea pig house? Because it is fairly large but a standard litter tray would fill it. But I didn't think that house was large enough for your hammy to do that.

That is your hammy having normal behaviours - in an underground burrow they would have rooms - one for hoarding, one for peeing and one for nesting - separate areas.

So a very small litter tray in that corner would make life easier - maybe this one with the roof left off, so it's just an open tray with some Chinchilla sand in (it's a bit small with the roof on). You then just empty the litter tray every couple of days or so, which is easier than spot cleaning inside a house. I have an open potty/litter tray in our hammy's house.

I think this size should fit in that house

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Corn...gateway&sr=8-4

Or this one, again with the top left off. So it fits easily into that corner and the hammy can step into it from any angle.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Sand...ateway&sr=8-17

Or you could use any little dish as a litter tray, but something that fits into the corner (either square or triangular) is better as it's space saving.

The sand soaks the pee up and you just empty it out and put more sand in.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supreme-Pet...gateway&sr=8-3

Viovet also sell the Chinchilla sand and you should be able to get it locally too.

Ria P · 04-09-2019, 02:24 AM

When i first set up his cage i put one those litter trays in but he bumped his head on the roof and wouldn"t go back in so i took it off. He then lifted his bum so high that he peed behind the tray so that was no good. Then he decided to pee in the clay flower pot which he now uses as a nailfile and peed in his house! I'd need a small, open tray that fits right into the corner in his house. Yes, it is the Fernplast guinea pig house which is quite roomy and he seems small for a Syrian. Sure, i could go to a pottery and order a bespoke corner hamster toilet, spend a fair amount of money for Henry to take one sniff and then decide to pee in the middle of the house!

Ria P · 04-09-2019, 02:52 AM

I just had a look online but the toilets are too big. I'll make a proto type out of cardboard to find out if he'd use it. Can't think of anything else at the mo that i could use but there must be something....

Shannonmcn · 04-09-2019, 03:18 AM

I've used little glass baking dishes from IKEA before which worked fine, I'm sure any poundshop would do something similar which could fit into a corner. Big coffee/ soup mugs also worked in the past and I'm currently using large glass jars. Lots of options, none expensive.

Cardboard anything probably won't work tbh. It'll get soggy and if he starts digging about in the sand he'll tip it over.

Ria P · 04-09-2019, 04:22 AM

Yes, you're right of course, cardboard would get soggy and its only temporary till i find something that fits in a corner. It's a bit trial and error. He may walk onto something flat or he may reverse into a cup to pee. I'll get some stuff from the poundshop or kiddies toy section and see what works. Hopefully he'll change his mind again and use a corner outside his house so i won't have to take off his roof that often.

Pebbles82 · 04-09-2019, 05:07 AM

Rodipet do a corner ceramic on in dwarf hamster size 😊. When you say he banged his head - was the toilet sitting a bit high in the house? What I’ve done with that house before is - because it’s quite tall I sat the house directly on the cage base instead of on top of the substrate. Obviously then the substrate comes up around the outside but the door is big enough to cope with that. Then inside, instead of bar cage floor, put some substrate in an inch or more but so there is still plenty of headroom. The toilet can also sit directly on the base inside the house, or on just a thin bit of substrate - so the substrate comes round the edges of the potty a bit - ie the entrance to the potty is at substrate level inside the house so easy to get in and out of. And doesn’t look much like a potty. You could put a tiny bit of his peed on substrate on top of the sand first time.

They do tend to pee in the very back corner which is why the corner ones that are higher at the back work best. But some of those may fill the house up too much. The Germans actually tile inside the house on the pee corner! 😊

Ria P · 04-09-2019, 05:54 AM

I meant that he banged his head on the toilet top/lid while it was outside the house hence i took it off and he peed over it and i took it out. I'll check Rodipet later, thanks for that. I am actually from Germany but live in UK so will look at the houses next time i'm over there. I like the tiling idea, trust my lot to think of that haha.

Pebbles82 · 04-09-2019, 06:04 AM

Ah I see. I think the open toilets are better - they can get in and out easily. I've always used these - but I think it may be on the large inside in that house - I can't remember if it fits inside or not.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamster-cor...gateway&sr=8-7

Our last hammy started chewing his though so I now have one of the Rodipet ceramic ones as well. That might also be a bit big to fit in the house - but the dwarf one would fit easily. It would be too small for a syrian to actually sit inside it, but would catch most of the pee maybe!

Our hammies have always peed in the very back corner and then sat in the front for a wash. The high back works well to stop the pee going on the house. They are quite neat and tidy with their toilet habits really if the right toilet set up is there and works.

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/accessorie...rt-size-m.html

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/accessorie...rt-size-s.html