Potty Training

[aimsdavies]

Hiya!

Just looking for some help in terms of potty training my hamster, Puff.
I’ve recently bought a ceramic litter bowl for her as she is prone to biting almost anything - plastic, bars, things that SHOULDN’T be bitten.
I’ve found some soiled bedding and put it into the litter bowl and placed it in the corner where she seems to do her business the most. No problem there. She even seemingly does her business in it, which is amazing!
The part(s) that I’m having a problem with is that she seems to make her nest in the area where she pees the most. I’ve tried to move the cage around and place her nest in a separate corner, but she only moves her place to pee. Any tips?
Also, she has a habit of digging up anything in a confined space, like a bowl or tray. It happened when I decided to put sand in a small tray for her to bathe in. She sometimes does it with her litter bowl, where all of the newly soiled bedding is out of the bowl. It defeats the purpose 😂
Any tips / help?

Thank you!

- Aimee

[Pebbles82]

Hello She sounds like a busy determined digger! Is she a Syrian? They do sometimes like an ensuite bathroom and I find if you give them a large house they move their pee corner inside the house, away from the nest. So I have a large house with a litter tray inside.

What I would suggest is popping a new house over her current nest next to her litter tray. eg a shoebox house. Which is large enough to contain both.

Cut the base out of a shoe box and keep the lid as a lift off roof. Cut a hole for a door in one of the long sides, near one end. The end with the door is the corner where the litter tray needs to go, at the back. Just pop it over her nest and litter tray so that the litter tray is at the door end at the back. Putting a bendy stick bridge over the door makes it dark inside, which they like, and also gives a ramp up to the roof so you can use that to put a food bowl on (so she can't dig under it!).

I am sure she will like that arrangement. Assuming the litter tray isn't too large! You can buy one that will fit in a house. Rodipet make ceramic corner ones. You can then use the lift off roof to empty the litter tray when needed, so you don't needto remove the house and the nest fall apart etc.

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

I actually have this house for our hammy - it needs a big cage to fit in! And he uses the litter tray inside it in one of the compartments.

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/houses/rod...erracotta.html

[aimsdavies]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Hello She sounds like a busy determined digger! Is she a Syrian? They do sometimes like an ensuite bathroom and I find if you give them a large house they move their pee corner inside the house, away from the nest. So I have a large house with a litter tray inside.

What I would suggest is popping a new house over her current nest next to her litter tray. eg a shoebox house. Which is large enough to contain both.

Cut the base out of a shoe box and keep the lid as a lift off roof. Cut a hole for a door in one of the long sides, near one end. The end with the door is the corner where the litter tray needs to go, at the back. Just pop it over her nest and litter tray so that the litter tray is at the door end at the back. Putting a bendy stick bridge over the door makes it dark inside, which they like, and also gives a ramp up to the roof so you can use that to put a food bowl on (so she can't dig under it!).

I am sure she will like that arrangement. Assuming the litter tray isn't too large! You can buy one that will fit in a house. Rodipet make ceramic corner ones. You can then use the lift off roof to empty the litter tray when needed, so you don't needto remove the house and the nest fall apart etc.

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

I actually have this house for our hammy - it needs a big cage to fit in! And he uses the litter tray inside it in one of the compartments.

https://www.rodipet.co.uk/houses/rod...erracotta.html

Thank you! This is so helpful! I’ll try looking for a shoebox 😂
She is a Syrian. Female. Roughly a year old, give or take a few months - I was unaware of her age when I bought her in August.
I do have the ceramic bowl from Rodipet. I bought it as Puff has a tendency to bite EVERYTHING and was worried that the plastic litter tray would harm her if she bit it too much.
I do have a wooden house that is fairly large and could substitute a shoebox until I find one.

[Pebbles82]

A wooden house is fine too