Spot Cleaning the Cage

eleplantsy · 06-28-2019, 07:46 PM

Hi all, I recently adopted a female robo last Sunday and she has just begun allowing me to interact with her. So far, she has sniffed me and taken food off my hand. I haven't tried to touch her yet coz I'm afraid of setting back our progress by going too fast. However, I've unfortunately made the mistake of giving her tons of bedding to start off with. I know hamsters enjoy having deep substrate to burrow in but the problem is that I figured my hamster has made one of her burrow chambers into a toilet which meant that I've not been able to spot clean at all.

I know it's still just under a week since I got her so I shouldn't have to worry too much just yet but I'm worried it will start to stink (it hasn't yet). I saw on some other forum posts that you shouldn't do deep cleaning or move too much of their bedding or you'll stress them out which I definitely don't want to do. But, what can I do about the toilet situation? I have an Alaska cage and have piled the substrate all the way up in the entire area under the platform so it's a pretty big area (around 1/3 of the cage). And I have no idea where the toilet chamber is so I can't be selective and only take out that area to clean. Her nest is also inside the burrow, I'm assuming it's because she doesn't feel comfortable with making the upstairs hideaway her nest since the platform is bare and without bedding for her to hide in.

How should I approach this now? She has gotten more adventurous with me as well as I mentioned earlier but I have yet to see her just casually roaming the cage even though I'm a night owl and I'm awake the same time she is (I'm trying to fix my sleeping pattern though coz I saw on ErinsAnimals' channel that artificial lighting can actually cause depression in hamster if it's on all night). She mostly just stays in her burrows. I've also never seen/heard her use her wheels. They're the trixie 8inch wheel so I'm wondering if it's just because it's too big for a baby robo to push or if she just doesn't know how to use it yet? I also have a few toys for her, a nut knot nibbler and two rosewood veggie wood toys, but she only mostly "plays" with the boredom breakers I made with toilet rolls that have a bit of her seed mix in them, so I'm wondering what she's doing with all her time? She's a robo so I'm extra worried that she'd go insane with the lack of exercise D:

Sorry I ended up blabbering about way more than just my problem with spot cleaning. Hope to get some answers. I can't believe how many questions I'm asking despite having done tons of research. I guess book knowledge is really worth zilch without practical experience o<-<

Cotton · 06-28-2019, 08:54 PM

Welcome! Other members have more experience with this than I do so they will be able to give better advice than anything I can recommend. In fact, I have never been able to find my robo's toileting area, either, if in fact he has a specific area. I have to clean the cage all at once. Plus, he moves so fast that I have to do it with him in the cage. I stopped trying to take him out because there was a risk he was going to get away and/or injured. His speed is incredible. I change the Kaytee/Carefresh slowly, working around him, and leave as many of his toys in there at one time so he has something familiar in there while I'm disrupting his home.

Too much bedding/substrate doesn't sound like a mistake. It's probably comforting to your hamster to be able to burrow. Also, is it possible she is coming out more often than you realize? Mine (Finnegan) is so quiet that I only discovered how active he really was one day when I reading close to his cage and saw him come out repeatedly. He was quiet, though, so I wouldn't have known if I hadn't been sitting there.

Enjoy your new hamster!

Grace6446 · 06-28-2019, 09:51 PM

I would just clean that area once a week or two, and spot clean the whole cage as needed (when you see poop in an area). Take out the clearly-soiled bedding but leave the rest in. Add new bedding as needed. Of course you shouldn’t clean their nest/burrow every day, but an occasional disruption shouldn’t be that big of a deal or too stressful to them, especially if the majority of the bedding is the same. The poop isn’t really harmful to them (just not pleasing to look at), and they pee so little that it doesn’t need to be cleaned as often either. If you can’t smell it - it’s probably not a problem!

I too was super worried about cleaning my cage often enough, and finally just realized that the majority of cleaning is for my own satisfaction - my hamster doesn’t really care, and it’s not harmful to her, so I shouldn’t stress too much about it!

eleplantsy · 06-29-2019, 04:41 PM

Hi Cotton, thanks for the response, the person I adopted her from said that the babies have been really good with their toileting habits in that they always go in the same place so I think I could probably litter train her once I sort out the burrow situation. The only reason I think that the deep substrate is a mistake is because I didn't get to litter train her first and also because she just keeps hiding in there and I can't even entice her out with food because she can't actually see it inside the burrows. If I had less bedding and just lots tunnels and hides, she could at least see me leaving treats behind for her etc.

eleplantsy · 06-29-2019, 04:42 PM

How do I actually clean the burrow though? If I clean it then her tunnels would be gone?

Grace6446 · 06-29-2019, 07:02 PM

Yes, that’s what I’m saying. It is a bit stressful to them to have their burrows disturbed and tunnels messed up, but necessary on occasion - and only minimally bothers them (at least in my experience) if enough of their bedding is left behind.

Every one to two weeks remove your hammy from the cage. Start in one area and lift bedding up/move to the side. Remove all the poops and any bedding that is clearly peed on (discolored, damp, smelly). Move thoroughly through the cage, making sure to check all the way to the bottom of the enclosure. Then replace whatever bedding you took out and mix together with the old bedding. During the clean you can establish a litter area, sand pit, or whatever else, and you have a chance to see her while she is outside of her cage and perhaps do some taming.