new to roborovskis hamsters

[Leo]

She crawls on my hand now but has a nasty habit of biting my pinky but its no worse then a parrot.
I changed her tank set up when i saw her digging so i made it somehwhat as i would for a gerbil and she is happy with it i think but then next time i do a tank clean which wont be for a while i change things up and keep her busy also how often should i clean her tank?

[AmityvilleHams]

You can spot clean areas of pee daily or if you don't want to do it that often,weekly is fine However,smaller tanks such as a 20 gallon tank tend to get very dirty in little to no time.With my Syrian her temporary 20 long setup started having extremely strong odor on the second week though I didn't clean it until the third or fourth week.Of course,smaller hamsters may not be as bad!

[Leo]

I don't really spot the areas unless its our larger rodents. ill probably do a change when it starts ot have a smell since it has about a inch or two of wood shavings and such.
We clean my sisters cages every week there is no ands ifs or buts about it but it isn't as bad since those two are litter box trained.

[AmityvilleHams]

A partial change would definitely be better than a full change if you can do that instead,but you definitely don't want to be cleaning weekly for hamsters.With some small pets including those which aren't rodents,cleaning often isn't a problem,but hamsters are definitely not pets you want to overclean!At least wait two weeks,that is the earliest you should do it,but really a partial clean every two weeks would be enough.

Deeper substrate can help to keep the cage from smelling too early,but if you only put an inch or two of substrate in it won't last long at all.This would save you a lot of money as well,since you'd need to buy substrate less often.

I can definitely see the idea of weekly cleanings being good if not important for certain small pets,but do keep in mind that all animals are different and not every aspect of care applies to each species for example guinea pigs and rabbits absolutely must have hay but hamsters don't need hay and it has no real benefit to them

[Leo]

the weekly clean if for the syiran hamster si know it shouldn't happen but they both stink a lot after a week her room starts to smell and I cant stand it.

[AmityvilleHams]

It would only smell bad after a week in a tiny or poorly ventilated cage,or one with extremely low substrate.Other than that,hamsters don't and should not smell bad

[Leo]

Oh no there are plenty of shavings , its has openings everywhere its a cage not a tank other then little matthiue is the only hamster with a tank.
Plus my sisters female hamster does smell so , we have run into bad smelling hamsters before never knew the reason why healthy and all that but just has a stank to it , our male Syrian hamster only needs a cage clean twice a month but its the female that needs the by weekly clean sometimes espically her bed.

[AmityvilleHams]

Even if there is odor,you still shouldn't clean so often It can be extremely stressful on hamsters,and as a result that stress would eventually lead to a compromised immune system and at some point that would be very likely to lead to illness which could be severe.

[cypher]

It might be worth trying to wait it out with the smell of the hamster, the more you clean the more they scent mark & sometimes pee on things too, if you keep removing her scent it may just make things worse.

[Leo]

Smell went away after my sister finally changed both her water and litter box a few days of doing that both hamster and cage don't stink. As I said her first hamsters and I only help out very little on the odd occasion.

Update on my little robo , after a bit of a brake from treats and me for a few days - family things - she has actually tried crawling into my hand when ever I drop in a celery piece or a treat of a tiny bit of apple and no biting!