What is this?

Larrymom · 07-29-2015, 09:12 AM

Hi, wasn't sure where to put this so popped it on here. I've recently noticed that I've had to clean Winstons wheel every morning. The picture attached is the best I could get off it. It seems to have a brown soft substance around it. I tried googling and nothing came up. Does anyone know what it could be? I've also noticed that when I clean it Winston will sniff his wheel as though he's looking for it. Maybe it's food? I checked for wet tail and that's not the case. I'm very confused.

Also, I've put this on another thread I created but I'll add it here incase noone sees it. I spot cleaned his cage today and thankfully the whole time he was hiding in his house keeping out of my way (probably the only time I'll be thankful) but when I finished he came out to explore so I swiped his house quickly. I opened it up and it stunk! When I was cleaning out his cage I looked for his toilet to find nothing but later I realised he wasn't only sleeping in his house but using that as toilet AND somewhere to hoard his food. I wondered why he hadn't been taking his food and that's because his house is full of it. How do I prevent this and should I be cleaning where he sleeps every couple of days as opposed to once a week? I nearly threw up when I took the lid off.

Piebald · 07-29-2015, 11:24 AM

Poopies? Anyone else? Serendipity can tell you all about the multi use house. It is not uncommon but you can help the situation by getting a house with rooms and a toilet (sand box).

RubyDG · 07-29-2015, 12:59 PM

I'm thinking poop or dirt, or maybe both. If his house was that dirty he could be tracking it onto his wheel.

Pebbles82 · 07-29-2015, 01:56 PM

Can't tell from the photo - poops are usually little black seeds. Could it be wet substrate? The thing is - this can become an itch, scratch cycle. The more you clean up, the more he will scent mark things because someone has removed his scent. So if he thinks someone has been messing with his food hoard, he will wee on it and scent mark it to deter predators from stealing it! I have given up on that particular itch scratch cycle at the moment - normally I don't touch his hoard, except to remove any fresh bits that could go rotten (and there rarely are any, he eats his veg straight away), but I keep removing the wee'd on hoard and then he just wees on it more! So I've decided not to remove it because he doesn't actually eat it, just hoards it. He has another hoard underneath his nest that is dry and he eats from that hoard.

They do seem to hoard most of their food, but it means it's available to snack on without them having to come out of their house, so they often eat when you don't see them eating.

Do you have a potty tray for him? If you put one in his wee corner, he will probably use it. If he has wee'd in his nest you will have to clean that out, but it's best to always leave a bit of the original nest even if it's stinky and even if it's just a small part of it. Then put a new big pile of torn up white toilet paper in his cage and he'll rebuild his nest. When you remove the wee'd on food hoard, again try and leave some of it behind and also put some new food back to replace the stuff you've taken out. Their nest and their hoard are the things they are most protective of.

The room and toilet thing is - the Germans reckon a house needs rooms in - one for a toilet, one for a hoard and one for a nest. I just have a large wood house and when Charlie moved into it he moved his wee corner in there as well, so I moved his potty inside his house and it works well. Before that he had a small house and his wee corner was in a corner of the cage - unfortunately, that was on a platform so the wee used to roll down the platform lol! The brown stuff could be wee because he is scent marking things.

Apart from sorting his house out (try to do the minimum) I should leave his cage a week and then spot clean. The more you do full cleans the more he will re-scent everything!

Is that a flying saucer on the photo? If so it looks quite normal to me. When Charlie had a flying saucer in his cage it always ended up with substrate in the middle after he'd been running on it - I think it was stuck to him when he got on the wheel and kind of centrifuged to the middle and stayed there. If it's sticky though - hmm don't know - what does it smell like? Does he seem to have diarrhoea at all or is he doing normal little black seed poops. I think what is most likely is he has wee'd in his flying saucer and the substrate has got wet. A lot of hams wee in their wheels.

It's hard to resist cleaning up brown sticky stuff, but I would go easy on the cleaning up and maybe take out the odd handful of wet substrate, replace it with a new handful and mix it in so it doesn't smell too new.

This is the potty litter tray I have - if you put some chinchilla sand or potty litter in it and put it in the corner of the cage where he normally wees with a bit of wee'd on substrate on top, he'll probably start using it straight away (if you haven't got one already).

The first time I had to remove Charlie's whole nest because he had wee'd in it, he didn't do it again for a long time! The only other time he has done it was when the weather was very hot - not sure why he did it then. Have you got a photo of your cage set up? I had good advice when we first had Charlie - and ended up moving his potty tray and his food bowl (he had a food bowl inset in the corner of the tray and as that was his wee corner he kept weeing in the food bowl! So I got a new food bowl and put it somewhere else and covered up the inset one with the potty. Which kind of worked except the stupid platform wasn't flat (the one from the hamster Heaven) and had a kind of sahara desert hump in the middle, so when he got in the potty he used to slide down the shelf lol!

Larrymom · 07-29-2015, 02:28 PM

Yeah I know that's why I couldn't work out what it was because I'd know if it was poo. It doesn't feel wet. Maybe I should just move a little but leave enough so he doesn't think I've completely took it away. The thing is I don't actually think there was that much food in his house I watched him earlier when I gave him a treat take it and stash it under this bridge he has so maybe he's moved it. Inside there was just so much poo and wet bedding. Both my hamsters are quite good at not hoarding. Winston has started to accept that I'll give him fresh food daily so he'll go over to his food bowl, eat some and pick out his favourites, put it in his egg case and save it for later. Saying that next time I clean I'll find some somewhere.

I don't yet. I saw a post about home bargains so I'm getting him one tomorrow. I've been on the look out but nothing seems big enough for him. Yeah I always leave some nest unless it's all gross then I'll just take some bedding from elsewhere in his cage.

Oh god. Larry has started using the toilet roll tubes! So I have to replace them constantly because he also likes to sit in them.

I've only just started to spot clean Larry and he seems less freaked out and Winston knew I had been cleaning but couldn't tell where.

Yeah. Ohh okay. I've had a silent spinner with Larry so I was just very confused as to why it was happening on there. I'm sure, I'll smell it tomorrow to see. No, just seed poo, I've been checking him out all day to make sure.

Okay I'll try that.

Hopefully he won't do it again. I'll attach a photo, please bare in mind that I had to get this cage and I'm in the process of making my mums boyfriend build me a bin cage. It's probably way too small for him. His food bowl is on top of a bridge it's cute because he can't climb up the ladder. I was thinking of taking the whole thing off but he likes to dig and hide under there, I pile it up with bedding.

Pebbles82 · 07-29-2015, 02:44 PM

I like that long built in house thing! Is that where he is nesting or in the pink house? The pink house needs to go! Sorry - they're not good houses. I think it's that one with a solid floor? It will definitely get stinky in there. I think those were the houses where the window was an issue too. Is he a Syrian or a dwarf? Sorry, can't remember! A house that is open underneath is better really then you can just lift it up to check inside and also it's better ventilated.

Sorry I forgot to post the potty tray link - it's below. It's normal for hams to want to hoard (sorry if I'm preaching to the converted there) and it's part of what makes them tick, nesting and hoarding. Mostly you can just leave their hoards as the dried food doesn't really go off and it will stress him out if it's removed. The wee'd on stuff could do with removing and replacing though. The long house looks good for nesting and hoarding and you might even fit a potty tray in there! If that's the one he's using, that's good/ If not, he might move his nest in there if you remove the pink house.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamster-corn...ty+litter+tray

Larrymom · 07-29-2015, 02:58 PM

It's good for him to hide in but I don't know how to make the stairs better for him to climb up! Thankfully with the egg case he climbs through there and jumps up. In the pink house. I only originally put it in there because I got him a new cage and didn't want him to be scared. He never used to sleep in there. Yes it is. Larry has a teepee and he has that.
He's a robo dwarf, the one that was mislabeled for female chinese. I'll keep that in until I get one like Larry's.
I was thinking that after I posted that I could get him a new house and put the potty under there and tons of bedding that he can use as a hoarding area. He used to sleep behind his wheel, then I changed it, then he slept in his tubes but then I got a new cage. Poor boy probably doesn't know what's staying and what I'm going to steal away from him. He does sleep in the egg holder at about 10pm whilst he waits for me to go to bed. Larry just patiently sleeps on his wheel waiting for me to get the hint.

Pebbles82 · 07-29-2015, 03:54 PM

Ok - yes I remember - he's lovely! I really like the tank as well - I don't recognise it - it looks a bit like a Duna tank but is it a different make? So do you reckon he wouldn't nest in the long built-in house? Maybe he finds it too big. How about one of these? Someone on here has one. It's the right size for a dwarf hamster, has two entrances and it's cheap, plus there might be room to put a small dish for a potty near one 'side' - the potty tray I linked would be too big, but Cypher uses all kinds of small dishes as potties I seem to remember. It's cheap too!

Classic Rustic Wooden Fun House for Small Animals

On the other hand if he pees in his house a lot, the wood could get stinky and I don't think the rustic wood is possible to plastikote.

If you prefer plastic houses, these igloos are good - it has a kind of tunnel entrance which hams like and it's open at the bottom. A potty wouldn't fit inside but at least it would be easy to clean. You could try putting the potty in a corner of his cage.

Interpet Superpet Mini Igloo: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

If you don't mind paying a bit extra, this would make a fantastic house for a dwarf hamster - works out at just under £12 plus £7 postage. It's not too big, is smooth wood which would plastikote easily inside so it is wipe clean, has two rooms and space in one of them for a small potty, plus it has a granite roof for keeping nails short. And the roof lifts off so you can spot clean inside it without his nest falling apart. I think I'd get one of these if I had a dwarf hamster.

Rodipet® +GRANiT Nagerhaus BURQiN (Häuser)

This one would plastikote well too. And also has a lift off roof. Wouldn't fit a toilet inside but it's a nice little house.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-464...s=ferplast+sin

Larrymom · 07-29-2015, 04:21 PM

It's from P@H, I had to exchange the smaller one for that and that's the biggest they had. It's full of toys but thankfully he jumps and climbs over things unlike Larry who trips over everything because he gets too excited. He sometimes sleeps behind the water bottle because there's a reasonably sized gap where he fits. I've dropped some tissue paper next to his house and next to the platform so I'll see where he ends up nesting tomorrow morning.

The mini igloo is cute, I might take a trip down to my local pet store tomorrow to see what they have as an idea, they're always so much more expensive there. I like the last one too. I don't want something too big because the more space the better. Thanks for the links I'll have a think and see what I think works best for him. I do like the ones without a bottom because it's cute when Larry buries a gap and pops his little head under. I'll probably end up putting the toilet underneath the platform so he'll come out every now and then. What's safe for me to put in the toilet bowls? I get scared incase it gets in their little eyes.

Pebbles82 · 07-30-2015, 02:35 AM

I used to use the Hamster Potty litter, which is ok unless they try to eat it. Charlie only tried to eat it once and spat it out. Otherwise most people use chinchilla sand in the potty tray. Only thing is he might not use it if you put it where you want him to use it! Does he wee in a particular corner of the cage? If so that's the place to put it. Charlie wouldn't change his toilet corner to suit me lol. I had to fit around him. Some hams use their sand baths as a toilet. Maybe you could just give him a small sand bath and see if he uses that as a toilet. I think dwarf hamsters are supposed to need sand baths anyway.

I had to stop using the Hamster Potty Litter recently as Charlie has been putting food in his toilet and I was worried he might end up eating some of it, so he has sand in his now - if he wants to eat sand it's up to him lol! I don't think he will eat sand-encrusted food, but if he does eat it won't do any harm I reckon. If you decide to put a toilet in with chinchilla bathing sand in, put a bit of smelly wee substrate on top to attract him (the hamster potty litter has something in that attracts them, so it can help).

If he doesn't have a sandbath though, I would put one of those in first and hang fire on the toilet as it could double up! Unless you aren't keen on sandbaths that is.