Does she have a potty litter tray? I know sometimes if they burrow down they just pee where they are and don't come up to use a litter tray, but our hamster carried on using his litter tray when he started burrowing down. It's difficult when she is old. How old is she? Ours is about 2 years 4 months and I would worry if he burrowed now because he'd have problems getting back up again!
Although change can be a bit stressful too, some changes are approved of and avoid other stresses long term, so just wondering if you might be able to tempt her to nest without burrowing down in a house big enough to put a potty litter tray in. This is the set up our Syrian has. A large house that is dark inside (so he doesn't need to burrow down to be in the dark), that is big enough to have his litter tray at one end.
You could achieve that with a standard sized shoe box. Cut the bottom out and cut a hole in front for a door and keep the lid as a lift-off roof (that way you can take the litter tray out to empty/clean/replace without having to take the house out or having her nest fall apart (which happens when you take the house out).
So next time you clean, you could maybe have less depth of substrate, this new house in the area where she had her burrow nest before, and a bendy stick bridge tunnel over the door of the house (this tempts them to go down the tunnel into the dark house and build a nest there and makes the house darker inside).
Alternatively, you can buy large houses with a lift-off roof. I found putting the bendy tunnel over the door meant our hamster nested in the house and was tempted in there. So maybe have enough substrate for burying hoards (4 to 6") but not so deep she can dig right down. And if the house is nice and dark with a litter tray in one corner she could just start using it. Our hamster nested in the end furthest away from the door and chose the back corner nearest the door as his toilet area so that's where I put the litter tray now.
I have one of these - big enough to sit in and have a wash as well and the open one is easier for them to get in and out of
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamster-cor...=hamster+potty
And put Chinchilla bathing sand in it
You can put a little bit of pee'd on substrate on top of the sand initially so she knows it's the pee place. Also keep some of her old nest that isn't wet (even if slightly whiffy) and put it inside the house. Then a big pile of torn up strips of plain white toilet paper in the cage somewhere, so she can take it and rebuild the nest.
This could be a positive change that means less cleaning stress from now on. Our hamster only pees in his potty and his nest can be left alone - I only have to do minimal spot cleaning in the cage and big cleans only every 2 or 3 months.
I had the same issue when our hamster didn't find anywhere suitably dark and big enough to build a nest and he had deep substrate - he dug a burrow and pee'd down there!
I put the house in where the burrow was and he started using it. A good sized dark house is like creating a burrow for them and then they are happy nesting in it. It also means they can get about on the level easily when older if they start getting arthritis or something.
Ours currently has a huge labyrinth house, but it doesn't need to be that big. Prior to that he had this Ferplast Sin Rabbit house (way too small for a rabbit). It's very tall so I had it sat directly on the cage base, put a couple of inches of substrate inside the house, and piled the substrate up round the outside of the house. This made the doorway less big/lower and with a bendy bridge over it. And also meant the house couldn't be burrowed under and squash the hamster! You can get the same effect with a shoebox, which being lighter, can just sit on top of substrate.
This is the house with the roof off, showing the nest he made at one end and his potty at the other end
If the potty got a bit whiffy for him before I emptied it he puts bits of substrate on top - very clean hammy!
If she is going to have the upheaval of being scooped out while a bit of a clean is done, then might as well give her a retirement bungalow at the same time
When I did that it was the only option for nesting in and he went straight in there and built a nest. It worked much better for both of us. Putting a treat or a bit of food inside helps tempt them in there as well and then they think hmm this looks like a good dark burrow.
She may even come out more and spend more time in the rest of the cage as she'll have a flat surface to walk on from her burrow instead of having to make the effort to burrow back up again. Scatter feeding a bit might perk her up to enjoy coming out a bit more too.
This is the house I used for a nesting box, but as I said you could achieve the same effect with a shoe box house.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-84...n+rabbit+house
Rodipet in Germany also make very good hamster houses with rooms for nesting, hoarding and toiletting (hamsters do tend to choose a separate room for the toilet when they have them), and they ship to the Uk but they work out a bit expensive because the postage is about £8.
https://www.rodipet.de/shop/haeuser/...s-stecksystem/
This one is a similar size to the open rabbit house I linked
https://www.rodipet.de/shop/haeuser/...ktoilette.html
But if you wanted something less big (not sure how big your tank is) these two are good as well
https://www.rodipet.de/shop/haeuser/...-duoporta.html
I think you need a larger type for a potty to fit inside easily and them still get in and out of the door without the potty blocking the doorway.
I've come to the conclusion that if they have a nice dark nesting box that's big enough to hoard, nest and pee in, they don't bother digging burrows
Especially if you have less depth of substrate. You'd just be encouraging her to change her habits slightly and making life easier for her.
Cleaning elderly hamster's tank
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