What toys do syrians like

[Pebbles82]

Oh he/she will love the Barney cage. There's a lot of scope to set it up how you want as well. It does take a lot of substrate to fill it but after that you don't need to change the substrate very often. The more there is the less you need to change it and can just spot clean occasionally and use a litter tray It already comes with a good house and shelf and you just need a few toys and the wheel.

Just asking because it's also suitable for a dwarf hamster in the future but would need setting up to avoid fall risks as they're smaller (eg extra shelves) so it's a good futureproof cage.

[Nadia]

Can i ask apart from the daily spot clean, how often should i do a proper clean out?
Regarding spot cleaning, will i be able to tell visually where the hamsters been to wee to clean it up?

[Pebbles82]

It maybe depends on the hamster. They tend to choose a corner of the cage as a pee area. And the pee area should be fairly obvious. I just put the litter tray there, and then they use the litter tray (you can put Chinchilla bathing sand in it and the sand soaks up the pee). I empty the litter tray and refill it about every 5 days and the rest of the cage stays clean so not even much spot cleaning needed and every day wouldn't be necessary.

When they're babies they can pee in other places at first - they almost always choose a toilet area but a baby might occasionally pee in the nest and a lot of them will pee in the wheel (neither of ours have on a regular basis). In that case you can take the wheel out for a wash as and when needed but not too often.

Cleaning out stresses them basically as they're territorial in their cage and they also scent mark everywhere so they can find their way around.

A young hamster will probably poop all over the place but their poops aren't dirty or smelly - they're like little black seeds and they sometimes eat them (which is normal) for extra nutrients (they have two stomachs and can redigest vitamins etc). So unless the poops start taking over in a big way I wouldn't really spot clean those either. Sometimes they will hoard some of the poops (emergency food supplies!). I've found as they get older they only seem to poop in the nest and hoard the poops.

Dry food that's hoarded can be left too for quite a long time. The only reason to remove it is if it gets pee'd on (and then you'd need to replace it with new food in exactly the same place or they get very stressed!). Or if it has taken over the bottom of the cage in a big way. Sometimes they get in a cycle of peeing on it to deter anyone from stealing it so another reason to replace it if you have to take it out or it ends up being a vicious circle.

As to how often - it varies. I easily go 3 months without needing to do a substrate clean. I empty the potty every 5 days, give the odd toy etc a wipe as and when needed. Only cleaned the wheel twice in the last year (depends if they pee in it regularly or not). I add extra bits of Fitch (substrate) sometimes if it gets a bit flattened. And add new nesting material when that goes down (torn up strips of white toilet paper).

When you do change the substrate you can still replace the clean third to a half and mix it in so it smells familiar, rather than changing the lot. When it's deeper the bottom half can stay very clean. Some people replace all of it but sprinkle some of the clean old substrate on top so it smells familiar.

It's a human instinct to want to clean the lot all at once and have it all clean but it isn't great for hamsters - doing partial cleans is better for them.

If you leave the nest and the hoard they should be ok with the rest of it being done sometimes.

[Pebbles82]

This litter tray is a good size for a Syrian and fits in a corner. They are quite clean tidy little things really. Ours have always pee'd in the very back corner (where it's higher so it doesn't spray) and then sat in the front part to have a wash. If you put the potty litter tray in their chosen pee place they will use it, but if you put it anywhere else they won't! I get the chinchilla sand from Viovet and get two at a time to save on postage. One carton lasts me months though.

When you first put the potty in with sand, spot clean the toilet area first (take a couple of handfuls of stinky stuff out and put a couple of new handfuls in and mix it in a bit - doesn't matter if it's slightly whiffy but means they still know it's their pee corner) save a little bit of the smelly substrate and put it on top of the sand - it encourages them to start using it and so they know it's still their toilet area.

It makes life a lot easier when they're potty trained! Both for you and the hamster. They often like messing about with the substrate themselves anyway - our last Syrian actually cleaned his own house out once. I found a pile of slightly whiffy substrate in front of the door and a big hole in the middle down to the cage base. He'd taken all the old stuff out and put new in. The old stuff was there for me to take away I assume! I don't think that's a common thing but he was quite a character! They often like to move it around or make into piles (there might be a hoard underneath) or pile it up against the house if they feel a bit cold. So I like to let them do their own housekeeping as much as possible

Bottle drips can make substrate go a bit funny though so I have the bottle over the shelf with a tile under it that soaks up any drips.

A lot of people paint the wood shelf and the inside of the house with plastikote to waterproof it and so it's wipe clean. Or you can put hemp mat on the shelf instead of painting it.

It's pet safe and water based - you just paint a thin coat on with a normal small paint brush. Two coats is a good idea. Not compulsory though! I think it's a good idea to protect the shelf as you can't get replacements, whereas you can replace a house. Occasionally they do have accidents and pee in the nest and the house can get stained. I've only found this with baby hamsters really - they get better control and habits as they get older. You can just scrub the wood under a tap though.

None of our hamsters has actually pee'd on the shelf though but it has had water drip staining before.

It comes in different colours but this is the clear version.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plastikote-...stikote+enamel

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamster-cor...=hamster+potty

https://www.viovet.co.uk/Supreme-Sci...gaAtBcEALw_wcB

[Nadia]

Wow. Thank you for all the tips and links. Very nice of you.
I hope i remember all of this