Hamster peeing in nest

[barley]

Is there anyway to discourage a hamster from peeing in their nest area?

When I first got Bambi he took to peeing in his sand tray which I was so happy with, but that stopped quite quickly and he then went onto peeing inside his nesting house. It cannot be good for him to be peeing in an enclosed house where he sleeps, and where he stores food too, and that worries me a bit.

I've tried encouraging him back into the sand tray by putting soiled bedding in there, and have tried wood pellet litter too, but he's still insisting on peeing in his bed.

Any ideas? I've wondered about taking his little house out so he has an open nest but he's quite a nervy little ham and I think he sees his house as a little safe den, so I don't really want to unless I have to.

[Drago]

In all honesty, I would just leave it be. Hamster urine doesn't contain high levels of bacteria and toxic substances like it does in other animals. I would try to move/remove it whenever you can without stressing him too much, and just keep being persistent with litter training. He's still young so he should grow out of the habit as time goes on

[cypher]

If you have enough room in your cage then the houses with two or more rooms can be helpful if you put the litter tray in one part, preferably where they don't sleep, then they will often use that.
He may grow out of it after a while but you can't really make them change, I've had the same problem with most of my Chinese & it does mean the houses need cleaning more frequently as it isn't healthy but not too often as that can make things worse.

[flowerfairy]

All my lot have bottomless houses on huge piles of fitch substrate which makes cleaning peed on bedding a bit easier.

[barley]

Thanks guys, I was really worried about it being so unhealthy for him, I didn't think it would be at all good for him to be sleeping in a house with the wet bedding, but it's reassuring to know it's quite common and unlikely to do him harm. His house doesn't have a base either, and it's set on a big pile of woodshavings with tonnes of shredded loo roll, so it's quite easy to pick the wet stuff out every couple of days but I don't want to do it too much and risk upsetting him more as he's a little worrier as it is! Hopefully he will grow out of it soon.

[Rads]

Pip has two sand baths/loos and she still pees in her house...!