How To Disinfect A Cage, Wheel, and Toys That Belong To A Hamster With Wet Tail

[livedinhogwarts]

My hamster got wet tail a few days ago, and is currently staying at the vets so they can treat him. I was just wondering the best way to disinfect his cage, the wheel and his food bowl and water bottle. I don't want to use any harsh chemicals in the food bowl/water bottle, but of course I don't want him to get sick from using them again. Just looking for some suggestions and advice. Thanks!

[Drago]

With wet tail, I recommend just throwing away most toys. Anything wooden, wicker, sea grass, hay, etc- should be disposed of.

As for his wheel, soak in hot water or a mix of water and bleach. Bottles can be scrubbed with hamster-safe soap (I use dawn) and food bowls can be as well. Soaking makes a big difference, so try to leave the items in a pan or tub with hot, soapy water if you can.

Hope your little guy feels better soon!

[livedinhogwarts]

@Drago

Thanks, this helps a lot. I've thrown away most of his toys, except unused chew toys. You can buy hamster-safe soap from any pet store right?

My little hammy is doing much better thanks! ^_^

[Pebbles82]

You could ring the vets and ask them what they use - they have to do that kind of thing all the time. I would replace the water bottle with a new one personally. When I enquired about something similar of our vet they recommended a deep soak in a pet safe disinfectant. Eg fill the bath up and soak the whole lot in water and the disinfectant stuff for a period of time, then rinse well and leave to air in the sunshine for a day or so if you can.

I have a feeling it was just the Johnson's pet disinfectant but if you ring you're vet they can either recommend something or sell you something. I wasn't keen on using bleach so checked with the vets.

[livedinhogwarts]

@Serendipity7000

Thanks for the advice- this helps me a lot. I felt a bit iffy about using bleach too since its really strong stuff and I don't want the smell or any traces of it to linger at all. I think using pet disinfectant would be safer. I'll ring the vets tomorrow to ask what they use. How long do you think I should soak the cage for?

I can replace the water bottle for sure. Do you think it's best I replace the food bowl also?

[Pebbles82]

Food bowl should be easy to clean and disinfect - bottles have lots of places for things to get trapped and can get rusty bits if soaked a lot too. You could just wash the food bowl normally with washing up liquid but pour boiling water over it afterwards to kill anything.

I'm pretty sure it was this Beaphar deep clean our vet recommended. It's what I used but it wasn't for wet tail but moth eggs! Put the cage base in the bath, sprayed it all over with this, left it on for 20 minutes then filled the bath left it to soak for another 20 minutes. Then belt and braces I poured boiling water all over it! Then just left it to dry and air. With the cage top I sprayed it all over, wiped the disinfectant into any nooks and crannies, left it for 20 mins then rinsed it off with the shower.

Then leave it to air for a few days. If you get a sunny day, sun and air are helpful.

Basically discard anything that isn't washable and small things you can put in boiling water.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beaphar-Dee...e+disinfectant

[Pebbles82]

After I had to do a full disinfect I decided to stick to washable toys! Mainly ceramic and plastic or disposable replaceable things like cardboard. Or smooth wood which can be painted with plastikote and washed clean. Except for bendy stick bridges which are always good and cheap enough to replace if necessary.

Just thinking this might be the time to check your cage and set up will be suitable so he doesn't need changes when he comes back as changes and clean outs can be stressful. Not sure what cage you have but if you got it from pets at home and it turns out not to be suitable, then they are usually good with exchanges or refunds - even if it's been used. Although obviously it would need fully disinfecting.

Something about 80cm by 50cm is a good size and not too tall. If you have a flying saucer wheel it needs to be a 12" one. If it's smaller than that I wouldn't bother using it and get something like a 28cm trixie wheel instead. It's a popular wheel, easy to clean and hamsters like it Quite quiet.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trixie-Exer...xie+wheel+28cm

So before buying new toys etc there are household items you can use as toys - eg kitchen roll inner tube as floor toy/tunnel (slit it down the side so it expands). A mug on its side (ceramic is easy to clean), a tissue box as a hidey place etc.

They also need a good sized house/nesting box to build a big nest in and so they can retreat somewhere dark. A shoebox makes a good house. Cut the bottom out and cut a hole for a door and sit it on top of the substrate. You can use the lid as a lift off roof to check inside then so you don't have to take the house out and the nest collapse. Ideally a shelf or platform as well they can sit on or under.

A lot of toys sold for hamsters are either dangerous (nails or ladders with rungs or fabric that can be chewed) or too small for syrians - they do better with rat sized toys and tunnels.

2 or 3 toys, a house, wheel and shelf and plenty of substrate should keep him happy Then they have somewhere dark to retreat to and feel safe, something to dig in and some variety.

Just checking because a lot of people end up being sold the Rosewood Pico cage from Pets at home and it's not really suitable, floorspace too small and it's too tall. And they also get sold fluffy bedding which is a big no-no! Dangerous stuff and should be banned.

For nesting material the best is just plain white toilet paper torn into strips in a heap in the cage and they pouch it and take it to build a nest. Substrate/litter there are various options for other than pine shavings. Carefresh (expensive and slightly dusty), Fitch (recycled paper, popular on here, like Carefresh but no dust and works out cheap), and Hemp bedding are some.

Fitch you buy in bulk in either 10kg or 20kg bags and it lasts for ages so you can afford to use plenty in the cage. Hamsters like it because it's soft and they supplement their nest with it as well as the toilet paper. Ideally at least 4" depth of substrate.

Cleaning: Pet shops tell you to clean every week and this isn't necessary. Full clean outs are very stressful for hamsters. If you have a good depth of substrate and use a litter tray, you can just "spot clean" mostly (take out the odd handful and replace it) now and then and only need to replace the substrate every 2 to 3 months, plus empty the litter tray. Best even then to do "partial" cleans so something always smells familiar to the hamster. So maybe clean the wheel a different week to doing the substrate and any toys as and when. As humans our instinct is to clean the whole lot at the same time but this isn't good for hammies

Litter tray - best thing you can get! Syrian hamsters will use it and are actually very clean in that way. They only use it if you put it in the right place (ie where they have chosen to pee which is usually a corner of the cage). So when you find the pee area, just take a handful of the smelly substrate out and replace it and pop the litter tray on top with chinchilla bathing sand in and a little bit of the smelly substrate on top of that so they know it's still their pee corner, and he should just start using it. Then you just empty the litter tray every 5 days or so and replace the sand.

Our hammies have always peed in the very back corner and sit in the front to have a wash when using this corner one.

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

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supreme-Pet...a+bathing+sand

This is the Fitch substrate. One of those lasts me about 6 months with a 100cm cage and spot/partial cleans

https://www.fitchfirst.co.uk/fitch-p...-delivery.html

When Sparky comes back you'd need to give him 2 or 3 days alone to settle in and then start talking to him through the bars and offering the odd treat through the bars. Usual recommendation is don't clean anything for the first two weeks or move things around/change things, so getting it all set up first is best. Then you can start taming. Or start taming earlier if he shows signs of wanting to come out.

Anyway hope that helps get everything ready for Sparky. If your cage turns out not to be suitable now is the time to get it exchanged or a refund really. Apologies if that's not the case.

Zooplus sells good hamster cages that aren't too expensive. The Alaska, Barney and Alexander are all popular and good ones for Syrians. The Alaska and Barney are good value.

Hamster Cages | great selection at zooplus

[livedinhogwarts]

@Serendipity7000

Thanks for all this advice! I really really appreciate all the time and effort you made to help me with suitable products to use and how to set up the cage ^_^ I was planning to use Milton sterilising tablets on the food bowl since it's used for baby bottles and things. Only problem is it has some variation of bleach chemicals in it, so I'm not sure if that will be suitable...

I was also planning to use F10 SC disinfectant for the cage. Just to soak it in that and some warm water for a while like you said. Do you think the beaphar or F10 would be better to kill wet tail bacteria?

The current cage I have is about 47 x 30 x 25 (not a rosewood pico though). I know that's really small, but it was my dad who initially bought the cage when we weren't aware of the right size for it. Only problem is that my parents are the ones who pay for all of Sparky's things, and I can't really afford to. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't really be happy to buy a whole new cage since they're quite pricey, so I'm trying to save up money for a new cage. The Zooplus cages seem great though, so thanks for that recommendation. Do you think that Sparky would be okay to stay in that cage until we could buy a new one? He is only 11 weeks old.

I have a flying saucer wheel and it's roughly an 8 inches one. His back doesn't arch when he uses it, but I thought it would be fine for now until he's a little older and needs an upgrade. Or do you think it's dangerous for him to use a wheel that small?

The homemade toy suggestions you gave are great I might try a few of them out, especially the kitchen roll ones. I've heard that rat toys are good for Syrian hamsters, so I wanted to buy him one of those hideaway cubes that rats play with. I was also going to buy him a bendy bridge toy and some sisal chew toys.

The bedding I use are wood shavings an employee from pets at home recommended. I could look into other bedding too, but the toilet tissue one sounds like a fun cheap alternative. Fluffy bedding is awful and I honestly can't believe it's still on the market! It's so so dangerous. I was just wondering: does the bedding have to be different to the substrate or not? That's something which confuses me haha.

Thanks for the cleaning tips! I used to think you had to do a full clean out of the cage every few days, and only recently I found out that's not the case. I definitely want him to have the least amount of stress possible! I haven't given Sparky a litter tray before and since my hammy is a basically a little baby, he's not litter trained. I thought it was necessary to train them, or did your hamsters pick it up straight away?

With the taming process, I definitely want to give Sparky about a week alone to ensure he doesn't get stressed out. I've learnt from my previous mistake aha. Thanks for the advice; it's much appreciated. This will really help me let Sparky settle back in well

[Pebbles82]

I didn't know about F10 SC disinfectant but had a look and it sounds fine I wouldn't worry about Milton - it's used for baby bottles. Just make sure the food bowl is rinsed really well.

It is very difficult with cages, parents etc. Many people have the same thing as unfortunately pet shops will sell unsuitable cages. I made the same mistake with our last Syrian and had to upgrade him really quite quickly as he had some real issues in the small cage (stress, aggression a bit depressed and got stuck in a tube!) Which ended up costing a lot! So am always keen for people to try and not make a loss at the start. Although sometimes keeping a smaller cage for a play cage or somewhere to go during cage cleans isn't a bad idea if it's affordable to keep and get another cage.

Basically though - unfortunately, everything is too small, even for a baby syrian. They can grow to full size by 6 to 8 weeks old although often still grow a little bit after than. Particularly an 8" flying saucer - he won't be able to use it properly and it can cause stress and frustration (and pent up energy from not enough exercise). An 8" upright wheel would be ok as a starter wheel but usually they need something bigger quite soon - hence suggesting the 28cm trixie wheel as it's not expensive and good for any size of syrian.

That probably wouldn't fit in your current cage though. To be honest I'm not even sure an 8" upright wheel would fit in a 25" tall cage. And a 12" flying saucer would fill up the cage. Is there any chance you and your Dad could take the cage back for a refund/exchange? Many people have done this saying the cage isn't suitable for a Syrian hamster. Pets at home will usually accept this.

It is difficult I know. You can often get second hand hamster heaven cages for a reasonable price. The RSPCA don't have a minimum cage size (It used to be 80cm by 50cm) - they just say a Syrian hamster needs plenty of space, after houses, wheel etc are added - especially at night and they need plenty of "enrichment". A smaller cage can be ok if they get a lot of out of cage time but honestly I wouldn't put a Syrian in anything smaller than 60cm by 40cm.

The difficulty is - even if it was a short term option being in that cage, he would need upgrading fairly soon and a change of cage is a really big stress thing for a hamster. It's better they go in one and stay in one, I'd especially say if he has been unwell beforehand.

So sounds like - difficult - but maybe have a chat with your parents and show them some information and maybe try and do a deal? Ask if they will go halves with you and let you pay it off a bit at a time maybe?

The Alaska cage is probably the cheapest option at £35 ish and any syrian would be more than happy in there. The white cat house may need taking out as the holes in it are a bit small for a syrian (ok for a baby maybe but they grow quickly and can get stuck). It's easy enough to take out and isn't suitable for nesting anyway. Shoebox house under the shelf would be better As it has a shelf you just need the wheel and substrate and a few toys. People have made all kinds of fun home made toys on here You could also have a look at the "Let's see your cages" thread for some ideas.

Could you offer to do some chores in return for an Alaska cage maybe? If you're not keen on the idea of trying to take a cage back then the one you have would be ideal as a place to go when doing a cage clean eg.

The wood shavings are fine - yes paper bedding can go with anything

The Alaska cage and Trixie wheel from Zooplus would cost about £45 (postage is free if buying a cage) so it is a bit to find.

An alternative cage which is a bit smaller and about the same price, is the Ferplast Duna Multy (not the mini Duna) which is not too big not too small - an 8" wheel would fit but not the 28cm trixie wheel. The difficulty is if he ends up being quite a big hamster and needs a bigger wheel or needs a lot more space (their personalities vary - for some hamsters no cage is big enough!) then you'd end up having to upgrade again.

So the Alaska is very popular as it's big enough, has a nice big front door to make handlign and taming easy, and you're not likely to need to upgrade again.

I think if it was me I would try and find a way to get the Alaska cage and Trixie wheel now - they are a good basic set up for a Syrian. Put lots of substrate and torn up toilet paper bedding in and a house and some toys and he will be happy as larry in there and settle in.

Sorry I know that is pressure! If it was a dwarf hamster I would say your current cage would be ok for the short term. But not for a Syrian. Especially to avoid stress.

[Pebbles82]

An even cheaper option, if you don't mind a bit of diy with your Dad - is to make a bin cage. The 78cm Ikea Samla bin is about £10 - then you'd need some mesh and cable ties - cut out panels with a heated up stanley knife and attach mesh with the cable ties. There are lots of youtube videos showing how to make bin cages.

This is the Samla bin

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/...-art-90102971/

You'd need the lid (another £3). 1 cm sq mesh isn't expensive or cable ties.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/...-art-90110301/

Here are some examples of bin cages

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=....0.-mm7F0vijTA

Maybe show this thread to your Dad and see what he thinks. Our last syrian, poor thing, ended up having two cage upgrades due to my lack of knowledge and experience. We moved him into an 80 x 50 cage from his small one which was great, but it was a bit lower than the Alaska and he needed a big wheel which took up a lot of space, so I ended up with a 100cm cage. I think an 80cm ish cage is just right for a Syrian.