Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Navigation
Front Page
Forum
Gallery
Wiki

Ads by Google


Go Back   Hamster Central > Hamster Central Forum Topics > Housing

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-15-2016, 09:22 PM   #1
OnyxRissen
Newborn Pup
 
OnyxRissen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 6
Unhappy My hamster's bin smells bad all the time!

I have a pretty nice bin cage and my syrian hamster (Gus) has lived in it for about a month now. I've noticed it smells strongly of urine a lot. I spot clean it every day; taking out the wet bedding and replacing it, etc. But it still smells awful. I think I read that hamsters "scent mark" their cage whenever you remove their smell, so your only suppose to clean the cage every week or so, but I don't understand how I'm suppose to keep it clean if urine piles up for days. That sounds even worse! And my hamster has taken to hoarding a bunch of his food and urinating/defecating all over it. I don't want to take away his little stash usually, but if he's making it all gross then I don't know what to do, honestly. Please help me. I'm trying my best to take care of Gus but I'm really clueless about all this.
OnyxRissen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2016, 09:45 PM   #2
cheekytita
Hamster Pup
 
cheekytita's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 100
Default Re: My hamster's bin smells bad all the time!

Do you have a potty for Gus? You can place his wet substrates in that potty so he'll recognize the smell and would pee just in that corner. It would be easier for you to spot clean without interfering with his scent marking. I'm just not sure if the strong urine smell has some medical implications.
cheekytita is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2016, 09:56 PM   #3
OnyxRissen
Newborn Pup
 
OnyxRissen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 6
Default Re: My hamster's bin smells bad all the time!

Quote:
Originally Posted by cheekytita View Post
Do you have a potty for Gus? You can place his wet substrates in that potty so he'll recognize the smell and would pee just in that corner. It would be easier for you to spot clean without interfering with his scent marking. I'm just not sure if the strong urine smell has some medical implications.
I had a sand bath for him before, but I had to take it out cause he'd only pee in that. It would smell awful because the sand doesn't absorb the smell on its own. It shouldn't be a medical issue. The smell itself doesn't "smell" un natural. And he runs on his wheel every night.
OnyxRissen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2016, 10:21 PM   #4
BCjetta
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada
Posts: 84
Default Re: My hamster's bin smells bad all the time!

A lot of my males pee in their wheel. I was noticing a smell and realized it wasn't so much the cage as it was the wheels.
BCjetta is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2016, 10:41 PM   #5
OnyxRissen
Newborn Pup
 
OnyxRissen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 6
Default Re: My hamster's bin smells bad all the time!

Quote:
Originally Posted by BCjetta View Post
A lot of my males pee in their wheel. I was noticing a smell and realized it wasn't so much the cage as it was the wheels.
Just checked, the wheel smells fine. He's only peed on it once, and I cleaned it up really nice after that.
OnyxRissen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-19-2016, 03:30 PM   #6
herbi7
Hamster Overlord
 
herbi7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: uk
Posts: 801
Default Re: My hamster's bin smells bad all the time!

Is he weeing everywhere or does he have a preferred wee corner? If he has one corner as his toilet its easy to spot clean that each day. If he doesn't have one u may be able to encourage him to by putting some soiled bedding in the corner he goes to most often,after u have cleaned the cage out. You might find that using potty litter in a corner potty helps, you need to watch though as some hamsters try and pouch the litter which isn't safe. If he wees on his food hoards, take the soiled food away but put some food back in the same place so it doesn't stress him out. Strong wee can be a sign of diabetes but that's usually in dwarfs.
herbi7 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-20-2016, 09:58 AM   #7
flowerfairy
Fluffy Hamsters
 
flowerfairy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 4,231
Default Re: My hamster's bin smells bad all the time!

My syrians both wee in their sand baths but I just take out the wet bits and it doesnt smell at all.

How big is the cage and how much ventilation does it have? Woodstock (syrian) is in the duna multi maxi (100cm x 50cm) which is a tank style cage with a barred top and Gopal (syrian) is in the barney (100cm x 50cm) which is a barred cage. Woodstocks cage definately smells more cos of having less air flow.
flowerfairy is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
cage, clean, smells, urine, gus, hamsters, hamster, bin, suppose, bunch, food, urinating/defecating, days, piles, sounds, worse, hoarding, gross, honestly, clueless, care, stash, making, noticed, strongly

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.43 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Copyright © 2003-2022, Hobby Solutions
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:28 PM.