Size of Nesting Box

Pete145rugby · 01-15-2018, 05:03 AM

Hi everyone,

I have a syrian hamster, he's about 10 weeks old now and was 6 weeks old when we got him. He's our second hamster (I posted some pics of him before Christmas when we got him).

He's settled in very well, we're handling him, taking it slowly and he seems to be pretty social. We have the Hamster Heaven cage, with the platforms, tubes and penthouse nesting box removed. Instead we've added some larger tubes on the floor, a much larger wheel and the large, wooden corner nesting box that our previous hamster loved.

The only issue so far is that he's peeing in his nest box, rather than picking a corner where we can spot clean the cage easily, or better still introduce a potty.

This means that I'm having to disturb his nest every day, otherwise his nest box really becomes unhygienic. I left it for three days last week by mistake and, by the time I got around to spot cleaning his pee from in there, it really, really hummed!

I've tried the usual tactics to introducing a potty, but nothing has worked, but I've just read that sometimes hamsters will pee in their nest box if they're big, as they almost see this as a cage within a cage, so it's big enough for them to pick a pee corner away from their sleep spot.

His nest box has two square edges to fit in to the corner, with an arc connecting them. The two edges are 8 inches and 6 inches long, so it's big! One solution that I've read is to introduce a much smaller nest box, so it's not big enough for him to pee in it and keep his urine away from his actual bed area.

Does this sound like a sensible solution? And what is an ideal size for a Syrian's nest box?

Pete

cypher · 01-15-2018, 05:50 AM

If he won't pee anywhere other than in his house then a two room house or labyrinth house with several rooms would be an option, this allows you to put a litter tray in one room & keep the nest area clean, they usually choose to pee in one room & sleep in another given the option.
I don't think this type of house is available in the UK though, lots of people buy from Rodipet in Germany.
Two room granite house.
Labyrinth houses not sure which of these would be best for a syrian but someone else will know.

Pete145rugby · 01-15-2018, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

If he won't pee anywhere other than in his house then a two room house or labyrinth house with several rooms would be an option, this allows you to put a litter tray in one room & keep the nest area clean, they usually choose to pee in one room & sleep in another given the option.
I don't think this type of house is available in the UK though, lots of people buy from Rodipet in Germany.
Two room granite house.
Labyrinth houses not sure which of these would be best for a syrian but someone else will know.

Great tip. Rodipet deliver to the UK, so I may well order a labyrinth house. In the meantime I've found an older nesting box, made it a little smaller (five inches by 4 inches) which he has already re-nested in. This space is certainly big enough to snuggle up and sleep in, and store some pouched food, hopefully he realises that it's too small to pee in though, and will find a suitable corner!

cypher · 01-15-2018, 10:40 PM

I forgot to mention before but do check the sizes carefully if you do decide to buy a labyrinth house, they are quite large & will take up a lot of space in a Hamster Heaven, the granite two room house fits in well though.

Pete145rugby · 01-17-2018, 12:44 PM

Well, I'm half way there!

He's picked a corner to pee in outside of his house (as it's too small now for him NOT to pee in his actual bed).

I just need to introduce the potty to that corner and it looks like it's problem solved!

CMB · 01-17-2018, 03:15 PM

Your getting there. When the potty is added. Put some of the pee soaked substrate in the potty. It should encourage him to pee there more/again.

Pebbles82 · 01-17-2018, 04:22 PM

Glad you got it sorted

Yes it's one way or the other - smaller house or bigger house! The Rodipet labyrinth house would fill the Hamster heaven up too much,but the two room one fits really well - Coco has it. Just in case the new smaller house doesn't work out well for him. The Germans reckon hamsters need houses with rooms - one for nesting, one for hoarding, one for a toilet. I have certainly found that when they have houses with rooms they do use one for a toilet and one for nesting although our hammies have always hoarded under their nests. Quite clean little things really!

Pete145rugby · 01-18-2018, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

The Rodipet labyrinth house would fill the Hamster heaven up too much,but the two room one fits really well

I went ahead and ordered one of the Rodipet Labyrinths already, thinking that I'd need it. I also really like the concept of multiple rooms and chambers, it seems to make a lot of sense, simulating their natural environment.

I didn't get one of the huge, 6-8 room ones, but this 5 room one (which is 31cm x 28cm):

https://www.rodipet.de/shop/haeuser/...erracotta.html

I measured it and thought that it would fit quite neatly at one end of the Hamster Heaven and, if it's nestled down into the substrate, I though that the roof would be as good as floor-space and the 'rooms' would feel like they're underground. Do you think this is a bad idea?

I am a little conscious that I don't want to change his nesting box twice in the space of a week, as this might stress him out. He's really starting to come out of his shell, and the taming process is going really well, so I don't want to put him back a step.

If I can get him peeing in a potty in the corner that he's chosen I might just leave it as it is, even when the Rodipet Labyrinth arrives. He did love his large corner nest box, but he seems pretty happy with this smaller wooden next box. We're actually seeing a lot more of him since we changed it. I guess once he's awake he has to venture out (to groom, pee etc) rather than staying in his palatial former residence!!

herbi7 · 01-18-2018, 04:14 AM

I had this with my Syrian. She had a strong cardboard shoebox for her nest but I had to cut a third of it off and put a new end on for her to stop weeing in it. Once we'd got the right size it was problem solved.

cypher · 01-18-2018, 09:34 AM

It's fine to use the labyrinth house as a shelf, I use my hams houses as shelves & it works really well but it won't leave a lot of room for much else, it depends whether your ham likes to dig & burrow or not, if he does then having a house that size in the HH could limit the use of space a bit,.