Burrow Spot Cleaning

[Gigithehamster]

Hi!
I have a male syrian hamster, and i have a diy bin cage with about 8" of bedding. I gave him the IKEA Knuff (i think?) as i hideout (its basically a wooden magazine holder) and he has burrowed under it. However, i want to spot clean his cage, and i can see mess in his burrow, but if i try and move the Knuff the burrow collapses. How often should I clean the burrow, and how should i go about it?

Thanks,
Cat (and Gigi too!)

[Ria P]

I'm guided by my nose. When it starts to smell bad then i clean where needed by removing the smelly substrate and then replace it with clean one.

You may want to replace the Knuff with an upside down shoe box or a bottomless house. Hamster like to be able to sink their nest and hoard into the substrate and with a Kbuff he can't do that so burrows underneath it.

Syrian's often choose a peeing corner in a big enough house which makes spot cleaning easy especially with a corner toilet. Could be that your hamster is a burrower who sleeps and hoards underground though in which case you'll have to clean when it smells and then let him build a new burrow.

Poops don't smell but pee does.

[Pebbles82]

Agree. It is tricky if the nest in an inaccessible place as you can’t see what’s what. Does he have a litter tray he uses? Also agree with the shoebox house or similar - it may tempt him to move in (especially if you put a bendy bridge tunnel over the entrance so it’s dark inside). Cut the base out of the shoebox, a hole in one side for a door and use the roof as a lift off roof. If it’s big enough you could put a corner litter tray inside (back corner opposite door seems to work well as they nest in the darkest part). Then you can check inside without spoiling the nest and can empty the litter tray. Just lift the roof off . Put a smelly treat inside and some toiket paper strips near the house but not in it and ge’ll Probably move in.

[Gigithehamster]

Thanks for your help! I'm going to spot clean him tonight and i have a spare shoebox i can use for a burrow.
Thanks again,
Cat (and Gigi!)