Cleaning hideaway/bed/nest

[kate30]

Hi there,

I have a Ferplast wooden rabbit house in the savic plaza cage for my syriamn hamster as her hideaway and bed and she has made a great hideaway in there where she sleeps and stores all her food. Near the door I have a small potty which she tends to use.

I know disturbing the nests can cause some stress to them but I feel like I need to replace some of the tissue and bedding and clean it out as there may be some wee at the bottom and most likely a lot of poo's as I havent changed this bedding in a while. I just want to know how regularly I should do this and does anyone have any tips to cause the least stress.

Thanks

[Ria P]

cI lift the roof off when the hamster is out and sniff for bad odours and touch the nest with back of my hand to check if its dry. If all seems fine i leave it alone.

To clean it i put the hamster into a transport box together with substrate and his favourite hide. I put a few treats like sunflower seeds in to keep him busy.

I remove the house and carefully scoop the nest out with my hands then put it on some paper or something. I also remove the hoard but keep it. The idea is to preserve as much as possible from the nest and hoard. I only throw out peed on bits or bits of not so fresh fresh food if there is any.
I then clean out and replace miffy or peed pooped substrate in the cage with clean and mix with existing clean substrate. If its really wet and mucky i wipe the cage with a jcloths and water with mild washing up liquid, rinse and dry.
I put back the house and the nest and hoard but add some hamster mix if i had to chuck quite a bit out. You don't want to be seen as a thief by your hamster. Leave plenty of plain white toilet paper strips outside the house so the hamster can rebuild the nest to his or her liking.

There is no set rule as to how often to clean. I'd say as little as possible and only when needed. My nose is my guide.

Hamsters react differently to cleans depending on their personality same as humans have different standards.

I have three hamsters and they all react differently, ranging from not being bothered much at all to completely freaking out. Got to be done from time to time and they get over it.

[kate30]

That's really helpful, thank you!!

[Jo 17]

Kate30
Hi...I am sorry to use this thread, but I have similar question to the one from kate30.
I am new owner ( 3 weeks ) of hamster, I am so scared to stress him out...I can not yet figure it out where he makes his toilet. He had a house that he slept in, I lifted his roof when he was awake to spot clean, noticed lots of poop etc, cleaned it put back as much old bedding as I could, but he did not want to sleep there anymore, found himself new bed under platform. I left him be for a while but had to check there as well as still did not notice any toilet signs in the cage... I checked the bedding, found some poo, cleaned it this same - and he did not want to sleep there again. Found himself new bed... in the magazine holder from ikea ( wooden one. That one is a box with room and bottom, deep one. He seamed to make it really clean and tidy on the front and plenty bedding and lovely bed right on the back of the box. For me to clean I would have to be very invasive to his bedroom...I am so worried that he will not come back there again... What can I do, please advise...
Thank you

[Ria P]

Jo17, what kind of hamster do you have?

[RobinIsACatto]

Originally Posted by Jo 17

Kate30
Hi...I am sorry to use this thread, but I have similar question to the one from kate30.
I am new owner ( 3 weeks ) of hamster, I am so scared to stress him out...I can not yet figure it out where he makes his toilet. He had a house that he slept in, I lifted his roof when he was awake to spot clean, noticed lots of poop etc, cleaned it put back as much old bedding as I could, but he did not want to sleep there anymore, found himself new bed under platform. I left him be for a while but had to check there as well as still did not notice any toilet signs in the cage... I checked the bedding, found some poo, cleaned it this same - and he did not want to sleep there again. Found himself new bed... in the magazine holder from ikea ( wooden one. That one is a box with room and bottom, deep one. He seamed to make it really clean and tidy on the front and plenty bedding and lovely bed right on the back of the box. For me to clean I would have to be very invasive to his bedroom...I am so worried that he will not come back there again... What can I do, please advise...
Thank you

Actually, hamsters can’t control where they poo, so there’s not exactly a way to change his behavior. Hardened feces don’t cause any problems anyways as it’s completely solid, scentless, and, depending on the species, may even fall through the bedding anyways

Either way, no need to stress him out by cleaning his nest unless it really smells.

[Engel]

I roughly know the size of my hams nest but I cant check from above the only gap is on the bottom so when the ham is awake and out of the nest I clear the immediate area around the nest put my hand underneath it and lift it away from the base. As it is within a birch log it stays together pretty well. I then sift through any dirty bedding underneath and get rid of the poop, give it a wipe down put some bedding down and place the nest back where it was. Nests are pretty well put together and providing it's supported and you're gentle it should withstand moving.

I'm with Ria, follow your nose. When it starts to smell it's time for a clean. I use paper based bedding and in my old setup which was roughly 500sq inches I did a clean once every 2 weeks. (The sort where you go through good and bad bedding, remove the nest carefully, wipe down the cage base and put everything back in including the nest and put it in the same place as it was before.

If you can see the hoard without disturbing the nest why not skip a day of feeding so she can use up some of the stash. Helps to keep it fresh without you going into the nest.

Why not put nesting materials around her cage so she can replace what you remove?

[Engel]

Originally Posted by Jo 17

Kate30
Hi...I am sorry to use this thread, but I have similar question to the one from kate30.
I am new owner ( 3 weeks ) of hamster, I am so scared to stress him out...I can not yet figure it out where he makes his toilet. He had a house that he slept in, I lifted his roof when he was awake to spot clean, noticed lots of poop etc, cleaned it put back as much old bedding as I could, but he did not want to sleep there anymore, found himself new bed under platform. I left him be for a while but had to check there as well as still did not notice any toilet signs in the cage... I checked the bedding, found some poo, cleaned it this same - and he did not want to sleep there again. Found himself new bed... in the magazine holder from ikea ( wooden one. That one is a box with room and bottom, deep one. He seamed to make it really clean and tidy on the front and plenty bedding and lovely bed right on the back of the box. For me to clean I would have to be very invasive to his bedroom...I am so worried that he will not come back there again... What can I do, please advise...
Thank you

Only clean when it begins to smell. Paper bedding typically is more absorbent and odour controlling. Bigger enclosures take longer to get dirty because it's spread across so much space so it's not as concentrated. If your hamster likes to toilet in one specific area id suggest spot cleaning that area. Like my ham he doesn't pick a spot. I sift through good and soiled bedding once every 2 weeks and give the base a wipe but now I'm using a bigger enclosure so I theory I can leave it longer now. I wipe down the wheel every couple of days as mine wees as he runs so it gets quite mucky

[Jo 17]

I have a Syrian hamster - MIKE ☺️

[Jo 17]

Thank you all for reply...I do have big ish cage and lots of bedding, I am using carefresh. I have to to say, I haven’t notice any bad smell yet so perhaps I will leave it be for now and clean it after about a month from having Mike.