Spot cleaning??

[graveyardalien]

Hi there!

I've had my male robo about a month now and I can't seem to spot clean with him. I got him a large sand area to encourage him to use it as a litter box but instead he is peeing all over the enclosure. I have white kaytee clean and cosy bedding and I can pick out the stained spots but they are everywhere he also pees in his wheel, which I take apart and wash. I've also noticed he has several nests so I can't find an efficient way to clean his cage when he is peeing all over it and nesting which i don't want to destroy and I feel like I'm wasting a lot of bedding and stressing him out having to clean it fully every week because of the smell.. any tips?

Thank you

[Celestial]

Oh dear... it sounds like he's a handful!
I can't help you much... but to note: male hamsters have a scent gland and will smear their scent all over. I've not yet had a male dwarf, but it might maybe be possible that some of this "pee" is his scent markings??
Or maybe he's a thirsty little guy with no regard for bathrooms and sanitation!
Also, I think it might be normal for them to have multiple nests?

I guess the first question the next person would ask is, "how big is his cage/tank/enclosure?".

I have no idea where my little girl was peeing for the first long while, until suddenly one day she decided that the upstairs corner was forever her "pee corner" and all of that must go there, whether she's in her nest or playing with us.

[cypher]

It can take them a while to settle on one pee spot & the more you clean the more they will continue to pee & or scent mark the whole cage to reestablish their territory.
If you can I would wait it out, don't clean so often & don't clean the wheel too often & see if he then settles on one spot.
You could try picking out a few bits of substrate that have been peed on & put them in the sand, it may (or may not!) encourage him to use the sand to pee in.