Cage cleaning

Airia · 03-15-2020, 03:43 PM

I just got a 125 gallon aquarium from a family member and i would like to use it as a hamster cage.
I just had a question- how often would it need to be cleaned? I know it depends on a few factors such as size of the tank, if the hamster is potty trained which id like to try but i'm not sure how that will go yet as well as the hamster.

I wont be getting a hamster for awhile i'm just planning ahead and learning so everything goes smoothly when i get one!

Ria P · 03-16-2020, 08:34 AM

Hi and welcome to HC! You are doing the right thing by gathering information before you get a hamster.

What are the dimensions of the tank? How long, wide and high is it?

cypher · 03-16-2020, 08:54 AM

With a tank that size you wouldn't need to clean too much or too often, other than spot cleaning pee you could just do a partial clean every few weeks or so, some areas may need cleaning a bit more than others depending on your ham but you wouldn't need to do full cleans.

Airia · 03-16-2020, 05:43 PM

The dimensions are 72 Long x 18 wide 23 high

Airia · 03-16-2020, 07:29 PM

The dimensions are 72 " long x 18 " wide x 23 " high

Salem13 · 03-17-2020, 12:32 AM

Thats a really good size and sounds like you should be able to have some really deep bedding for your future friend to burrow in.

I have a dwarf in an enclosure thats just under 800 square inches and spot clean once or twice a week. They mostly use their sand bath as a toilet. I've had them since January and only the other day felt the need to do a proper cleaning. I could have waited longer as there was basically no dirty bedding at all but I didn't want to risk waiting too long.

With about 1300 square inches in the tank you describe I imagine you wouldn't have to do big cleanings very often. Maybe once a month if you have a super duper messy one.

AmityvilleHams · 03-17-2020, 01:33 AM

Big cleanings with large enough cages can easily go 6-12 months if not an entire hamster lifetime as long as they don't end up getting a mite infestation or any condition that would require a very thorough clean, especially if you had 12+ inches of substrate! Once a month would still be far too often for full cleaning and I wouldn't even be doing a half cage clean at that point - at most 1/4th of the cage's substrate.