How often should I clean my hamster cage?

BThuringer · 02-02-2021, 07:16 AM

Hello everyone!

I have recently bought a new hamster and I just wanted to know other people’s opinions on how often to clean his cage. I have owned many hamsters as a child, and have looked after friend’s hamsters. Previously, I have cleaned out my hamsters’ cages every 1-2 weeks depending on how dirty it is, however I’m not sure what to do with my current hamster.

Zeus likes to use his house as a toilet (I have tried to train him, but my attempts have not worked so far), so I clean out his house and replace his bedding every other day. He doesn’t seem to use an other areas of his cage as a toilet (apart from the occasional droppings!) and so I was wondering how often I should be replacing his bedding in the whole cage. Every website seems to have told me different things and I have never known the definite answer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated from me and Zeus!

Amethyst_ice · 02-02-2021, 07:43 AM

Hello and welcome

I wouldn't be cleaning his house that often. Is his house an open bottom? If you have an open bottomed house and deep substrate then he shouldn't need cleaned out that much

Most people seem to do a full cage clean 3-4 weeks (or sometimes longer with just spot cleans).

Hamsters will poop in their housing area so that is perfectly normal

yasmin_the_hamster · 02-02-2021, 09:08 AM

Hello,

Maybe you have already tries this. Some hamster like to pee in their sandbath. If your hamster is new, it can pee in his house because he feels safer that way. Maybe you could try a sandbath with cover (I mean like a coconut) close to his house. It is a problem to find somethig suitable though, as coconut will be soon very smelly and anything with plastics is not recommended. Maybe a big enough glass jar, partly covered with bedding, sand inside. That would be much easier to clean.

Cleaning the cage depends entirely on how big your enclosure is. However, full cleanings (taking out all of the bedding) is extrememy stressful for hamster. That is why only spot cleaning, or part of the cage cleaning is recommended. It was actually studied that hamsters were pretty stressed out for a couple of hours after a full clean, I cannot remember the name of the study unfortunately

Ria P · 02-02-2021, 09:29 AM

If you give him a big enough bottomless house and put an en suite corner toilet in, he may well use that.

With a 80cmx50cm cage and deep paper based substrate, you rarely need to do a full clean because spot or partial cleaning does the job.

I tend to follow my nose and clean the area or item that's damp or smelly because i don't believe in unnecessarily upsetting a hamster just for the sake of cleaning something because i haven't cleaned it for two weeks.

Like this morning i got a whiff of pee in the hamster room and traced it to the wheels belonging to one of my dwarfs. I cleaned them and she was very annoyed with me but was distracted with a bit of free roaming time and scattered seeds to find.

Aaprincess · 02-02-2021, 12:37 PM

Welcome!

Well my female Syrian hamster tends to pee in her sand bath and poop in her bedding in her nesting corner and food bowl! So I try to spot clean as best as I can but it’s pretty hard trying to clean all those poops up through all the bedding. I spot clean as best as I can, I spot clean areas of her sand baths and then freshen up her sand bath about once a week or every few days depending on how much it needs it. Even after trying to spot clean, when I do a big cage clean out about every 2-3 weeks, again depends how much it needs it, (whilst still keeping some of her old bedding in so it’s not too stressful for her) I still find lots of little poops in the bottom of the bedding. Don’t worry too much about it. When I got my hamster(which was not that long ago at all!) I was worrying about a lot of things like her safety, stress, teeth, free roaming etc you name it.I still worry a bit now and I’m not perfect but only human, we all are - remember that. We just want to give our little babies a great life but it’s easy to forget everyone makes mistakes. I know this is a bit of a ramble but I hope this helps

BThuringer · 02-02-2021, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst_ice

Hello and welcome

I wouldn't be cleaning his house that often. Is his house an open bottom? If you have an open bottomed house and deep substrate then he shouldn't need cleaned out that much

Most people seem to do a full cage clean 3-4 weeks (or sometimes longer with just spot cleans).

Hamsters will poop in their housing area so that is perfectly normal

Thank you for your reply.

At first I tried not cleaning his house out very often as I know it can be stressful, but even after four days the house had an awful stench and was very wet, which is why I now clean it every couple of days. His house is the one which came with the cage (furplast criceti 100) and it doesn’t have an open bottom. I also put an igloo and a straw house (both with open bottoms) in the cage, but he seems to prefer the plastic house.

I tried to toilet train him by putting his soiled bedding into another house near the one he sleeps in, but he still does not wee anywhere else (apart from on his wheel). I’ve been hoping that he will grow out of this once he feels more comfortable as I’ve only had him for a few weeks, and I don’t want to stress him out too much by switching out his housing arrangements, but perhaps I should try something different?

BThuringer · 02-03-2021, 02:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yasmin_the_hamster

Hello,

Maybe you have already tries this. Some hamster like to pee in their sandbath. If your hamster is new, it can pee in his house because he feels safer that way. Maybe you could try a sandbath with cover (I mean like a coconut) close to his house. It is a problem to find somethig suitable though, as coconut will be soon very smelly and anything with plastics is not recommended. Maybe a big enough glass jar, partly covered with bedding, sand inside. That would be much easier to clean.

Cleaning the cage depends entirely on how big your enclosure is. However, full cleanings (taking out all of the bedding) is extrememy stressful for hamster. That is why only spot cleaning, or part of the cage cleaning is recommended. It was actually studied that hamsters were pretty stressed out for a couple of hours after a full clean, I cannot remember the name of the study unfortunately

Thank you for your reply.

I was actually looking into getting a sandbath so maybe I should try this.

I have the Furplast Criceti 100 cage (95x57x50cm) so it is a decent size. I use a scoop to do spot cleans around the cage and have never fully replaced the bedding because I know it is stressful (and I have never needed to). So, taking into account spot cleaning etc, should the full cage only be cleaned when absolutely neccessary?

BThuringer · 02-03-2021, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ria P

If you give him a big enough bottomless house and put an en suite corner toilet in, he may well use that.

With a 80cmx50cm cage and deep paper based substrate, you rarely need to do a full clean because spot or partial cleaning does the job.

I tend to follow my nose and clean the area or item that's damp or smelly because i don't believe in unnecessarily upsetting a hamster just for the sake of cleaning something because i haven't cleaned it for two weeks.

Like this morning i got a whiff of pee in the hamster room and traced it to the wheels belonging to one of my dwarfs. I cleaned them and she was very annoyed with me but was distracted with a bit of free roaming time and scattered seeds to find.

Thank you for your reply.

Do you have any recommendations for houses with en suites? I do think I should change his house because it has a plastic bottom, but I want to get one I am certain he will prefer over his current one because he actually has three different houses, yet he chooses the least suitable one!

The cage is a decent size (95x57x50) so I do tend to only do spot cleans at the moment. The issue is the only place he will ever wee is on his wheel and in his house, therefore his house gets very smelly very quickly, which is why I have to switch out his bedding so often.

Ria P · 02-04-2021, 06:52 AM

My Syrian hamster Rory pees in his en suite toilet inside his house. He is a lovely and beautiful hamster but a messy little sod so i do the following:
He has two identical Ferplast guinea pig house and two size S Rodipet ceramic corner toilets. The M size is too big for this house but you can buy Rodipet labyrinth houses big enough to fit one in.
His woodchips filled toilet is opposite his nest in his house and he pees and poops in it. If i leave it too long it starts to stink which doesn't seem to bother him and the sides of his house get a bit poo stained as well.
I take out his toilet about once or at most twice a week and put the clean one in when he's out freeroaming. When his house gets dirty i take the house out as well and put the clean one in. It has his smell so he is perfectly fine with that. Again i do that when he is freeroaming.
The roof lifts off the house so i don't need to disturb his nest which even stays pretty much intact when i change the house over.

This method may not suit every hamster but it works for Rory.
These houses are inexpensive and wash well in warm water with a bit of mild washing up liquid if needed.

hamster_lover995 · 02-04-2021, 11:30 AM

Depending on the size of the cage is how often you clean the cage. If your cage is above the bare minimum monthly cleaning monthly will be just fine. If your cage is under the bare minimum (450 square inches of unbroken floor space) then weekly cleaning is necessary. If you do decide to clean your hamster's cage then do a half and half clean so the hamster won't be stressed out, because of your consent cleaning your hamster will stop going to the bathroom in the same spot due to stress and losing its old scent of the cage.