Re: Is this normal?
Many people believe in this myth, that cages/tanks should be cleaned once a week or two. I also did when I was younger, since my mom always lectured me to clean the tanks and change entire substrate. This belief have origins in people's fear of bad smells, but if you're using a good bedding you can avoid changing entire substrate even through the entire life of your hamster - just remove wet bedding where hamster pees and once in a while, when bedding gets a little too dirty or smelly - you can partially change substrate - take out only a part of old substrate and add new to the rest, remaining in the cage, and then mix it, or remove all of the old substrate first, then put new substrate, and put a layer of the old one on the top of the new, so the smell of the bedding won't change drastically
Hamsters rely on their noses much, so a full clean upsets them - for them it's like you would move them to a new cage, since nothing smells familiar, so it's normal for them to be nervous in such situation
And if housemembers worry about the smell much, remember, in few weeks they'll get so used to it that it'll go unnoticed until cage is really dirty -and that you can prevent by cleaning the spot where hamster pee regularily
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