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Old 06-20-2016, 04:16 AM  
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: Cleaning - how often?

Your situation sounds very similiar to ours That a lot of cleaning isn't necessary because the hamster is clean and tidy and uses a potty, and it's only really necessary to spot clean with rare big cleans. I also find the hoard is the one thing that needs keeping an eye on. But really if it is just dried food it is fine. Even their poops aren't an issue really because they are like hard little seeds and not dirty or smelly. The reason they keep poops in their hoard is partly for emergency food supplies! They can actually eat their poops to redigest extra vitamins (they have two stomachs). When our hamster was a baby he would regularly poop in his food bowl if it was empty (I think to make sure there was always something to eat!). Their instinct is to hoard for when food may be scarce.

Having said that, you need to check the hoard for any fresh food like veg, that could have been hoarded and go off. I have found that hasn't been an issue so am less concerned about that now. Because our hamster eats fresh food or veggies straight away and doesn't hoard them. But it can be difficult poking around in a hoard that is under a nest without disturbing the nest.

I just wanted to say I think you are doing all the right things. How often to empty and clean the potty out is a bit variable - sometimes I'll do it after 3 days, sometimes after 5 or 6 - depending on if/when it gets whiffy or looking like it needs it. But on average 3 to 4 days. Sometimes our hamster covers over the wee'd on bit with sand or bedding and kind of keeps it a bit clean himself and that's when I leave it a bit longer. He is so clean and tidy!

So I would say carry on doing what you are doing but maybe when you spot clean have a bit of a poke around in his hoard near the top to see if there is any fresh food there. There probably won't be. And you would smell it if something has gone mouldy lower down. The only times I've had to remove all the hoard is when it has been wee'd on (rarely) and then just put fresh food back in the same place as you removed it from, so they still have a hoard. They can get into a cycle of weeing on it if they think someone is trying to steal it! They wee on it to deter people from stealing it. Our hamster went through a phase of hoarding in his potty after I had to remove some of his hoard and then i had to keep removing it because it was covered in sand and wee. So I used to put new food back next to the potty and let him see. We broke the cycle eventually.

Ok so you say you don't think he hoards fresh food. So leave the hoard then. When you come to need to do a bigger cage clean (I do the substrate about every 2 months and leave some of the old as you do), you can have a poke around in it then. But really their dried food is ok left. At some point you'll probably need to remove some if it becomes too much, and hopefully he won't notice the hoard is smaller!

I found I was giving too much food at one time - the more you give them, the more they hoard! So I reduced the amount in his bowl a bit and only replaced it every other day. If you reduce it too much they panic and hoard all of it! Or start pooping in the bowl sometimes if it's empty.

It all sounds fine to me. Although personally I don't think disinfectant is necessary when you do a cage clean - unless there has been illness, disease or death. A warm damp cloth is fine really to wipe around the cage before replacing the substrate.

I found Erin's hamsters video on cage cleaning tips really helped our routine as our hammy used to get extremely stressed by any change at all, and especially any cage cleaning. Her method worked brilliantly for me and our hamster and I know only do "partial" cleans when doing a bigger cage clean. ie not changing all the substrate at once (as you do) and cleanign the wheel and toys on a different week to doing the substrate. So there is always something that smells familiar. Sometimes if you clean everything all at once they go round peeing on everything to re-scent mark it.

So I'd say just keep doing what you're doing. Spot cleaning and emptying the potty. Our cage stays very clean as well and sometimes I just do a substrate change because it's been two months even though nothing is dirty really, to stop things getting too stale.

If there are masses of poops everywhere, then just spot clean for that - it isn't necessary to remove all of them.

The difficulty I find is checking the hoard without messing up his nest. I had a poke around recently after I gave our hammy a piece of chicken when he was out of the cage. Normally he eats it straight away and leaves what he doesn't want. This time he pouched it. So next morning I needed to check it wasn't in there and had to poke around. It wasn't there - he'd eaten it, but he knew I'd been poking around and started a new hoard somewhere else So now he has two big hoards lol. It's just dried food really - it should be fine.

Next time you do a partial substrate change though, you could maybe remove some of it and put the rest back where it was. I try and lift our hammies house out with the nest in tact when I do the substrate clean. I slid a piece of cardboard under it and lifted it out that way.

At the moment he nests partly under his house in the substrate so it is going to get messed up a bit when I do the substrate. But as long as you leave most of his nesting material behind and some of his hoard, it will all still smell familiar.

I think it sounds like you are doing all the right things. I am also starting to wonder how big the hoard is, but as it's all buried it doesn't seem to be causing any issue and can wait till the next main cage clean.

Anyway, in case you haven't seen it, here's Erin's cage cleaning tips video. I found it really helpful.

You should never remove all of his hoard though. Try and put some of it back in exactly the same place. If you can't (eg it has been wee'd on) put fresh food back in the same place.

If it helps, our hammy starts to clean out his own hoard if I leave it long enough. I have come down twice to find a huge pile of food and substrate outside the door to his house where he has chucked out a load of hoard he doesn't think is worth keeping any more! For me to take away So although you need to check now and then and keep an eye on things, they can do ok for themselves sometimes to a degree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww
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