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sarawen · 12-09-2019, 07:38 PM

Hi Hamster Experts! My daughter and I are new to being hamster parents, and have learned a lot from searching the forums. Hoping you can give us some guidance.

We have a Winter White. We have him set up in a 40 gallon tank with bridges, wheels, cork bark, grape wood and other items. We also have a sand bathtub in there permanently, which he clearly likes because every morning there is sand in many places from his nightly activities.

My dilemma is on how and how often to clean his cage. Here is the situation... He does not seem to urinate anywhere but in his nest (aside from on his wheels). When I cleaned his cage, I wanted to leave his nest as much intact as I could, but it seemed impossible. First, there were many poops all in it. That didn’t bother me so much since many of you have noted that it is OK for them to be there. I also found a LOT of sand in his nest. Particularly, there was a large oval of sand that was caked to the bottom of the tank (all in one spot) because he apparently likes to use it as his litter. The upside is he is very specific where he urinates. The downside is the only way to get that caked sand out was to totally destroy his nest area. I felt really badly about it, but seemed to have no choice.

Any feedback on how to keep his nest fairly undisturbed? I have thought about “submerging” a sand bathtub that has a lid to stay in his nest on the bottom of the tank to see if he will use that sand instead of transporting all of the sand from up above in order to make his own litter area. Also, based on this little hammy’s habits, frequency of cleaning the nest? Thanks in advance!

12-09-2019, 07:38 PM
sarawen Newborn Pup Join Date: Oct 2019 Posts: 2	Clean the nest? Hi Hamster Experts! My daughter and I are new to being hamster parents, and have learned a lot from searching the forums. Hoping you can give us some guidance. We have a Winter White. We have him set up in a 40 gallon tank with bridges, wheels, cork bark, grape wood and other items. We also have a sand bathtub in there permanently, which he clearly likes because every morning there is sand in many places from his nightly activities. My dilemma is on how and how often to clean his cage. Here is the situation... He does not seem to urinate anywhere but in his nest (aside from on his wheels). When I cleaned his cage, I wanted to leave his nest as much intact as I could, but it seemed impossible. First, there were many poops all in it. That didn’t bother me so much since many of you have noted that it is OK for them to be there. I also found a LOT of sand in his nest. Particularly, there was a large oval of sand that was caked to the bottom of the tank (all in one spot) because he apparently likes to use it as his litter. The upside is he is very specific where he urinates. The downside is the only way to get that caked sand out was to totally destroy his nest area. I felt really badly about it, but seemed to have no choice. Any feedback on how to keep his nest fairly undisturbed? I have thought about “submerging” a sand bathtub that has a lid to stay in his nest on the bottom of the tank to see if he will use that sand instead of transporting all of the sand from up above in order to make his own litter area. Also, based on this little hammy’s habits, frequency of cleaning the nest? Thanks in advance!