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Pebbles82 · 11-10-2020, 09:29 AM

I've never had a problem with printed cardboard. Once they have substrate underneath you should find that the nest area stays clean and dry - they don't tend to pee in their nests once they're past babyhood and can actually be quite houseproud and refurbish their nests regularly when they have enough space. Hoards buried under the nest similarly are fine left for a long time as long as nothing is pee'd in. You might find hoards elsewhere in the house as well that sometimes get pee'd on so in that case you'd need to spot clean that bit of hoard out - and then replace it with new food in the same place (otherwise they start peeing on it more to stop you stealing it!).

I never really touch our hamsters nests - they are dry and their hoards underneath get left until I do a substrate change - which is usually at least 3 months. At that time I "prune" the main hoard under the nest and remove the bottom two thirds of it (they can get quite large) which is the oldest food. The dried food keeps quite well hoarded and they usually only hoard the dried food - any fresh food like veg they usually eat straight away rather than hoarding it - but only give very small amounts of veg - eg 1cm cubed sized piece.

Which reminds me - it's a good idea to freeze hamster food for a week before using it. If you haven't already then it'll be fine but it's a good idea from now on. To prevent outbreaks of bugs. Most pet foods contain moth eggs which are too small to see and in the right conditions (usually warm weather but can be a warm room in winter) they can hatch out. Speaking as someone who had a moth infestation from hamster food! Freezing the food for a week kills the moth eggs and anything else that could hatch out

Never had a problem since.

Anyway basically they are very precious about the nest and hoard and it is best to leave it alone - unless it's pee'd in. Hopefully your hamster will pee somewhere else. Mature hamsters usually pee well away from their nest and hoard and the pee area can be easily spot cleaned. Or if you use a litter tray you just empty that once or twice a week. And the rest of the cage stays clean and dry.

11-10-2020, 09:29 AM
Pebbles82 Hamster Antics Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 23,533	Re: Roof popped off house I've never had a problem with printed cardboard. Once they have substrate underneath you should find that the nest area stays clean and dry - they don't tend to pee in their nests once they're past babyhood and can actually be quite houseproud and refurbish their nests regularly when they have enough space. Hoards buried under the nest similarly are fine left for a long time as long as nothing is pee'd in. You might find hoards elsewhere in the house as well that sometimes get pee'd on so in that case you'd need to spot clean that bit of hoard out - and then replace it with new food in the same place (otherwise they start peeing on it more to stop you stealing it!). I never really touch our hamsters nests - they are dry and their hoards underneath get left until I do a substrate change - which is usually at least 3 months. At that time I "prune" the main hoard under the nest and remove the bottom two thirds of it (they can get quite large) which is the oldest food. The dried food keeps quite well hoarded and they usually only hoard the dried food - any fresh food like veg they usually eat straight away rather than hoarding it - but only give very small amounts of veg - eg 1cm cubed sized piece. Which reminds me - it's a good idea to freeze hamster food for a week before using it. If you haven't already then it'll be fine but it's a good idea from now on. To prevent outbreaks of bugs. Most pet foods contain moth eggs which are too small to see and in the right conditions (usually warm weather but can be a warm room in winter) they can hatch out. Speaking as someone who had a moth infestation from hamster food! Freezing the food for a week kills the moth eggs and anything else that could hatch out Never had a problem since. Anyway basically they are very precious about the nest and hoard and it is best to leave it alone - unless it's pee'd in. Hopefully your hamster will pee somewhere else. Mature hamsters usually pee well away from their nest and hoard and the pee area can be easily spot cleaned. Or if you use a litter tray you just empty that once or twice a week. And the rest of the cage stays clean and dry.