[LunaTheHamster1]

Hi,

I think it depends on how smelly/dirty your hamster is.
I only have to clean my wheels down and spot clean my syrians sleeping area once a week or more. The less you can do it the less stressful it is for them.

If you have a cage that is 80x50 cm or more then I find i don't need to do a big clean out for a month and a half - 2 months or longer. Even when I do a big clean out I only take off the surface dirty stuff and their sleeping area. the rest pretty much stays clean. So I would say I replace about 1/3 of bedding and keep 2/3rds

I only use vinegar/water cleaning solution on the wheel, not really needed it in the rest of the cage. If you have enough bedding then the cage should stay clean. It's only if they burrow down to the bottom of the cage that you may find you need to clean that area if their is pee stain etc.
I try to avoid cleaning as you are getting rid of their scent and it can be more stressful for them.

This is only what I do, I am sure many other are different, but for me it's all about less stress on my hamsters. I just found that the longer I have had hamsters the less cleaning I do, this is because of all the research I have read up on re cage cleaning and stress.

Also, when I first got Twinkle my current syrian he was a bit of a scaredy cat so I left him alone for 6 weeks (no spot cleaning whatsoever) and all he did was move the dirty bedding around so he had a clean area, so that was an eye opener for me and made me think that the least cleaning you can do the better for them. Obviously don't leave them living in a big pile of dirty/damp bedding, use your best judgement, but I hope you get what I mean.