[Pixi44]

Hi everyone, I hope this is in the right section as I wasn't sure whether to post it in here or hamster behaviour...

My female Syrian Lilith has always peed in her nest where she stores her food, but it's soaking into her dry food and rehydrating it. I've been worried about her eating it due to bacteria etc and have been removing it along with the wet bedding but I've researched this more and realised that messing with her nest is stressing her out but as I said I am concerned about her eating this food. Her house/nest wasn't maybe the most sensible design to get as it's a completely enclosed wooden design with a base/floor which doesn't have a removable roof so cleaning it is hard and pee is probably soaking into the wood too. I actually put a different house in there which I could just lift up and clean but she decided to burrow under her sand bath instead. She is already having to take antibiotics twice a day which she doesn't like at all so I really want to minimise the stress for her as much as possible.

I'm moving her to a larger cage next week so I have the opportunity to put something different in there if anyone has any suggestions, I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice, whether I should be leaving this food and if it's safe? I always make sure to leave most of her bedding and only take the soiled stuff out. I don't have an issue with her peeing in there but I don't want her to be eating anything that's going to make her unwell...