How often should a cage be cleaned?

[Tom360]

Hi,

I'm going to be getting a hamster soon and would like to know what your thoughts are on how often a cage should be cleaned.

In some books I've read, it says change the toilet area, food and water daily and clean the cage weekly. In others it says change the food and water daily, the toilet area weekly and clean the cage monthly, as too often can cause stress to the hamster.

Obviously these two books are completely opposite.

What would you recommend?

[Amethyst_ice]

Hello and welcome :)

It depends on several things- sex (females smell more during their cycles), the substrate you use and personal preference.

I'd say on average once a week butif you potty/jar train this can be washed out everry few days and the whole bedding fortnightly.

i clean fortnightly as i like them to have their house their way :)

[lisab]

My lot get fully cleaned out inbetween one-two weeks. yes they get fresh water every day but what its suggesting food wise i wouldnt do. Mine get food either a full mug once a week or half a mug twice a week. it prevents waste as hams will eat it all

Its one of those things that everyone will have a different way of doing it. and you will find the way that you like to do things when you get your hamster :)

[kyrilliondaemon]

Yeah, its entirely personal choice. We do it roughly once a month but it depends a lot on the individual hamster, cage size, substrate choice e.t.c.
We get less cleaning than those who feel its best once a week for theirs, but neither time is wrong, just really different.


Edit - And thats for all the hams (a syrian, three roborovskis and a colony of four russian hybrids). Spot cleaning is as and when, but major cleans are roughly monthly.

[jess_jolie]

I spot clean every few days and replaced the toy layer of substrate every 1-2 weeks and do a full clean every month but I have 8-15cm of substrate so its a bit too much to do all at once every week! All my hams pee in one corner so it's easy to clean that out every few days :)

[MummyofMonkey]

I posted about cage cleaning a while ago because I wasn't sure how often I should be cleaning. Today I have done a complete strip down of all 3 boys and scrubbed their cages under the shower. I have replaced all the megazorb and sand but I have left their bedding in their shoe boxes where they sleep to keep some scent.

This is probably the first time I have completely stripped their cages for about 2 months. I spot clean as and when I need to. They all tend to wee in either their wheel or on their saucer and since I have given them a bigger sand area they often wee in there too. I then just sieve through the sand to remove any damp lumps. They do have deep megazorb so I often turn it over as well to freshen it up. I also have pet wipes and wipe round the edges of the cages when Punk does his flying pee trick.

My robos seem to be a lot cleaner than Monkey my syrian was. He would smell if he wasn't cleaned once a week and I used to do his toilet every day but the robos don't seem to smell like syrians
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[chewy1991]

I think it largely depends on substrate used and the type of cage/habitat the hamster is housed in. In a tank, I find that once a week is best. I spot clean depending on smell. I'll sniff right above the tank daily and if I pick up any smell at all, I'll scoop up bedding from Buttercup's potty corner. Buttercup's tank smells if I don't clean it weekly. I can't imagine cleaning any less. Though, I suppose it might be different depending on species of hamster, whether the hamster is in heat, and as I said, substrate and type of habitat.

[Leesha]

I do a big clean every 2 weeks, her litter trays every 2 days (they smell otherwise), and her house every week (she poops in there sometimes) I change her water every day and feed her when I know and can see she has eaten the majority of the food in her house and her bowl is nearly empty :) I just keep an eye on her food intake and what she's eating to make sure I'm not over feeding her or anything :D

[TheFeldhamster]

Yes, it's true that frequent cage cleanings cause a lot of stress. The trick to have longer cleaning intervals is to have a really large cage with a deep layer of bedding - eg. 20cm/8in+ in a 40gal+ tank. The more bedding you have the less dirty it gets.

Over here the minimum recommended sizes are quite large (100cm x 40cm+) and the min. bedding recommendation is now about 20cm/8in+. That's about 80liters of bedding and many people have larger cages than that.

If your hamster is potty trained and you spot clean diligently then you can get by with a partial cleaning where you change about half the bedding about once a month or even longer. Most people here only ever do a full cleaning in case of parasites or when the hamster dies.

This does of not work in a small cage, say, 60cm x 40cm with 5cm of bedding because that's only about 12liters. Then you have to clean much more often or it will stink. It's kind of like if someone pees in the bathtub that's disgusting but if someone pees in the lake you wouldn't even notice.