Where is my hamsters wee?

[shane]

I’ve just done a spot clean of my hamster’s cage for the first time, I found his poo but I haven’t found any soiled bedding. It might be a silly question but, how do you identify it? I was expecting to find some smelly and moist bedding.

He’s only been home a week so is it too soon for the bedding to be getting obviously soiled? I’m using Carefresh paper bedding, up to 6 inches in places so I won’t be replacing it all (hence the spot cleaning).

[Imogen]

Have you checked his wheel or hidey house? He may also be using his sand bath as a toilet. Usually hamsters decide to use one corner of their enclosure to pee in, so make sure you check each one. Hamsters are generally very clean and only use one place to pee in but they do have a few accidents and do pee else where besides their normal corner.

My hamster is toilet trained and goes in his little toilet in the corner of his enclosure that I bought off amazon to make it easier to clean (this saves having to remove a large chunk from the corner as it's a very thin layer of wood chipping he pees on and it then goes on to the plastic that I use a pet safe cleaning spray on. Saves it soaking down since he has 20cm inch substrate depth). But he does have the odd accident in his sand bath as well as his wheel.

[shane]

Thanks Imogen!

One corner has the sand bath, he doesn’t seem to be going in there.

Another corner had the wheel and he was pooping (not peeing) under it. Just before I cleaned I found out that hammies go to the toilet in the corners, he’s got one of those little plastic toilets but it wasn’t in the corner and he wasn’t using it so I moved it into the corner and put some of his poop in it.

He has a two-chamber house in another corner. I accidentally discovered that he wasn’t sleeping in it when I cleaned, he’s been pooping in there too but again the bedding seems clean.

The last corner has a lot more bedding in it and he’s created a nest somewhere between the house and that corner. I can only assume that he’s peeing down there. He’s still too shy to let me pick him up (he’s taken a few treats from my hand then immediately goes back home) and I didn’t want to go ripping his nest apart while he’s in it.

Should I force him out so that I can find the soiled bedding or wait until he’s ready to be removed from the cage so I can I do it?

[Imogen]

Thanks Imogen!

One corner has the sand bath, he doesn’t seem to be going in there.

Another corner had the wheel and he was pooping (not peeing) under it. Just before I cleaned I found out that hammies go to the toilet in the corners, he’s got one of those little plastic toilets but it wasn’t in the corner and he wasn’t using it so I moved it into the corner and put some of his poop in it.

He has a two-chamber house in another corner. I accidentally discovered that he wasn’t sleeping in it when I cleaned, he’s been pooping in there too but again the bedding seems clean.

The last corner has a lot more bedding in it and he’s created a nest somewhere between the house and that corner. I can only assume that he’s peeing down there. He’s still too shy to let me pick him up (he’s taken a few treats from my hand then immediately goes back home) and I didn’t want to go ripping his nest apart while he’s in it.

Should I force him out so that I can find the soiled bedding or wait until he’s ready to be removed from the cage so I can I do it?

Never force out your hamster from his hidey house, he escapes into there to feel safe if he feels nervous or threatened and forcing him out can make you have a harder time bonding since he'll be more scared of you then when you guys started out.

Wait for him to come out, it may take a little but try not to let it sit too long without seeing if it's clean though, since bacteria can start to grow and cause problems.

As with the toilet, try removing it for now, I noticed with my hamster he always tried finding a corner or moving something out the way of a corner to go to the toilet in because they were all "occupied". At first my hamster didn't understand what that big bizarre corner thing was and in return just sat in it to groom himself or eat a nut or something. If you remove it he may end up peeing in that corner, my hamster usually does this little handstand thing in the corner and pees up the side of the DIY bin enclosure haha. By doing this it left a scent in that corner that smelt like his pee as well as the soiled bedding, so from that I just picked it up and placed it into the toilet, as well with this I used some clean wood chipping from the enclosure (like a pinch) and rubbed it against the pee on the plastic of the bin cage to get a bit more scent and also placed that with the soiled bedding. After, he started doing a handstand in the little toilet compartment and got potty trained.

Usually I don't use latex gloves when cleaning because I'm disgusting like that, but when I went to toilet train him I used latex gloves to make sure none of my scent got on to the soiled bedding and it seemed to have done the trick.

If you can't find any wee stains then I'm not sure, it's not that common to hear of a hamster peeing all over the place but he might just be nervous and needs to settle in. :)

May I ask what he lives in? Is it a DIY bin/tank enclosure? etc.

[shane]

Thanks again! I’ll try removing the toilet. It has a roof on it (for added privacy) so if he turns out to be a handstand wee-er then it defiantly won’t be right for him :)

He’s got a Ferplast Maxi Duna Multi. I realised too late that I made a few mistakes in furnishing it, especially not putting in enough bedding for burrowing. I’m going to make some little platforms for his bottle etc to sit on so that I can add more bedding without the risk of stuff collapsing on him. Once he’s settled in that is.

[shane]

By the way, his name is Tobias and he’s a very handsome little boy :)

Tobias is already proving to be a bit unconventional. He immediately headed to the end of the cage with little bedding in it and at one point seemed to be trying to hide behind the water bottle. He’s now made a bed for himself between the wheel and the wall : hamsters (https://www.reddit.com/r/hamsters/comments/nnnxst/tobias_is_already_proving_to_be_a_bit/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&utm_term=link)

[Imogen]

By the way, his name is Tobias and he’s a very handsome little boy :)

Tobias is already proving to be a bit unconventional. He immediately headed to the end of the cage with little bedding in it and at one point seemed to be trying to hide behind the water bottle. He’s now made a bed for himself between the wheel and the wall : hamsters (https://www.reddit.com/r/hamsters/comments/nnnxst/tobias_is_already_proving_to_be_a_bit/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&utm_term=link)

Oh my goodness, he is so cute and adorable! A lovely little guy you got there! He's lucky to have you! :eek:

[shane]

Thanks Imogen. I managed to get him out of the cage for the first time tonight (hopefully he's not too angry with me for tricking him). After checking and cleaning everything else I replaced the sand in his bath with sand that's less dusty and - hey-presto - the wooden bottom of the bath has wet stains. Who knew that finding wee stains could be such a relief

[Imogen]

Thanks Imogen. I managed to get him out of the cage for the first time tonight (hopefully he's not too angry with me for tricking him). After checking and cleaning everything else I replaced the sand in his bath with sand that's less dusty and - hey-presto - the wooden bottom of the bath has wet stains. Who knew that finding wee stains could be such a relief

Ah, that's amazing! Glad he's been weeing somewhere, you're very lucky yours goes in his sand.

My guy seems to be all over the place at the moment, or either, very strange. He keeps thinking his toilet is some extra storage place and he keeps putting his treats and a few nuts into the corner like another hidden stash. Utter pain because he pees right near it.

Though, I'm actually currently filling up his potty with wood chippings, probably not the best idea, may turn to sand on Tuesday when the new guy gets his new enclosure since it'll be like starting out new. Of course, still with the scent from half of his previous wood chippings.