Hut and the Toilet

[jolenels]

Belle has a hut. A plastic hide. She prefers to push all her bedding (we don't use shavings but this paper sort of stuff) into a corner and build herself a nest. She crawls in and digs deep to sleep. No big deal. But she flips her plastic hut over and uses it as a toilet. She rarely, if ever, toilets in her cage unless in there. Yesterday we were busy and I forgot to empty the toilet/hut and when I got to it today it was fully covered on the bottom and she waited until I dumped and rinsed it, put it back in, before flipping it and using it to poop in. Is this normal? Should I let it be? I mean, since she is not peeing or pooping in her cage anywhere else the need to clean it is cut down. It does not smell by the time I clean it either.

[xStephC]

That's actually quite funny! I would say leave it be unless this really bothers you, you may want to put a tray with sand in it and see if she uses that as a litter box instead?

[jolenels]

is sand safe? She won't eat it and get digestion issues? It doesn't bother me outside of what she is using, if she used a small square or something that didn't immediately draw your eye when you looked at the cage I'd be happier lol. People are like 'oooohhh you have a ham...ewww, is that hamster poo in her hut?' haha

[jolenels]

it doesn't help that after a few times using it she pushes it in front of the door, so I don't miss it when I go to feed her I guess lol

[xStephC]

Yup! sand is perfectly fine, I personally use chinchilla sand but make sure it's not chinchilla dust, as this can cause respiratory issues. But you can use chinchilla sand or children's play sand as long as you put it in the oven for a bit to kill off any unwanted bacteria/parasites. Most hamsters love playing and rolling around in it, plus for my long haired Syrian I feel it makes her hair shinier! I haven't heard of a hamster trying to eat the sand, most just roll around and pee/poo in it if you try it let me know how it goes!

hamsters can be so silly sometimes!