Urinating in bed?

[Bethyboo11]

My Syrian always pees in her bed! Is this normal? I know you're meant to leave a hamsters nest, but I'm so worried that the ammonia will harm her. Should I be changing her nesting material each day if it's soiled?

[Gimleyand Meeko]

I am not sure, but you could spot clean it. This is where you don't remove the bedding but if you see any faeces or wet bedding then you remove it. How wet is the hamsters' nest? Do you have a house in the cage?

[cypher]

Do you have a litter tray for her?
If not find a small dish & fill it with chinchilla sand, not dust, put some soiled substrate on top & place it near the nest, she should begin to use that. How long have you had her? Peeing in the nest with new ones isn't that uncommon if they're a bit nervous about coming out.
Is she nesting in a house or open nest?
With plastic houses the condensation & ammonia build up really isn't healthy, wooden houses are better but they do need a coat of plastikote to water proof them, once they've peed on untreated wood you never get the smell out so they tend to keep on doing it.
I would try not to remove too much of the nest, just take out anything wet daily & leave the rest while she continues to do it, with any luck she'll start using the litter tray if she has one.

[Bethyboo11]

Originally Posted by cypher

Do you have a litter tray for her?
If not find a small dish & fill it with chinchilla sand, not dust, put some soiled substrate on top & place it near the nest, she should begin to use that. How long have you had her? Peeing in the nest with new ones isn't that uncommon if they're a bit nervous about coming out.
Is she nesting in a house or open nest?
With plastic houses the condensation & ammonia build up really isn't healthy, wooden houses are better but they do need a coat of plastikote to water proof them, once they've peed on untreated wood you never get the smell out so they tend to keep on doing it.
I would try not to remove too much of the nest, just take out anything wet daily & leave the rest while she continues to do it, with any luck she'll start using the litter tray if she has one.

She is nesting in a house, which is unfortunately plastic. Would you reccomend buying a wooden house?

[cypher]

Wood would certainly be preferable (with plastikote inside) for a syrian you probably need to look at guinea pig houses though as most of the ones sold for hams tend to be too small, if you can get on with a top that comes off it makes spot cleaning without destroying the whole nest a lot easier.

[freyashamsters]

If it is soiled then I wouldn't change it every day but maybe every few days

I know a lot of people on here have the Rodipet labyrinth houses. They are a great size for Syrians and the different compartments encourage them to use each on for different things eg. hoarding, nesting, toileting etc...

You can also put a cardboard insert in the house that may encourage her to pee in the other side but these work best with wooden ones like the Ferplast Sin Guinea pig & rabbit houses - the hamster one is too small

I agree with Cypher, definitely get a litter tray - this can be as simple as filling up a small bowl with some chinchilla sand (not dust, this is too fine and gets into their respiratory systems) and she may take to peeing in that instead

[Bethyboo11]

Thanks everyone! Definitely going to buy a house that isn't plastic