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Old 11-26-2021, 05:36 PM   #1
Milly_Hammy
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Nov 2021
Location: Goiás- Brazil
Posts: 16
Exclamation Burrow full of poop, what can I do?

Hi guys!
I would like opinions on cleaning the hamster's burrow. My Syrian hamster Milou is making a lot of poop where he sleeps, I'm removing the poop every day, because when I leave it for more than 1 day it accumulates so much that Milou gets poop stuck to the fur.
I know messing with a hamster's burrow can make him angry, but I don't know what's best to do.
Milou has a habit of always sleeping in the same place, he doesn't sleep in other place (it makes accumulate).
Has anyone been through this with their hamster?
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Old 11-27-2021, 02:16 AM   #2
Ria P
House of Hamsters
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Wiltshire, UK
Posts: 7,103
Default Re: Burrow full of poop, what can I do?

I'd give Milou a large house with a removable roof if he doesn't have one already because most Syrians will sleep in a house if its big enough.
You could use a shoebox with the base cut out and a big enough door then use the lid as the roof.

Within a house they usually have a toilet corner opposite their nest and one of my boys even chucks his poops out his front door for me to clear up.

It could be that Milou can't create a toilet corner within a burrow because there's no space for it. Disturbing his nest daily to remove the poops will only make things worse i think. Also, their poops aren't smelly so there's no need to remove them so often. Could you not gently pick them off his fur instead? Or brush them off.

Where does he pee? A nest only needs regular cleaning if a hamster pees in it which baby hamsters often do until they grow out of it.
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Old 11-27-2021, 02:43 PM   #3
Lilafernim
Senior Hamster
 
Join Date: Sep 2021
Posts: 409
Default Re: Burrow full of poop, what can I do?

Mine does the same where she normally flings hers out the door. Also, mine has a sand bath that she doesn’t use to wash in, she uses it as a toilet. She mostly wees in it and still flings her poops out but it reduces a large amount of it.
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Old 12-02-2021, 03:56 PM   #4
Milly_Hammy
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Nov 2021
Location: Goiás- Brazil
Posts: 16
Default Re: Burrow full of poop, what can I do?

Hey guys.
I used the wrong term, actually where Milou sleeps is a house with a removable roof (dimensions 26x12 cm), this must be small then. Milou is peeing where he sleeps. I'm going to get a bigger cardboard box and also this month I bought a sand bath to see if he's interested in peeing there. Hope it works so I don't need to mess around with his nest so much. I took Milou several times to remove some poop from his fur, I was worried if he sleeping with so much poop could harm his health.
I had a hamster that flings out his poop the door of the house, I think it very funny, hamsters are very interesting.
Thanks so much for helping
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Old 12-02-2021, 04:44 PM   #5
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: Burrow full of poop, what can I do?

I find that if you have a bigger house, big enough to fit a corner litter tray in, then the hamster uses the litter tray to pee in. They do seem to like having an ensuite toilet and a toilet in the house is better than peeing in the nest.

However young hamsters do pee in the nest at first - they usually grow out of that quickly when they realise it means their nest has to be removed! I've only had one Syrian who was never fully toilet trained (he still occasionally pee'd in different places, including the nest - as well as the litter tray). All our others used a litter tray religiously.

It isn't just the sand in it, it's the shape of it and the location of it I find. So they may not use a sand bath as a toilet. But they do use a toilet as a sand bath! So I don't bother with a sand bath for a Syrian, I use a corner toilet with sand in. They tend to pee in the back corner and sit in the front part for a wash (and they do seem to like that "ensuite"). As soon as ours get out of bed, they go straight to the toilet and then emerge from the house looking for food.

If you have a small house, they usually choose a corner of the cage to pee in (in which case you'd put the corner litter tray there - they not only fit in a corner but have a high back to prevent splashing). If you have a house large enough to fit a litter tray they almost always move their pee corner inside the house (whether there's a litter tray there or not).

But if you have a medium sized house, they don't quite get the habit. It's big enough that they don't feel like emerging to cross the cage for a toilet. But not big enough to have a pee corner away from the nest - so it all gets mixed up.

The house size you have is a good size - but not big enough to fit a litter tray inside. Whether you can go for a bigger house might depend on the size of your cage.

So if he's peeing in his nest at the moment then you will need to keep removing it (but always leave a little bit of it behind - so it still smells familiar. There's usually a dry bit even if a bit whiffy).

As for the poops I wouldn't worry too much although it does sound unusual for him to get them stuck to him. My thought there was - is there enough substrate under the nest to bury poops? They often do bury them under the nest along with their hoard.
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Old 12-08-2021, 08:20 AM   #6
Milly_Hammy
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Nov 2021
Location: Goiás- Brazil
Posts: 16
Default Re: Burrow full of poop, what can I do?

Thanks for the ideas!
The substrate layer inside Milou's house is 5 cm.
I've already put a bigger house made with a 30x15 cm box. for the past few days Milou has been pooping soft and sometimes very soft so it's sticking to his fur. The poop also has a strong smell, it wasn't like that. On Saturday I will go to another city to take Milou to the exotic animal vet.
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