Why do my hamsters stink??

[AbiJ]

We have 2 male chinese hamsters, we took them on from a friend a few weeks ago as her cat kept trying to get them. When they came to us they were in one of those ferplast starter homes with one tube that goes around the front and a wheel. We hardly saw them as they don't come out and play at all when anyone is awake, and they were a bit stinky, I've been cleaning them twice a week. Last week I bought them a huge new cage with loads of tubes, platforms, ramps etc,thinking that they may be happier in it and we might actually get to see them playing. It is wire on the outside where the other was nearly all plastic, and we've noticed that they stink to high heaven!! I clean them out and by the end of the day they stink again, they spend the entire time any of us are awake asleep, I know it sounds mean but I'm starting to think, what is the point of having them? We can't interact with them at all and they are stinking our house out. Is there anything we can do?

[kyrilliondaemon]

Er... Do they live together? If so, I'm afraid that cage won't be the best in terms of encouraging them to live together without falling out and fighting.

To answer your question about smell, there will be something you can do. First, stop cleaning them so often. The more you clean the more they'll scent the cage to mark it as theirs. Once a week is more than enough and given the problems you're having I'd suggest you leave them at least two weeks before the next clean, just clean the toilet corner once or twice in the meantime.

You will also be able to slowly work with them to get them more sociable. The best place to start is the hamstercentral wiki taming tips - Taming tips - Hamster Central WIKI
Most members of the forum can also offer lots of advice on taming, a quick search should show a lot of threads full of advice on taming nervous hamsters or you can post another thread asking for advice specifically about your hamsters

There is a chance the smell will be something more than them just scenting the cage a lot, but if you rule that out first then you'll be in a better place to start looking elsewhere for the cause. We have five chinese dwarf hamsters at the moment and I can honestly say that not a single one smells at all beyond the very basic hamster scent that all hams have.

[AbiJ]

Would they be better off in the small cage then? They don't just poo in one corner, they do it all over the place, it's all through the tunnels amongst the food that they deposit there, in their house, on all the shelves...they definitely don't have a toilet 'corner', and I can't see an area of sawdust that looks wet. In terms of getting along they seem fine, they used to spend all of their time in their house together or in the tube or wheel together, now they both sleep in the tunnel at the top of the cage!

[Esmy]

The only smell I come across with my Chinese boy Beanie (which is not pleasant) is from pee on his wheel and saucer. He pees almost exclusively on them so they need regular cleaning to keep that smell down. I don't notice it anywhere else. I hardly have to clean his cage compared to my Syrians.

[racinghamster]

Hi Abi. Chinese hamsters can have a different scent from other dwarf hamsters, but it shouldn't `stink`?!! I wouldn`t recommend a tiered cage with tubes and modules as a pair of Chinese hamsters will inevitably attack one another. Or one could attack the other in time. Keeping a pair is a very risky business and housing them in a single floored cage like a Zoozone 1 tank style cage would be ideal (see the Housing section on here.)

Chinese hamsters are naturally shy creatures, which explains their reluctance to emerge. I can`t say I blame them if they were terrorised by a cat!

Your boys sound happy enough together but they would have been sold as a pair by a pet shop. This happens a lot and they are not educated. They just sell pairs of hamsters because it`s more money for them.

Where are you? Are you in the UK?

[AbiJ]

Yes I'm in the uk. They are actually both quite friendly if you catch them awake, they don't bite and are happy to investigate me when I clean them out. They don't seem at all shy or skittish surprisingly. Their original owner had resorted to keeping them in a cupboard(!) for safety, so in view of that they are pretty calm. They really do smell bad though! Today I emptied out the tubes and wipes over the shelf, I didn't touch the substrate or their beds, but I can see now that they have peed on the plastic shelf. They are quite small too, I will try and get a photo of them later...maybe someone can guess how old they are? If they are juveniles would they be marking?

[souffle]

I think the issue is them sleeping in the tubes. You really need to get rid of these and all small enclosures like houses where they can sit in and pee and get it all over them. The condensation also builds up and can make them damp and whiffy.
You need to also consider how much these two are drinking and peeing. Chinese hamsters are prone to diabetes which makes them wee a lot and bacteria can make this rather smelly. There is info here : Diabetes in Hamsters - Vectis Hamstery and Exotics and also info on chinese which you can read up on
We find Chinese do have a distinctive smell unlike other hamsters. Possible changing to a more absorbant substrate may help?

[AbiJ]

Seems a shame to get rid of the tubes though as they seem to really like them. Maybe if I put a layer of substrate on the shelves it will soak it up? I'm just using Bob martin softwood bedding, which is basically wood shavings.

[racinghamster]

Wood shavings are fine, I use the Pets At Home own brand (not the scented rubbish they sell which is unsafe). In the time I had my female Chinese hamster, she did have a slight scent but nothing major. I agree with the others though about them peeing on plastic and inside things. Trying not to stress them too much with changes, but if they sleep in a plastic house (maybe one that is a bit small???) change this for a cardboard tea box or hankie box and cut the floor out. They will then be able to dig under it into their shavings, which Chinese love to do. They build nice nests inside. Cut a couple of exit/entry doors into the box and that`s it.

They sound really sweet, but then Chinese hamsters usually are. x

[AbiJ]

I'm beginning to think this cage was a really bad idea! I've attached some photos, you can see that they have moved a lot of bedding into the top tube so that's obviously their favourite place to be!Does anyone have any ideas how I could modify it to be more suitable?