re-homed hamster smells horrible

[Yulia]

Hi all

2 days ago I adopted an 8-months old female WW (normal grey-ish colour). And since she moved into her new cage the whole room smells... well, of a hamster
It's not a sweet smell (I've had diabetic WWs before so it's not this for sure), she eats and drinks normally. It's just a very, very strong smell of a hamster.

She looks very stressed and I would even say terrified, either of her new environment, or of whatever have been her experiences in the past (she is slightly overweighed and very shy and timid), and does not come out of her cage apart from drinking and grabbing some food. She did come out in the night though and even ran the flying saucer (but even slightest sound scares her and she disappears inside the house in a matter of seconds).

So, now about the smell. It is VERY strong, and when I say very strong, I mean the whole spare bedroom where her cage is and even an adjacent part of a corridor smelling of her. I did some research and people suggest it's most likely the smell of her pee from the house (she seems to do her business only inside the house for now, I did not find any wet spots in the cage as yet). Or she may be having heat, or sweating after execrises that she clearly hasn't done before, given her weight, or trying to mark the whole cage with her scent, or combination of all? Don't know...

I wanted to ask you advice - if it's the stale urine problem when is it time to replace the beddings inside her house for the first time to avoid stressing her even further? I'm ready to wait of course, but I have to do it eventually as all the fabrics in the bedroom will soon smell of her!

And of course returning her back to the store isn't an option as she deserves a better life! ))