To clean cage or leave it?

[Beckie]

Hi all! I bought little Finn a week ago and he has been settling in very well, taking food from my hand and he had a lovely play in our bathtub the other night, which he really enjoyed!

After the success of the bathtub, my boyfriend and I bought a huge bin and bought lots of new toys for Finn to play with. On Sunday night, after he woke up, we put his cage into the bin, took the top off and let him explore. However, unlike when he was in the bathtub, Finn seemed very scared, he was running about and kept "freezing". We decided right away that we would put him back in his cage, as soon as he climbed back into it (as neither of us has picked him up yet and he already seemed very scared), it was about 10 mins later until he finally moved and scurried back to his cage.

Unfortunately, when we put the lid back on his cage, his wheel snapped. We didn't notice until we saw him trying to run on it and it wasn't moving. He seemed very distressed. We had no choice but to put him back in the bin cage and change his wheel to a bigger one which we had already bought.

We put him back in his cage but he doesn't seem to like his new wheel (it seems to rotate forwards and backwards more than his other one?). He was shaking and every time either of us made a noise, he would jump and freeze.

As I've had him for exactly a week today, I was planning on cleaning his cage tonight. However, I don't want to freak him out anymore (as I know hammies don't like change). I'm not sure whether it is best to leave him in his cage for a couple more days until he's calmed down or whether I really should clean his cage (I don't want him getting sick if it's dirty).

As he's my first hamster, I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to keep him as happy as possible, but not sure what to do! Thanks!

[souffle]

I wouldn't clean the cage just yet. If fact baby hams wee so little that it should be fine with just spot cleaning the wet corner for couple of weeks yet as long as he is not weeing in bed or anything. Leave it as long as you can and when you do clean always add some of the old stuff sprinkled over the new so he keeps some of his scent. He will get used to the new wheel so just leave i in there calmly and continue as normal with he taming.
Welcome to the forum

[Beckie]

Hi souffle!

Thanks for your reply! I'm not really sure if he has a wet corner (I've never even seen him wee!), but he does have a bed which the lady at P@H said I should change as hamsters love to wee in it (it's furry). I bought another identical bed with a plan to alternate them weekly. So would it be best if I changed the bed but left everything else?
You've really put my mind at ease, I've been panicking about what to do since last night!

[Pebbles82]

Hello and welcome. Agree with Souffle - I would leave the cage cleaning as long as possible and just spot clean the wee corner. You could try putting a couple of treats in the new wheel at night - he'll soon forget about it having morphed into a different wheel lol!

[souffle]

You need to remove the furry bed. The advice given was very bad as hamsters should never have furry bedding. cloth or anything with threads or such like in it in the cage. Because they pouch and chew them they can end up with bowel blockages and lose limbs due to tangling in the fibres. Same apples to fluffy bedding.
The best bedding is plain white loo roll ripped up a bit. This dissolves very easily should they happen to eat a bit.
They are desert animals and produce concentrated urine so as he is a baby he is unlikely to pee an awful lot just yet. The poop is also very dry and inoffensive so nothing to worry about.
If you have tubes or plastic houses they will often wee in there so check those out. It's best not to use those as they can get rather stuffy and unhealthy. We like to use a box with the bottom cut out as a nest house. They are easily replaced and you can cut a door and window in for the hammy to climb through. Make them nice and big though. Lifting them up gives easy access for taming with minimal disturbance.
Keep the furry pouches for supervised use only won't you.
Boxes we use in the first post here
Hamster toys and accessories from recycled household items thread

[Thin Lizzy]

Hi Beckie and welcome to the forum!
Like the others have said, hold of cleaning his cage.
Feel the corners of his cage to see if he's using them as a toilet.
Furry bedding is a no-no, even though a lot of companies that sell it say it's safe, it isn't!
Toilet Paper is the best.
Sometimes hamsters can feel out of their comfort zone being out of their cage as their cage is their territory.
As for his new wheel, he'll adjust to it in his own time, some take longer adjusting to anything new.

[Pebbles82]

Yes as Souffle and Thin Lizzy say, furry beds are a no no. I either use white toilet paper torn up, or sometimes buy the bags of white paper bedding which is already in shreds. You just leave a pile of it in his cage and he will pouch it, take it where he wants it and build himself a nest. I find it's better to just leave the paper loose in the cage in a heap - ours doesn't like the bedding paper being put in his house for him. The once I did this he wouldn't sleep in the house. He might be a bit upset for a day or so when you take his bed away, but he'll soon forget it and build himself a nice new nest. Charlie sometimes makes amazing nests like woven balls with a hole in one side that he can climb in through. I have a furry nest thing - looks like a doughnut, but I only use it as an out of cage toy so I can keep an eye on him in case he chews it. And sometimes he does - he is trying to pull it into pieces to make a bigger nest, like he does with toilet paper. It's their instinct to want to pull fluffy things to pieces to make their own nest.

You could also get one of those plastic potty trays and fill it with litter, sand or substrate and put it in the corner where he normally wees (they usually choose a corner for weeing). Charlie started using his straight away and it makes cleaning the cage a lot easier - I just empty the potty litter tray once a week and then the rest only needs spot cleaning occasionally. I don't do a full cage clean now. About once every 6 weeks I'll change the top 2/3 of the substrate (mix the bottom 1/3 in with it so it smells familiar - the bottom 1/3 will be clean). And then I'll clean his wheel or any toys that need a wipe, a week or so later, so they don't get all the stressful things done at the same time.

Another tip I got on here was to do any spot cleaning etc while he is in the cage so they get used to it. If I did it when Charlie was out of the cage, he was much more nervy when he went back in (I think he thought there was someone or something in there who had changed things!)

[racinghamster]

Hi Beckie, you sound like a very good hamster mum putting Finn`s needs to the fore, well done. I`m not one for full cage clean at any time. I personally feel hamsters like a bit of mess around them and spot cleaning is far less stress on the hamster. Remove any poos or wet areas and just wet a sheet of kitchen towel with warm water to wipe away any smells or wetness. Try not to use any disinfectants either as these can smell really strong to a hamster. I would only use those if my hamster had wet tail or I felt the cage really needed a good once over, which is fine.

I would replace his wheel though super quick as he will miss it! Hamsters do love their wheels! x

[Beckie]

Hi everyone, thanks for all your helpful replies and advice!
I knew furry bedding was a no no, but silly me assumed that the bed they were selling in P @ H must be safe! I'll remove the bed right away, but I'm not sure what's best to put in as a replacement? Would a small tissue box suffice? I'm so worried about stressing him out too much, he still seems jumpy after the bin cage incident and after he only got a new wheel yesterday, I'm worried it will make him even more nervous.

Also I checked around the edges of his cage and managed to find his wee corner and replace that bedding- thanks Thin Lizzy!

I will put some treats in his wheel when he wakes up and heed all of your advice when I do get around to cleaning his cage! Also great idea to spot clean whilst he's in the cage, I hadn't thought of that!

Thank you so much for all the advice, I finally feel a little bit more relaxed! I feel like I sometimes don't know what is best for him, but I feel like I'm in good hands now

[cypher]

A small tissue box should be fine Beckie, tbh they'll sleep in pretty much anything given some toilet tissue to make a nest with!