Loving her sand bath!

[Peachesmum]

Gave Peaches her first sand bath tonight, which she adored!! Question is, how long to leave it in for? Can it stay in her cage, or do I have to take it out?

[Mona's Humans]

Pepper has a permanent one in his cage, but with Mona it made her sneeze, so she had it for an hour every other day. I think its a personal choice, a lot of people leave them in, and a lot remove them...

I've heard once somebody mention there were negative's of leaving it in all the time, but there was no specific reasoning given. I still leave it in, but just wanted to give you all the information i have.

I hope somebody will add to this if they know the reasons its negative, or just confirm that it's not a problem to leave it in for the both of us though.

(and this response will bump the thread for you too)

[riri]

My two have a permanent one in their cage, they tend to use it after being handled
They haven't had it in for a few days however as I've left the sand at my other half's, already Zorro's fur is starting to look a bit messy! They seem to use theirs as a toilet too, overall it's something useful to them

[Peachesmum]

Originally Posted by Mona's Humans

Pepper has a permanent one in his cage, but with Mona it made her sneeze, so she had it for an hour every other day. I think its a personal choice, a lot of people leave them in, and a lot remove them...

I've heard once somebody mention there were negative's of leaving it in all the time, but there was no specific reasoning given. I still leave it in, but just wanted to give you all the information i have.

I hope somebody will add to this if they know the reasons its negative, or just confirm that it's not a problem to leave it in for the both of us though.

(and this response will bump the thread for you too)

It says on the packet of Vitakraft Chinchilla sand that it should be taken out as may get contaminated, but what I will do is give a small sandbath in her cage (using the long Ferplast plastic bowl) and put a larger sandbath area in her playpen! She certainly loves it!

[xXxEricaxXx]

Do Syrians have sandbaths or just the Russian hammies?

[Mona's Humans]

Originally Posted by Peachesmum

It says on the packet of Vitakraft Chinchilla sand that it should be taken out as may get contaminated, but what I will do is give a small sandbath in her cage (using the long Ferplast plastic bowl) and put a larger sandbath area in her playpen! She certainly loves it!

OIC, that may be what people meant then - thank you. We scoop any spots pepper has toileted in out and replace the sand as needed. I think your idea is great though, we were thinking of a giant sandbath for play time

also Erica sandbaths are useful for syrian's too

[kyrilliondaemon]

We leave them in, but I believe the main reason against is that it can dry the hams skin out if they use it too often.
Our syrian is the only ham we have who doesn't get one in her cage at all times, but thats because she doesn't like them (doesn't see the point so ignored hers when she had it and I left it there for months) and was not amused when I tried to teach her what they were for. It really helped her fur, but she wasn't happy so I accepted defeat in the end lol

[Peachesmum]

She seems really happy with the sandbath in, but her fur feels a bit dry like some stand is sticking to it, so maybe I will only give it her for shorter periods.