changing bedding all at once, destroying bed area how often?

[josiemv09]

When and how is the best time to clean thr cage? I change all of the bedding every 3 weeks. I don't spot clean or anything because I have no idea where they pee or poo....but I didn't think it mattered since I religiously swap out all bedding every 3 weeks. Should I not be doing this? If so, how much and what parts shouldn I clean? Should the nest always be left alone? I want to keeo them happy and least stressed as possible! i'm especially worried about my nervous syrian..and changing the type of bedding to a type of shredded paper since he is allergic to carefresh I believe.

[cypher]

How much & how often you clean the cage depends to some extent on how big or small the cage is, the smaller the cage the more often it will need doing.
It does help if you can figure out where they pee or get them to use a litter tray so you can spot clean, poo doesn't matter so much!
I would never clean out all the bedding, for syrians you can just clear away the top layer about once a month but I find that doesn't work at all with dwarf hams as they burrow & dig like crazy mixing all the substrate up & most of what you need to clean is at the bottom of the cage.
I would do no more than a third of the cage at any one time, if you do the nest area always put at least some of the nest back & if you find the food hoard either leave it alone or put some fresh mix back where you found it.
So basically my method is to just remove any damp bedding I find & check no fresh food has been hidden away then clear a small portion of the cage about once a month putting fresh substrate in then work my way across the cage doing partial cleans roughly monthly, they really don't need much more than that.
If you suspect an allergy then you may need to change the substrate completely but leave the nest & replace the hoard.
Where are you? In the UK about the best paper bedding is Fitch. It's just recycled food grade paper, it does come in huge bales but the 10kg one isn't so bad to store & works out very cheap in the long run.

[josiemv09]

Originally Posted by cypher

How much & how often you clean the cage depends to some extent on how big or small the cage is, the smaller the cage the more often it will need doing.
It does help if you can figure out where they pee or get them to use a litter tray so you can spot clean, poo doesn't matter so much!
I would never clean out all the bedding, for syrians you can just clear away the top layer about once a month but I find that doesn't work at all with dwarf hams as they burrow & dig like crazy mixing all the substrate up & most of what you need to clean is at the bottom of the cage.
I would do no more than a third of the cage at any one time, if you do the nest area always put at least some of the nest back & if you find the food hoard either leave it alone or put some fresh mix back where you found it.
So basically my method is to just remove any damp bedding I find & check no fresh food has been hidden away then clear a small portion of the cage about once a month putting fresh substrate in then work my way across the cage doing partial cleans roughly monthly, they really don't need much more than that.
If you suspect an allergy then you may need to change the substrate completely but leave the nest & replace the hoard.
Where are you? In the UK about the best paper bedding is Fitch. It's just recycled food grade paper, it does come in huge bales but the 10kg one isn't so bad to store & works out very cheap in the long run.

I live in Florida,United States! No way I can get Fitch here right? All are in 40 gallon breeders! So for dwarfs I do one third of cleaning at a time, every month ? And the nest I never touch? Only to spot clean but If I do touch it..I mix new bedding with the old? How often should I clean the nest? It's hard for me to tell when and where it wet and where they pee...because I never see them go, some of mine are skittish..should I start smelling the bedding and figuring it out? Oh and if he is allergic shouldn't the nest be changed out too? Or no? Gradually? I found this crinkly paper bedding on Amazon..doesn't seem at all like carefresh ultra...but that's what I might replace his bedding with. My Syrian likes to dig all the corners haha...so in your opinion 1/3 once a month the surface would still be good?

[Pebbles82]

Hi there. Our Syrian was terribly nervy as well, especially about cleaning - I found Erin's Hamsters method works really well I always leave the nest alone unless it is pee'd in then I try and leave some of the old nest behind so it still smells familiar and put a load of new torn up strips of plain white toilet paper in so he can rebuild the nest.

Fitch isn't available in the US but OXbow make paper bedding that is more or less the same thing - I bought a bag to try recently and it's fine! Might be worth a try if your hammy is allergic.

One of the good things about Erin's method is it does save on the substrate

Our Syrian uses a toilet tray so I empty that every 4 or 5 days and refill it with chinchilla sand. The rest of the cage stays dry! So I only really do a "partial" clean about every 2 or 3 months and spot clean in between or just add the odd handful of substrate in between when it gets a bit flat.

This is Erin's video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVnEjrXbww

This is the Oxbow Paper bedding (like paper shavings)

There is a 21l bag for about $12 but this 54 litre bag looks better value. It comes in natural or white. I got the natural one.

Amazon.com : Oxbow Pure Comfort Bedding - Natural - 54 L : Pet Supplies

I think a lot of people in the US use Boxo as well which is soft squares of cardboard - it can be bought in bulk. You could maybe try mixing the two so the bedding is softer and works out economical

I should try a litter tray with your hammy. It's best to put it in their normal wee place though, so that could be tricky if you don't know where that is! You could try putting it in the corner nearest to his house. I have one of these - fits in a corner nicely and our hammy just pees in the very back corner of it.

Amazon.com : Trixie Hamster Potty Corner Litter Tray For Mice Hamster Gerbil Cage House. Size: 16 × 7 × 12/12 Cm : Birdcage Litter : Pet Supplies

[Cinnamon Bear]

Was interested in that Oxbow bedding but read a review that said 27 L bag and it is misleading because it doesn't expand from there. The review said it's a 8 L bag that expands to 27 L and they said it's 99.9% dust free. But that isn't the case as with Carefresh I think also claims to be mostly dust free too.

I would go with the white Carefresh Ultra. You can see the pee stains and spot cleaning becomes much easier.

[Pebbles82]

I quite liked it - I bought a bag and have some in Charlie's cage If the hammy is having an allergy problem, paper could be a good bet. It probably doesn't work out any more expensive than Carefresh.

[Cinnamon Bear]

Isn't Carefresh paper bedding too? What would be the difference between Oxbow and Carefresh? Maybe Oxbow doesn't have some wooden ingredients in it?

[Pebbles82]

It kind of looks similar. Carefresh is cellulose which is a wood by-product - I think it goes through more chemical processes than paper, although I expect that is all rinsed out, but yes they are both from wood originally. I can't see why a hammy would have an allergy to carefresh but I guess it's possible and have never heard of a hammy having an allergy to paper

[Cinnamon Bear]

Maybe it's the dust that irritates the hamster? Do you find that it's just a little dusty still like that review said? But granted there were a whole lot more people happy with Oxbow rather than one review that person wrote who only gave it 1 star rating.

[Pebbles82]

I wouldn't say it was 100% dust free like I find Fitch to be, but I wouldn't call it dusty either. So maybe no different to carefresh in that respect. I didn't find it noticeably dusty. It's probably no better than Carefresh but a different option if a hammy seems allergic.