Carefresh

[TheDoctor]

i tend to do a full tank clean every 2 weeks. i do spot cleans everyday but due to the layout i have for my dwarf, its very difficult to get to where she usually goes to the toilet. she lives in a tank with 3 shelves and usually i set up her tank so that there is enough woodshavings to come up level with the 1st shelf which means she has a little bunker underneath with tubes leading out. in order for me to gain access there, i would have to pretty much destroy everything anyway. i keep some of her old bedding each clean and she doesnt seem to mind the fortnightly routine anyway.

[Seedless]

I use Fitch, which is very similar to carefresh, and only do full cage cleans every four weeks. Even then, I replace half of the nesting material, so long as its clean, and I don't wipe all the toys and surfaces down each time I clean either. I change sand baths and potties every 2 days and remove poo and excess food from the nest every fortnight. I used to do a full clean every ten days but my female syrian was finding it very stressful, which was stressing me out too as I hated upsetting her. Also, bigger cages tend to need cleaned less frequently.

[Truffle]

If you are in the UK try to find megazorb, it is the best bedding that I have come across and I find it better than carefresh. It is really a horse bedding but it even says on the website that it is fine for small pets, it comes in a 85 litre bag for around 7 pounds and is really absorbant and dust free. It is made from vrigin wood pulp and is soft. I believe that they treat it at 500C to make it free from bugs, dust etc. I get it from my local country store

[Penn]

Hi TinyHammies98!

With all bedding, how often you should change your cage depends on how big the cage is and the type of cage it is. For example a very small Habitrail cage (which is far too small for ANY hamster) which is mostly plastic, would absolutely need to be changed on a weekly or bi-weekly basis unless you spot clean religiously which, could very well stress your ham out.

The Alaska cage from Zooplus - which is the cage I have for my Syrian, Timi, because it has a plastic base but a wire-bar top, I only fully clean once a month, and spot clean once a week or more depending on how messy he decides to be.

The reason plastic cages needs to be cleaned more is because when your hamster goes the toilet, there's less ventilation to 'air out' the smell and it just sits there. Even when hamsters are trained to use jars or those hamster toilets you can buy (Which in my opinion are rubbish), they're no good with little ventilation and no absorbant materials to absorb your Ham's potty business.

If you have a larger cage - nearer to the Alaska dimensions, then consider leaving the carefresh for a full month and spot cleaning your Hamster's 'toilet spot' every few days or week instead. If you have a smaller cage, you may want to consider upgrading it to the RSPCA minimum requirement and then tackle the cage-changing routine.

The only reason I suspect you have a smaller cage is because you say you bought Carefresh Confetti yes? I know at least in the UK Carefresh Confetti only comes in the smaller bags, so unless you bought a lot of bags, it's wasted money compared to the large 60L natural carefresh bags.

A bigger cage for your Ham won't only help lower their stress level as you'll have to clean less often, but will also help you with the cleaning because it's a less-frequent chore!

One other peice of advice I can suggest is that you get your ham a 'jar' or tin of some description and put some of their already soiled (i.e. pee'd on) bedding inside, and remove all the other dirty bedding. They'll smell the bedding, think that's their toilet, and go there, meaning you only have to spot clean the jar and their nest when necessary. I've been doing this with Timi since I got him and he's now completely potty-jar trained!

[Anthorn]

I've used Carefresh Ultra for a long time but waiting for Hemp Bedding from zooplus.co.uk to try it which is cheaper and claimed to be softer. Carefresh is a very good product and basically does what it says on the tin. The big advantage compared with wood shavings is that there is no smell in the toilet areas that you get with wood shavings. The disadvantage as far as my hamsters are concerned is that they don't like it for a nesting material: The hamster I brought home yesterday chose the green penthouse for its den and then threw the Carefresh down the tube. But that's easily sorted with some ripped-up tissues.

A 6 litre pack of Carefresh Ultra which expands to 10 litres when unpacked is enough for a Savic Hamster Heaven Metro including in the houses and penthouse. I replace and clean as necessary and then a complete dismantle and clean every month.

btw I'll introduce my new hamster with photos later. I don't want to disturb her right now while she is getting over the stress of moving home.