How Often Do You Clean Your Cage Out ?

[Pebbles82]

Because Charlie uses a potty I rarely do full cage cleans - maybe 4 times a year! I empty and clean out the potty about once a week or a bit less than that sometimes. He only hoards dry food so I only spot clean and check his hoards when I empty the potty once a week. I found the Erin's Hamsters cage cleaning tips video really helpful, (below) it explains so much. So now when I do a full clean I only replace about the top third of substrate and mix the bottom two thirds in with the new top third. I clean any toys or the wheel on a different week to doing the substrate, so it doesn't all smell different all at once and some things still smell familiar.

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

[Bertiebobbins]

I'm glad you said that serendipity - I was wondering if I even need to clean out Nibble's nest (or nests - he has recently set up a second property in a shoe box on the other side of his cage) I really don't want to disturb them and he only hoards dry food too. I was planning to leave him a good few weeks between cage cleans and then do like Erin says in her vide and change the top bit of substrate. He's very clean like Charlie so I just clean out the potty corner every couple of days.

[Pebbles82]

I know - unless they wee in their nest or it has fresh veg that needs removing to prevent rotting, I try and never touch the nest. Thankfully Charlie has stopped weeing in his again since he got his bigger house. Lol I once left the full cage clean so long (because it didn't need it) I noticed dust gathering on top of his sputniks so just cleaned those and did the substrate the week after. Yes that video is really helpful.