Hamsters (merged)

mrscb

Is there anything i can put in the cage to stop the smell. It gets a thorough clean once a week but even a day after the smell seems strong!!!!!
I use straw or shavings in the bottom of the cage and put in bedding for it to decide where it will sleep.....always different from where i put it.
Thank you

olias

You really need to be changing the shavings/straw daily

Olias

Meepster

Knit some small nappies?

picklepick

you can get tiny litter trays for hamsters. they just sit in the corner where hammy normally wees and then u can scoop out like you would a cat litter tray

nikki702

if u take out the courner sawdust everyday and cover it with fresh sawdust it wont smell ... thats what i do.

momoyama

Hamsters don't drink very much so their urine is always concentrated. They're rodents. You've got what you paid for.

Me, I've loved all of my ham's, smelly wee or otherwise.

sneezyboots

i got fed up of the smell so switched to carefresh. works wonders. have not had a problem since. needs changing less often and is less of an irritant too.

ClareEmily

We now house our hammy's in rodent glass tanks, with plenty of wood shavings to burrow in.

They don't smell at all, and the whole thing gets tipped out every week.

giantmutantbroccoli

Have you tried using a decent paper-based cat litter as a base, and ditching the shavings? I use biocatolet for my rats, and it's relatively stink-free. It's also easy to partially clean out - just scoop the wet stuff out daily and replace with dry. The hamster loo sounds like a good idea too.

Lady_Fluff

we use 'Megazorb' for our hams - it's technically a horse bedding and comes in 15kg sacks, but it means it lasts a while (esp. if you only have one hammy!), and it's better than Carefresh at keeping odours away I found. It can be found on the internet as well as equestrian shops.

BTW, straw can be bad for hammies - the hard ends can pierce their pouches if they decide to pouch it It's not very absorbent either, so it definitely won't keep smells away!