No hamster enjoys sleeping and living in a mess and no hamster parent enjoys the smell of a dirty cage. Hamsters are relatively clean animals so their cage, if a decent size, will need to be cleaned once or twice a month. Because cleaning only once or twice a month is not very often, you also need to spot clean the enclosure every week.
Spot Cleaning
Spot cleaning a hamster cage is necessary because it helps the cage stay cleaner for longer. Full cage cleans can be stressful for your hamster so you want to put them off as long as possible. Depending on the setup of your hamster cage, spot cleaning can be very simple. There is really no right or wrong way to spot clean a cage, but there are certain things that have to get done in this process. If your hamster is litter trained, you will have to clean the litter box and replace some of the litter. When cleaning the litter, make sure that you leave in some of it or a piece of soiled bedding so your hamster can smell his scent and feel comfortable enough to use the litter box again.
You will also want to clean the wheel. My hamsters have made it a habit to make an absolute pigsty of their wheel. Take the wheel off of the pole it spins on so that you don’t wash the oil off of the pole. Now, wash the wheel. If the wheel squeaks when it spins, just take the wheel off of the pole and use a cotton swab to apply a little almond or olive oil to the pole. Make sure the oil you use is safe for hamsters.
Now that the most dirty areas are clean, wipe off the hard surfaces of your cage. This could mean wiping off shelves in the cage or cleaning out tubes. Also, all hamsters are different and they all like to make different areas messy. Wherever the cage is dirty, just clean that.
Now that everything is clean, just put the toys back where they belong and give your hamster a treat for putting up with this process.
Full Cage Cleaning
Once or twice a month, your hamster’s cage will need a full cage clean. To do this, your hamster will need to be moved into a travel cage, playpen, or even a cardboard box.
Take everything out of the cage except for the bedding. This will make the process much easier. Do not get rid of all the bedding! That will cause stress because the cage will not smell like home anymore. Instead, pick it up on one half and move it to the other. Don’t sweep the bedding from one side to side because that will take all of the remnants with it. Sweep the mess into a dustpan and dispose of it.
Now, do the same thing on the other side. Move all the bedding to the clean side and sweep the remnants from the bottom. I know there will still be a bit of mess in there, but that is okay. It is never going to be perfect.
Make sure the toys, wheel, and litter box are all clean before you put them back into the cage. Set up the cage in either a new way or the same as before. Just make sure you rotate out some toys so your hamster isn’t bored. Scatter some food around the bedding to give a foraging option.
That is really all there is to cleaning a hamster cage. Put your hamster back in the enclosure and watch it explore. Have fun!
⬇️Any questions? Please leave a comment down below. ⬇️
Anonymous
Hailey
CJ
Hailey