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People always want to know – ‘how often to clean hamster cage out?’ I get asked this all the time. The simple answer is clean it out every week. 2 weeks is the absolute longest that the cage should go without being cleaned out.
Clean out your Hamster Cage every week if Possible
If you have just one or two pet hamsters and a relatively small to medium sized cage then you should clean your hamster out weekly. If you leave it longer you will find that the hamsters cage starts to smell. Another question that I always get asked is ‘do hamsters smell?’ Hamsters themselves do not smell. They are actually very clean animals. In actual fact it’s hamster cages that can smell if they are not cleaned out frequently enough.
In addition to that you will probably want to empty your hamsters toilet or littler tray 2-3 times a week and check his food and water supply daily. Your hammie should always have fresh food and water.
How to Clean out your Hamsters Cage
If you are not sure how to clean out your hamsters Cage, here’s a short guide. Firstly, you will secure your hamster in a temporary safe place such as his travel case or ball. Then you will need to empty the whole cage from bedding and sawdust, clean it with water and a cage and hutch spray and then replace everything he needs. Even the parts of his cage should be cleaned such as his toilet or litter tray. His sand bath will need cleaning and replacing with new hamster sand if you have one. You will put a brand new layer of sawdust, brand new bedding and new food and water for him. If you want to know how to do this in more detail, read our guide on how to clean a hamster cage.
Problems with not Cleaning out Cage Regularly
- Hamsters cage will start to smell
- An unclean environment is not comfortable for hamsters
- Bacteria can develop in unclean cages and hamsters can get sick as a result
Variations in Cleaning times with different sizes of Cage
If you have a slightly larger cage, you might find that you don’t need to clean it out weekly but fortnightly is ok, because they have more room and more clean sawdust. For very large cages it may only need doing once a month, but you will still need to change the toilet or litter trays frequently.
Easy Clean Hamster Cages
If you have a busy lifestyle or even just want to make hamster cage cleaning quicker and easier then you might like to consider an easy clean hamster cage. Some of them have built in drawers that you can simply pull out, bin the sawdust and replace, then slot the drawer back in again. This Pawhut wooden hamster cage is a good example.
This acrylic two level hamster cage also has an easy clean tray and is a better option if you have a smaller budget…
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