Along with all the joys that come with owning a hamster, there are responsibilities as well. Among the most important of these is keeping their cage clean. So, how and how often should you clean your hamster’s cage?
Here’s how you clean a hamster cage:
- Remove your hamster from the cage.
- Remove your hamster’s toys and accessories.
- Get rid of soiled bedding.
- Remove half of the hamster’s bedding.
- Wipe down the cage after the 3rd or 4th clean.
- Add new bedding to the hamster cage.
- Clean toys, food dishes, and platforms.
- Redecorate your hamster’s cage.
The rest of this article will explain in detail how to organize and spot-clean your hamster’s cage, as well as how to do a full cage clean. I’ll also list some safe places to put your hamster while you’re cleaning the cage.
8 Steps to Clean Hamster Cage
1. Remove Your Hamster From the Cage
Before you start cleaning your hamster’s cage, you first want to remove your hamster from the cage. I’ve listed some great places to put your hamster while cleaning their cage at the bottom of this article for you to check out.
Essentially, you should put your hamster somewhere secure and enclosed so it won’t get hurt, lost, or interrupt you during cleaning.
2. Remove Your Hamster’s Toys and Accessories
Besides removing your hamster from the cage, you also want to remove the toys and accessories from the cage. The toys include anything unattached to the cage itself, such as the hamster wheel. Doing so will prevent soiled bedding, poop, or food from remaining trapped beneath these objects.
After removing the toys and accessories, clear out any bedding or poop stuck on the accessories. Then, organize them into piles of which ones you’ll be cleaning and won’t be cleaning.
Anything natural or wooden doesn’t usually require cleaning unless it looks, smells, or feels dirty. You should always disinfect your hamster’s plastic toys and accessories.
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3. Get Rid of Soiled Bedding
After you’ve removed the accessories and toys, look through the bedding for any soiled, wet, or yellow spots. Remove them and then throw them into a plastic trash bag. Doing this is essential, as soiled bedding can lead to bacteria growth and infections.
Look under the bedding for any poop that may have fallen. Hamster’s poops are small and lightweight and often fall to the bottom of the cage.
While removing urine or feces, you should always wear gloves and a litter scoop to get as little direct contact with your hamster’s waste as possible.
4. Remove Half of the Hamster’s Bedding
Now that you’ve removed the soiled parts of the bedding, remove half of it and leave half of it in the cage.
You should only remove half, as getting rid of all of it can seriously stress your hamster out. Your hamster is already comfortable with the scent of its old bedding, so if you get rid of all of the bedding