How to clean a hamster cage: a simple routine

How often should you clean a hamster cage?

Spot clean every day or two and deep clean every few weeks. That is the pattern every good source follows, though the exact gaps differ.

We follow PDSA, because it ties the deep clean to cage size. In a 100 × 50 cm (40 × 20 in) cage with 25 cm (10 in) of bedding, a weekly strip-out would destroy your hamster's burrows every seven days, which is stressful. A small cage with shallow bedding gets dirty faster and needs it weekly. The bigger the cage, the more you can lean on spot cleaning.

Daily spot clean: what to do

1. Wait until your hamster is up. The RSPCA and PDSA both say clean when your hamster is awake, in the evening, not in the middle of its daytime sleep.
2. Clear the toilet corner. Hamsters usually pick one spot to wee. Scoop out the wet bedding there and top it up with fresh.
3. Remove old fresh food. PetMD advises throwing away uneaten fresh food after 10 hours, so it never goes off in a hoard.
4. Refresh water. Empty and refill the bowl or bottle, and check the bottle spout is not blocked or leaking. PetMD suggests a daily scrub of the spout.
5. Scoop the sand bath. If your hamster uses its sand as a toilet, sieve out clumps and droppings as you would a litter tray.

How to deep clean a hamster cage

1. Move your hamster somewhere safe. Use a secure carrier or a small pen with a hide, never a ball, and keep it out of draughts.
2. Save some old bedding. Put aside a few handfuls of clean, dry bedding and some nesting from the nest. The Vet Desk says to mix it back in, because hamsters rely on scent to feel at home.
3. Check the hoard before you bin it. Throw away anything damp, spoiled or gone off, and keep dry seeds and pellets to put back in the same spot.
4. Empty the bedding and take out everything. Remove the wheel, hides, tunnels, bowls and platforms.
5. Wash the base and the items. Use warm water with a little fragrance-free washing-up liquid. PetMD suggests a diluted vinegar soak for tunnels and urine scale. Use a bottle brush inside tubes.
6. Rinse well and dry everything fully. The Vet Desk warns that damp items can grow fungus, so dry them completely before they go back.
7. Rebuild in the same layout. Put hides, wheel and sand bath back where they were, add fresh bedding in layers, then mix in the saved old bedding and nesting.

Do hamsters smell in your room?

A healthy hamster in a clean cage should not make a room smell. When there is a smell, it is almost always urine soaking into bedding and turning to ammonia, the sharp smell you notice first. The Vet Desk points to soiled bedding as the main source and notes the ammonia is a stress for your hamster too.

A smell between cleans usually means one of four things:

• The toilet corner is not being scooped often enough
• The cage is too small, so the toilet area takes up a big share of the floor
• A food hoard has fresh food going off in it
• The bedding is shallow or not very absorbent

Two other points for a bedroom. Woodgreen notes hamsters are active at night, and a wheel or chewing can keep you awake. And a hamster that suddenly smells different, or has a wet, dirty bottom, may be ill: see the box below.

What is the best hamster bedding for odour control?

Unscented paper bedding with aspen mixed in is the best combination for smell. The Hamster Society Singapore singles out aspen for good odour control, and paper bedding is very absorbent. Deep bedding helps on its own, too: urine soaks down and spreads less.

Skip anything sold as "odour control" if it gets there with added scent. The Bunny Jackpot Foundation recommends against scented or odour-controlled beddings, and PDSA lists scented bedding to avoid, because added fragrance irritates small airways. Perfume does not remove ammonia, it only covers it. Our guide to safe hamster bedding compares every type.

Is Kaytee Clean & Cozy bedding good for smell?

The plain, unscented Kaytee Clean & Cozy is a paper bedding that the Bunny Jackpot Foundation lists as safe. It warns against the scented and odour-control versions. Like all paper bedding, it absorbs well but needs the toilet corner scooped often. Mixing in some aspen gives it more structure and helps with smell.

How to keep a hamster cage from smelling

1. Set up a toilet corner. Supreme Petfoods suggests putting a small litter tray in the spot your hamster has chosen, with a little soiled bedding in it so it learns the tray is the place.
2. Fill the tray with paper pellets or sand. Plain paper pellets soak up urine well, and some hamsters prefer a sand-filled tray.
3. Scoop the tray daily. A tray takes a minute and holds most of the smell in one place.
4. Use deep, unscented bedding. Paper with aspen, at least 25 cm (10 in) deep.
5. Give good airflow. The Vet Desk notes that good ventilation stops smells building up, so a mesh lid is better than a closed box.

The Vet Desk adds that candles and diffusers only mask smells, and an air purifier can help a little in the room. We would keep scented products away from the cage altogether.

What should you clean a hamster cage with?

Warm water with a little fragrance-free washing-up liquid for most jobs, diluted white vinegar for urine scale, or a pet-safe enzyme cleaner. PetMD recommends fragrance-free dish soap and vinegar soaks, and The Vet Desk suggests enzymatic cleaners, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) or vinegar. We would avoid bleach and strong disinfectants inside the cage: hamsters live nose-down in their bedding, so any fumes or residue go straight to them. If you do use a stronger product, rinse it off completely and let everything air dry.

Is there washable hamster bedding?

Not for the main floor. Fleece liners and towels are washable, but a hamster needs loose bedding deep enough to dig burrows, which a liner cannot give. Washable fabric works for a hammock or a hide lining, but the base should still be loose paper bedding. If you want less waste, a toilet tray means you throw out a cupful of pellets a day instead of whole bags of bedding.

For the rest of the routine, see our hamster cage setup guide, our sand bath guide and our guide to hamster health. Everything else is in our complete hamster care guide.