wheel as bathroom

[hamwolf89]

my new hammy yuiko is starting to go to the bathroom in her wheel that she loves to run on. It gross and i want her to stop!
So how can i get her to go in a corner or something.

[Andrea]

I think it's just something at least dwarf hammies do, pee in their wheel and run.
Yup it' yucky.

Ayla does this (so did my last dwarf fosters) but she also has her corner in the tank she uses as a toilet.

[pinky]

Yes, it is rather gross. . . . Fuzz does the same thing. I have a Silent Spinner, and, well, I just wash it in the sink every morning. It's a ritual. Can you just get used to it and clean it out daily? Yuiko is likely going somewhere else too, as she probably doesn't wake up from sleep during the day just to pee in the wheel. I know Fuzz has a second place, but evidently he doesn't hop off the wheel to use it.

When Pinky had his prostate problem the vet wanted to be sure that he was still able to pass urine. She told me to put plain paper down in his cage and to cound the number of urine stains accumulated in 24 hours. She said that there should be four. She was right on. My point is, hamsters probably go to the bathroom at least twice when they're awake. They probably go where it's convenient. Since Yuiko's young she's on the wheel a lot. Why get off to pee? You might not be able to do anything about this. I was grossed out at first but now I just go with the flow. ;D (sorry, couldn't resist)

I never noticed this problem with Critter and Pinky because they had a runged wheel.

[Die Fledermaus]

I thought Yuiko was a Syrian.

Dwarfs do pee in tubes and wheels a lot.

Potty training Syrians has been discussed many times: clean very well everything; save a little soiled bedding; place soiled bedding in a potty container; place in cleaned habitat. And then hope the ham follows the smell and goes there.

[Hamsters82]

Hamsters aren't dogs, you really can't train one to go anywhere. Chewie has begun to pee in his nesting area when he didn't. All I can do is cover the wet bedding with dry ones until I clean it Friday.
I'd do what Robin did, clean your wheel everyday. Sorry I wasn't much of a help.

[Die Fledermaus]

My Syrians never peed in their wheels, nor pooped there. And I have had well over two dozen. (?),

[hamwolf89]

who know why my syrian goes on her wheel. Well i cleaned yuikos wheel this morning, so much better. Its just that when school starts again i cant be cleaning the wheel every morning. She hasnt picked a corner either, jus everywhere.

Ill try to use my new hamster pooper scooper thing to move soil bedding to one part of the cage. See what goes from there...

[Die Fledermaus]

You read what I said above about potty training and how to do it. Try it.