Anyone have a hamster that stinks?

[eeyoreforever]

We are having a problem with one of our hamsters. Each of my dd's have a hamster in her room. One of them-you can't smell at all. You walk in her room and there is absolutely no odor. The other one stinks. It about knocks me over when I walk in her room. Its not the hamster himself-I guess its the cage. I try to scoop out any wet bedding every day but nothing seems to help. We cleaned the cage on Sat. and it smelled so nice and fresh, but by Monday-phewww!!! Anybody else have this problem or have any suggestions?

 

[Robmom]

I don't have a hamster, but I do have a guinea pig. I try to clean out his cage every couple of days. Sometimes he does smell because obviously he sleeps where he poops! But I bought some special wipes to clean him. They have them at the pet store. I haven't had the courage to give him a real bath. Also, they sell a liquid that you either put in their food or water and it is supposed to stop smells of their waste. I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it works. I also bought an air freshener to keep near his cage to stop smells.

 

[Jiminy102]

They also sell a litter for small animals that will absorb the oder. When I had a hampster I only had to clean his cage about once a month and there was no oder!!!!! Love that litter!!!

 

[Robmom]

You're right. I forgot, I also use a litter that has chlorophyll in it and it seems to keep the odors away. I used a recycled material litter once and it stank. So I went back to the regular wood shavings, but this time with cholorphyll.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Hi! 7yo dd has just aquired hamster #2 last week. We had taken the one back she got originally for her birthday. It had gotten "wet tail" and it did stink. Does it look sick? Look at its underside to see if it has a "wet" appearance?

Also I believe that diet could play a role. I was looking at all the supplies in the store and it appears that hamsters could get other things as well.

That being said the salesperson said that males stink more than females. Maybe that is it?

Good Luck!

 

[eeyoreforever]

Thanks for the responses so far. I have checked it for wet tail and it appears to be very healthy. We have had him for 4 1/2 months and the smell seems to have started maybe a month or so ago. As far as bedding, we use Carefresh, which Petco recommended. It is supposed to be really good. We treat each hamster exactly the same, as far as cleaning etc. so I don't understand why one smells horrible and the other doesn't. The stinky one is the male though so maybe that has something to do with it. If so, I wonder why he hasn't stunk the whole time we've had him? I did call Petco and the only thing the guy said was that it might be wet tail. It is so bad that I make my dd hold him while she still has on her pj's so her school clothes don't get smelly.

 

[Robmom]

I was using Carefresh and it seemed to smell more than the other bedding. It's supposed to control odor better, but to my nose it was worse. I guess it is because it is a male.

 

[momsmall]

We have 2 hamsters as well. One male and one female. It is the female that smells worse than the male. Obviously we do not keep them together but the male could go for probably a month and a 1/2 without needing his bedding cleaned but it wouldn't be too much to clean the female every couple of weeks. Just as you we feed them the same foods. I did find that when I use critter care from Wal-Martl, the litter, the smell stays at bay longer. It is a natural bedding and isn't attractive looking as it is gray in color but if it keeps the smell in control I don't care about the appearance. It is frustrating. These are to my DD and DS's hamsters but it is mom and dad that do the cleaning.

 

[always quiet]

I have had many hamsters over the years. I agree that the males smell more than the females do. If you put 2 males together and they start to fight, they release an odor that can rival a skunk!!!

As far as a hamster alone in the cage, the last one my DD had smelled pretty bad. It used to pee in skybox it slept in!! Gizmo has since decided to leave our humble home (or at least, he is not living in his cage anymore...I do think he is still running around the house!! ). I gave our cage to my neighbor for her daughter and they now have a hamster....it's nicname is Stinky!!