food dishes

Question
I've had my little Robo for about a week and a half, and the past few days, she has been pooing in her food dish. Is this normal? I empty her dish daily if there is non-food in it.

Answer
Hi Jenna,

this is something that sometimes happens, it isnt really a problem - especially as hamsters sometimes eat some of their own waste to gain lost nutrients.

If you do not want this to happen then you could try putting a little litter box in her cage - just a small shallow box with a little bit of chinchilla sand in or a mixture of sawdust too.

Also, does your hamster leave the brown pellets which are in the hamster mix?  All of my hamsters leave the pellets.  If she does then it may be worth getting all of the pellets out (long job i know!) and putting them into the litter box too.  this may incourage her to use the litter box for waste and then she might only associate the food dish with edible food.

Hope i hve been some help.

Let me know how you get on.

Tammy