Food Storage

Question
I know that all hamsters enjoy hoarding their food, but I can't help but wonder why my long haired syrian wants to store his in his urine! What worries me is that he could become ill. I have a rotastak cage that has a carrier attached and he uses that as a toilet and that is where he will dump his food. i have taken to taking it off when i feed him so that he stores it in his bed! Is there some particular reason as to why he does this??

Answer
Hi Dawn

Unfortunately some hamsters just do this.  It is very frustrating and messy.  He obviously feels that he needs to scent everything.  Sometimes you can snap them out of this, but at some stage they can revert to their old ways.  

Are there any other sections to his home?  If he were in a wired cage, he would choose a corner for his toilet and another corner for his food hoard.  Whilst a number of mine like to store their food in their nests so they don't have to interrupt their sleep too much for a bite to eat, as your hamster's in a rotostak, perhaps he doesn't necessarily want to hoard his food in his bed and the only other place is his toilet.  If he stores food in his bed, does he urinate in that?

When you clean him out do you disinfect the entire cage?  How is he when he goes back into the cage - is he in a panic?  If so, I would suggest that next time you clean him out, whilst you obviously need to disinfect certain areas of his home, if any of his bedding is clean, let him have that back.  This will make sure his scent is still in his home.  If you overclean a hamster's home (some people clean them daily to prevent smells) in fact the cage becomes even smellier - this is because they panic and need to re-scent all the time.  If the cage is left for a week before cleaning but on a daily basis any soiled area is removed along with uneaten vegetables, they tend not to smell very much at all.

How much food do you give him?  Do you leave him with a bowl of dried hamster food, or do you feed him daily?  I have found that some hamsters almost get panicky in that they have to relocate all their food and urinate on it - but if I give them more food than usual - i.e. if their food bowl is always topped up with the dry hamster mix, and I give them some other treats etc. (like nuts, hamster chews), then after a while they get used to the idea that there is always plenty of food and they don't have to worry about hoarding.  Some of my hamsters leave most of their food in their bowls now as they know it belongs to them and no one is going to take it from them.  Perhaps you could try increasing the amount of food you give him for the next week or two - it might be a bit of a waste as he won't eat any more than usual, but it might snap him out of this.  

Obviously food that he has urinated on is going to go bad quickly.  Bacteria can form which can cause health problems.  You do therefore need to remove the soiled food -in particular any uneaten vegetables that you might have given him - these should be thrown out daily to prevent them going moldy.

I'm afraid it is a case of trying different things to try and change his ways.  I don't know if any of these suggestions will help at all.  Please let me know how you get on.

Good luck!
Regards