hamster smells bad

Question
hi there! my baby hamster, who i brought home from the petshop a week ago, has developed this awful habit of peeing then quickly lying in it and rubbing his entire body of his pee!! he used to be all fluffy and didnt smell, but now his fur is always wet and he just constantly smells of pee! what can i do to change this behavior? i've tried adding wood shavings to the place where he pees alot to absorb the puddles but it doesnt seem to help absorb the smell. thanks in advance for the advice!

Answer
Hi

Some hamsters do have dirty habits.  They can pee in their bed or on their food.  It is difficult to snap them out of this habit - however,it sounds as though your hamster perhaps is trying to establish his territory.  If you clean a hamster out too much (ideally they should be cleaned weekly) then they can end up dirtier than usual.  Part of this sounds as though he wants to keep his scent everywhere, but also he likes rolling around.  You could try setting up a 'bath' for him - you get a smallish dish and put some of the Chinchilla dust that you can buy in pet shops - they use this for having a dry bath.  some hamsters like this too.  My hamsters have hamster toilets which are filled with a special hamster litter - while one or two use these for the correct purpose, the others use them to roll around and clean themselves.  So, even if your hamster is still rolling around in his pee, he might enjoy taking a dust bath and this would make him clean.

Is he drinking an excessive amount of water?  If so, he would be peeing more than usual, which would add to the smell.  I've had several hamsters with diabetes (mostly dwarf Russians, but I also have a Syrian which is very rare).  She used to drink loads and her cage was always soaked and had to be cleaned out daily.  She stank for a while until we got the diabetes under control - now she is one of my cleanest hamsters.

Another thing that crossed my mind is that if you handle him and put your scent on him he's not happy and wants to cover your scent up.  So, next time, before you touch him, rub some of his wood chippings in your hands so his scent is already on you (you don't have to use the really smelly wood chippings!) and see if this makes a difference.

I don't know if this will help at all - I think it is a case of trial and error to see what will work.  If he is young he may well snap out of this behaviour, but it is frustrating.

I'd be interested to know how you get on.

Good Luck!