Cleaning Your Hamster

• DO NOT submerse your hamster in water
• DO NOT use soap on them since you will not be able to get it all off.
• DO offer chinchilla sand in a shallow dish so that the hamster can roll around and clean his or her coat.

Hamster Cleaning

The basic rule is NOT to give your hamster a bath. Hamsters can drown and the chemicals in soap are not good for them. If your hamster is dirty (usually dwarf hamsters are very clean animals) you can add a shallow dish of chinchilla sand for the hamster to roll in. Usually this will clean their coat right up and neutralize smells. Hamsters may go through their entire lives without needing a bath so please do not bathe your hamster unless there is a medical reason or they have something sticky on them that will not come off with a sand bath or regular grooming. Never wash a baby hamster under any circumstances. They have very poor ability to regulate body temperature and will probably die if you get them wet. Mama can keep them clean by grooming them.

There are actually times when you might need to give your hamster a bath. I have had a few hamsters that have had fungal infections. To fix this I added 8 drops of Grape Fruit Seed Extract to an 8oz spray bottle of warm water. I then misted the hamsters very thoroughly (avoiding their eyes). I have also done this to hamsters who are really oily or have some substance on them (this is rare). Once a hamster is wet, it is very important to keep them warm as a wet hamster is likely to become ill if chilled. Place a damp/wet hamster in a clean container near a warm lamp and make sure there is a deep layer of bedding or paper towels that the hamster can burrow into to get the water off of its coat.

If you find your hamster is extra smelly, check out what your hamster is eating. If there are many peanuts in your hamster's food, it may cause him or her to smell more than usual and can also making them fat! A hamster that smells like urine may be diabetic as these hamsters drink greater amounts of water and urinate much more. If you suddenly notice your hamster drinking more water than usual (and it isn't warmer where you are keeping him or her) your hamster may have diabetes. There is no cure for it but hamsters that have it do benefit from a low sugar hamster diet (like one made out of mainly grains with limited sweeteners).

Grape fruit seed extract is good for disinfecting cages and tends to break up organic matter very well (I like using it when cleaning aquarium supplies too) A 2 oz bottle can be purchased at almost any health food store and the cage cleaning solution can be made in a spray bottle by adding 30 drops in an 8 oz bottle of warm water. Remember if you are making a solution to spray on your hamster to only add 8 drops or a drop per ounce of water in your spray bottle (so 32 oz = 32 drops). GSE can also be purchased online at http://www.nutriteam.com

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