washing a hamster!

[rooks14]

Pebbles is nearly 2 and getting slightly incontinent bless her!
we clean her cage nearly daily because of the smell, to find its actually her that smells. anyone ever washed a hamster? Am thinking warm water to slush her in should be fine?

No, but I wash my rats, with warm water and a teeny dab of mild liquid soap.
They go all fuzzy after and look even cuter than usual

My old hamster had a skin problem and the vet had me washing him daily. I seem to remember it was in a warm bowl of water.

I'm not sure it is a good idea with an older animal who is not used to water. The shock might be the end of her.

However, I had friends who kept lots of hamsters and used to wash them from a young age. They would fill a sink with warm water to belly hamster belly height and gently slosh the water over them. The hammies seemed to enjoy sitting in front of a coolish hairdryer afterwards, but they were introduced to it from a young age.

thanks :) did/do you dry them? god what a silly question! haha

oh no don't say that! don't want to shock her but she bloody stinks! i might sponge her down instead then!

I love bathing my guinea pigs. I get the bathroom sink tap running warm and then put them under it and let the water soak them gently. They struggle for a few seconds but then seem to relax and just stand lay there in my hand thinking "what's the point, let her have her fun "

I wash them with baby shampoo and then wrap them in a towel and they go all fuzzy and adorable. They never actually need bathing, I just do it for my own amusement lol

I use chinchilla dust for all my rodents, the mice, hamsters, and degu all use the dust to wash in, and will roll in it too to clean themselves, they would naturally dust bathe in the wild and it works really well. One of my hamsters has long fur, and is a dirty bugger, always smelled of wee! until i put him some dust in, now he has a lovely coat and no smell at all other than wood shavings.