Hamster cage bedding

[swizzlestix]

Hi we currently use carefresh to line our hamsters huge cage and the past couple of months you can really smell her wee. She always does it in the same 2 corners and even a day after a full clean out the cafe stinks. Wondering if I should use another type of bedding?
She also has shredded kitchen roll for her actual bedding.

Carefresh has a distinct tendency to empty your wallet. I prefer Fitch, primarily on cost grounds www.fitchrecycling.co.uk/fitch-pet-store/rabbit-guinea-pig-hamster/bedding/fitch-pet-bedding-single-bale-20kg.html

Hamsters really, really hate being cleaned out too often. They're half blind, and primarily navigate by smell, so every time you clean them out they don't know where they are. So, they compensate by making it smellier. Somewhat paradoxically, you can find that the less you clean them out, the less they smell.

However, you can 'spot clean' (i.e. just remove the weed on bits) every few days which will help. Make sure you have a cage that's at least 80x50cm (e.g. Zooplus Alaska) and that bedding is at least 3-4" deep. All of that will help to limit any whiffiness. Following the above, I do a full clean out every few weeks and have no issues with smells.

It's also worth noting that if you have a female Syrian, they do come into heat every 4 days, and are noticeably more smelly during that time (got to attract a bloke somehow...) which may be part of what you're smelling.

Ah avocados that would make sense, the coming into heat thing as the timings sound about right! Thank you
I will look into Fitch as we use care fresh at the mo.
Her cage is huge, and def meets that criteria. Thanks so much for the advice

We buy hemp bedding from zooplus