Cleaning the cage is very important. It should be done weekly and even more often if the bedding is wet. I recommend a 'Tidy Toilet' because it's actually worked for me and I never have to clean up hamster pee around the cage. Sometimes the water bottle will leak and you should NEVER leave a hamster in a cage with a bunch of wet bedding. (how would YOU like that?!) Your hamster may also chew the water bottle like Buttercup did. She chewed a huge hole in the bottom and all the water leaked out into the bedding. I wasn't able to get a new one that day so she had to live with wetness as a punishment for chewing her bottle! Then, once I got her a new one, she did the exact same thing a few days later!!! Thanks. So, my solution was to get a bottle with a metal thing around the bottom so they can't chew on it! She does love to chew on the metal band that goes around it though, but it doesn't really matter because it's metal. Another thing you can do is get a round "Lixit" bottle. They're round and with spouts that just go straight down. I only use them now because hamsters can't chew on them and they work great!

To clean a cage:
1. Place hamster in a good size box or a closed exercise ball. (Or if you have a little wire playpen thing those are great too, I that's what I use when cleaning my dwarf hamsters' cage).
2. Take everything out of the cage and wash it thoroughly.
3. Empty all litter into a trash bag and close it.
4. Wipe cage clean and spray with disinfectant if you want, to ensure cleanness. Vaccuum the cage if you want.
5. Put clean dry bedding in generously.
6. Place everything back in the cage the way it was before. (You can change it but hammie will have to find his way around because hamsters have very bad eyesight).