How to Disinfect Hamster Toys

Hamsters may be cute, and they may look particularly adorable when they run playfully in a hamster wheel. Nonetheless, they are rodents, and rodents carry diseases that can make humans sick. In a single day, hamsters eat, sleep, urinate, defecate, play and chew, leaving behind bacteria everywhere they go. Scrubbing and disinfecting hamster toys regularly will help protect your family from the bacteria that your pet hamster carries and spreads.

Things You'll Need

  • Liquid soap
  • Water
  • Scrub brush
  • Bleach
  • Dishwasher
  • Dish rack
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Instructions

    • 1

      Wash hamster toys with warm, soapy water. Scrub inside all crevices on the toys with a clean scrub brush, since bacteria thrive in the small spaces. Rinse the toys with clean water.

    • 2

      Mix a bleach solution of 1 part bleach to 32 parts water. This is a disinfecting solution, intended for plastic toys only, that will kill bacteria. Let plastic toys soak in the solution for 15 minutes.

    • 3

      Remove the toys from the bleach mixture and thoroughly rinse them with clean water. If bleach residue remains on the toys and your hamster ingests it, your pet could become sick. Do not towel dry the disinfected toys; let them air dry.

    • 4

      Place cloth toys in the dishwasher alone and let them wash on the hot water cycle. Do not put toys in the dishwasher along with dirty dishes. Run the hot water cycle completely. The hot water and steam will disinfect the toys.