sorry this is long..black bear hamsters grow to be about 5 to 7 inches long..she is 5.. she is about the size of a gerbil. gerbils r more social and u can keep more then one in a cage. hamsters u cant..

when i first got her she peed anywhere.. to potty train her i started out with the corner cage triangle shaped potty and it stays in the same corner..it ties in place.. i buy the big bag of 'critter litter' pearls.. hamster litter is expensive, marketing..so she just started to pee in there.. she'd paw the rocks, do her circles like dogs do, squat and go..

sink training just happened. i put her in it for safety.. wet the bottom and put her in it and help keep her in it, to empty the exercise ball of poo..while in there she discovered the drain, stuck her head way in sniff,sniff.. got in it and made circles.. they like to rub like cats.. then i noticed she would squat and go..so it became a routine for her..now she stays out of the drain and has a corner she just rubs, circles and tips her rump up..put her in the other sink, run the water, put her back in to get her feet clean then place her on a paper towel if she isnt going back in the ball..

she uses barking to get my attention.. when she is awake and if im home she would get in her potty.. rustle her potty rocks and start barking.. that meant she wanted to be put in the sink to go. ill have her running around on the couch or just chilling and if she has to go she will start urgently running and climbing on me then she would bark..off to the sink.

i train mainly by timing her habits and using phrases and tone of voice and she associates it with getting certain foods or potty training..she learns fast.

i orginally got her one of those potties that look like a soap dish with a lid. the lid wouldnt fit in the cage so i moved it to a loft.. it became her bed? she has another corner potty with no rocks that she plays in..just chills and watches everything around her. she is pretty funny..