Plastic Bar Cover ~ a Solution to Bar Chewing

[pophammy]

Plastic Bar Cover ~ a Solution to Bar Chewing

As I mentioned before, both Lola and Napoleon are crazy bar chewers, so we have tried to make a plastic cover to go over the bars to stop them doing this. Originally we wanted to make it cover the whole of the roof, but we were worried about ventilation problems so we decided to just do half of the roof for Lola and gave her a spare Gabber Lux platform instead of the Rex one.

Our cover was designed for a Gabber Rex roof, but you could make it for any cage with a barred roof. You should only cover the areas that the hamster can reach to chew at so that there is free ventilation and this article shows several different sizes and types in production.

You will need:
soldering iron or fine wood drill
Stanley knife
pair of pliers
sheet of clear acryllic plastic big enough to cover the barred part (from B&Q)
sheet of card
permanent marker pen
long straight edge (ruler, metal bar, piece of wood etc.)
twisty wire

1. We started off by making a template of the Gabber Rex’s roof . We took out the bars and drew round it onto a sheet of card. We also marked in the space where the door goes, and then cut this out. (Ignore the chunk out of it at the side ~ Lola chewed it away!!!).

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a1-2.jpg

2. Next we drew around this with a permanent marker onto the plastic sheet .

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a2-2.jpg

3. We tried to use an electric saw to cut the plastic, but found it cracked easily. We found a more effective technique was to use a Stanley knife to score along the line several times.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a3-2.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a4-7.jpg

We then used the pliers to ‘snap’ it off.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a5-2.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a6-2.jpg

4. Do this with all the sides, until it is totally cut out. You can use either wet and dry paper or sandpaper to round the corners off.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a7-2.jpg

5. Now it is cut out place it on top of the bars, and mark on in between the bars pairs of dots where you are going to drill holes for the wire to hold it up. You can then either use the soldering iron or the wood drill to drill out the holes on the plastic.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a8-2.jpg

6. Once all the holes are drilled out, take the barred section of the cage and place the plastic cover inside the cage (so that it hangs down). Push the wire through the holes and tightly twist it so the plastic is held tight to the bars.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a9-2.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a10-2.jpg

7. Replace the roof and your hamster shouldn’t be able to chew the bars! We left ours on for a week whilst we were on holiday and it seems to have worked.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn139/anastasia-pophammy/a112.jpg

Hope this works for you ~ it has for us!

[suga]

Pophammy that's a great idea and just what I need for Fuzee's cage.

[babyboos]

great idea PH

[melanieandlizzie]

Good idea... but do they have air holes?

[souffle]

It does not need air holes as only half the bars are covered allowing plenty air circulation. We only cover the bars above the shelf bit where the hamsters can stand up there and reach the roof bars to chew :)

[mai_roberts]

Thats a fab idea :) Well done x

[skyjabreed]

I don't get this.......?

[souffle]

I don't know what sort of cages you have in Iceland but in the UK the cages that are like plastic tubs with wire mesh on the roof are popular. We make these bar covers because many hamsters were standing on toys and shelves to chew the roof bars. This means they rub all the fur of their nose and can sometimes even hurt their noses or break teeth. Bar rub looks very bad when you are showing your hamsters. The covers stop the animals having access to the the roof bars to chew.

[morganel88]

That's such a clever idea (makes a mental note for previous cages if needed again) definitely worth keeping close by. I wonder if you could cover a wired cage the same way but leaving enough ventilation for the hammys.......