My latest idea in the Gabber Rex bar-chewing battle!

[Holly]

My latest idea in the war against Gabber Rex bar chewing:



It's an extra long wooden bendy bridge thing with hooks at each end - I've cable tied it to the roof above the Rex shelf so that it's hard for the hamster to reach the roof grille - and so they have an alternative item to chew once they get up there!

I've done this to the cages that Minnie (Minstrel) and Molly (Malteser) are in - they are my worse chewers and they both stand on the shelf and chew for Great Britain

I'll let you know how it works as I know there are a few Rex chewers on the forum - I'm looking for suitable small pieces of wood to cover the small gaps at each end).

[souffle]

Your ingenuity never ceases to amaze me Holly If it works naughty Napoleon will have one though he does not so much chew as acrobat about.

[Spuds Mum]

why were you never a Blue Peter presenter Holly?
Another great idea - let us know how it works - Bronte and Butterbean may end up with this as an alternative to Chubes

[Holly]

So far so good - Minnie's up and she's had a chew on the bridge and ignored the bars (which she's usually straight to) ....only problem is she's now chewing the plastic bit where the clips go

[Spuds Mum]

OK so how about we just tape their mouths up ?

I cant believe all of yours are up, ours are all fast off, not even the sound of one of them starting to wake up in their beds tonight.
I think I may start shaking the food and see what effect that has!

[Basia]

I will be interested to hear how that works because Truffle is now chewing her roof bars constantly.
I moved Cara because she was the only one still chewing, Pudding seemed to have finally called it a day and now Truffle is at it.
I have put Runty into a gabber now and so far he hasn't chewed just monkeyed about from the bars.

[Holly]

Originally Posted by Basia

I will be interested to hear how that works because Truffle is now chewing her roof bars constantly.
I moved Cara because she was the only one still chewing, Pudding seemed to have finally called it a day and now Truffle is at it.

My experience is that they do tend to "grow out of it" ...both Caramel and Mocha were nightmare chewers as youngsters, now Caramel's Rex doesn't have any roof chewing deterrents at all and she rarely chews. Mocha also rarely chews the bars - but he's a demon bottle chewer now

Wish my girls would grow out of it ....so far so good though, Minnie and Molly are definitely perplexed by their new roof - and I've found the wooden chew blocks (bark bites) are the perfect size to plug the little gaps at both ends.

I'm thinking of putting Smartie into our spare rex now - she'll go into it soon anyway for her litter but she's developing an Imac chew habit now - more difficult to stop methinks

Then again there's Milly....aarrgghh!!!!!!!!!!

[Holly]

Update!

I definitely think I've beaten Minnie's roof chewing - she's been up for 15 minutes now (she usually wakes this time of day) and she'd normally be chewing on the bars merrily by now - it seems she can't!!!!!!!

I'd almost feel mean for stopping her - excpet she's chewing the plastic where the clips go for all she's worth - and I'm worried she might be able to chew out. Has anyone had a syrian chew out of a Gabber Rex?

[Basia]

Fuzzy gave it a good go. I moved her back into her Cambridge before she did any more damage. She is a plastic chewer extrodinnaire though. She has eaten her way out of many exercise balls and chewed the floors in her Cambridge.

[Holly]

Oh dear, I'm thinking of glueing (is there a safe glue I could use) a couple of those block bite wooden things over the area either side? Would that be safe? She isn't really making any headway with chewing out but....

On the positive side I think I've stopped her roof chewing - and Molly - it's amazing!!!!!!!!!!

Now Smartie and Milly are Rex bound