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Old 11-18-2016, 10:33 PM   #1
MissCake
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: England
Posts: 3
Default bar chewing, help!

So I've had Cake (my first syrian) for about a week. she was never handled so i'm having to tame her which means I can't get her out really.
I recently extended her cage (she has the whole habitrail ovo range) with a cage that has bars and now she wont stop chewing them!
she chews the bars so hard that she lifts herself off the bottom of her cage and i'm scared she's going to hurt herself.
she has plenty of different toys (wooden climbing things, wooden chew toys, toilet paper tubes) and 2 wheels.
I've been told by several people to gently blow on her to stop her chewing the bars but it doesn't seem to be helping, she just closes her eyes and makes a sort of chattering chirpy sound and them continues to chew!
how do i stop her from hurting herself and chewing the bars so much.
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Old 11-18-2016, 11:00 PM   #2
cypher
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 24,789
Default Re: bar chewing, help!

It sounds as though bars are a bit of a novelty to her & now she's discovered she can chew them she may be reluctant to stop, blowing on them doesn't really help, the best thing is to actually ignore them while they chew so they don't get a reward (attention) for the behaviour.
It could be that her cage set up isn't really suitable or she doesn't have enough to distract her or other things to chew.
You can try putting cardboard through the bars, or over the bars on the inside to try to prevent chewing, she may just chew on the card so you'll need to replace it as often as needed.
What chews does she have? Most hams love whimzees/antos dog chews & a dog biscuit can work well too, just check the biscuits are ham safe, I use Biscrok for mine.
Scatter feeding rather than using a bowl also helps to keep them busy & occupied with more natural behaviour.
Check out the managing bar chewers thread for more ideas.
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Old 11-18-2016, 11:09 PM   #3
MissCake
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: England
Posts: 3
Default Re: bar chewing, help!

she seemed happy with the ovo cage before but i felt like she needed more room and because i'm taming her i wanted a cage i could feed her through and that i could open at the top so she didnt escape thats why i got her this cage.
she has a bunch of little wooden fruit shapes, a chewable ladder, a little wooden climbing thing and 2 wheels to play on.
she's not been using the wheels much since she's had the new cage (before she was running on the wheel of 4+ hours a day)
I put her food in her little bowl and she usually just shoves it into her cheeks, climbs up the tube to her bed pod and puts it all in there, so i think i'll try scattering the food around like you said.
putting cardboard over the bars is a great idea! thanks!
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chewing, bars, stop, cage, chew, wooden, toys, told, people, climbing, things, tubes, wheels, paper, toilet, gently, sound, chirpy, chattering, sort, continues, hurting, makes, eyes, closes

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