Cage biter

[Miss Pip]

Sadly since I was last on this site, Pip died.

I got another beautiful little Russian who I named Pumpkin, and she is gorgeous and great to handle. The only issue is she is such a bad cage biter.

I am aware of several factors that might be causing it, none of which I can actually do anything about: her cage is perhaps too small - I wish I could get her more space but I am restricted financially; Bubbles, our lovely male Russian, is also right next door. I know this is not ideal, but I cannot move the cages because there is literally nowhere else that is safe for them.

Is there anything I can do to stop her from chewing the bars? It breaks my heart every time I see her gnawing away because it looks so frantic. She does get lots of exercise outside the cage, and usually she bites the bars because she wants to come out, but she would be in her ball all day if she had it her way which is just not practically possible.

I am running out of ideas.

[CMB]

Dog biscuits and whimzee dog chews are liked by hamsters. Often wood chews are ignored. Make food parcels using boxes or cardboard tubes to try and encourage the hamster to chew through to get to the food can keep them busy for a while. Scatter feeding is good to, as they have to move around to collect the food rather than feeding from a bowl.

If your hamster likes to dig. A digging box/area may be used. You could bury food in it to for extra enjoyment.

Platforms in the cage may be enjoyed and you could attach tubes to the inside of a cage to link one platform to another (tubes might need taking out if the hamster decides to sleep, hoard or pee in them though).

[flowerfairy]

Could you rig up some kind of play pen/play box for her to play in. Two of my syrians LOVE their evening play box sessions. They have a wheel, a tunnel, some bedding and some hidden treats to find. Simple and effective.

[alpacassei]

My hamsters really like when you scatter food in the substrate for them to find, also maybe you could get some of those seed sticks that you can attach to the cage bars for her to chew instead?