Cardboard distraction

[Jennie F]

Hi everyone,

So I recently mentionned that my little monster is bar chewing again. I noticed after getting back fron a few days away after the neighbours looking after her, that she is chewing lower down on the bars now and the bars were sticky - leading me to believe tjey had pushed something through. Anyway, I have cut out a piece of cardboard to cover her old chew spot and the new one to distract her from chewing the bars. Ive cabled tied it on to the bars on the inside and she is chewing the cardboard off bit by bit. I think this is better than the bar chewing, as ive noticed her nose going a bit red recently, pressumably from chewing bars. What do you think, should the cardboard be outside the cage instead of inside? Should i just replace with new carboard when she is done chewing it? Im not able to order her new cage until the end of the month and it wont be here until early May, so I have to make do with what I have at the mo

[chesca_27]

Cardboard is fine to chew, just replace it when it's destroyed. I don't think it really matters which way round the cardboard is, as long as she isn't chewing the bars. I've got a little weirdo (Larry-Jasper) who prefers to chew on cardboard and use it for nesting material lol , so don't be too concerned, as long as it's clean.

[Drago]

The cardboard is fine, and it's better when it's inside as she can still get her teeth on the bars if it's attached on the outside. Plus, cardboard helps keep teeth and nails trimmed when dug at or chewed on Have you considered a more permanent solution since she appears to be a bit of a chronic bar chewer? A strip of plexiglass wrapped around the base of the cage wherever she is able to reach should help put a stop to it

[Jennie F]

I have no idea where to get that from, but it would be a good solution until i get the new cage. I would have to wrap it around most of both cages as she will just move places to chew. How do you secure it on?

[AmityvilleHams]

You could use zip ties.However,it's still less of a permanent solution than a new cage,but it could maybe work.However,that would mean you'd have to drill through the acrylic to attach zip ties which is at least slightly stressful and if you aren't careful with drilling it will end terribly and you'll destroy the acrylic sheet.

Some sort of bin setup would probably be a lot easier and cheaper,unless you choose to make it more expensive than necessary by purchasing expensive bins.

[Jennie F]

I'd still be in the same boat with a bin cage, in tjat I would have to cut out and mesh the lid. I think ill do some measuring and see if I can pop down to my nearest BnQ to see if they sell it and try and sweet talk them into cutting and drilling the whole for me

[AmityvilleHams]

It's much easier to cut out and mesh lids and attach bins than to drill through acrylic.As long as you're using an appropriate tool with bins it is easier and cheaper,whereas you need to use a more expensive tool for acrylic(and if the hardware store uses the wrong kind or you would use the wrong kind,it will end very badly as well and will be an expensive mistake).

[flowerfairy]

You could just make cardboard walls as a temporary measure until she moves into the new cage.

[Jennie F]

Ive put a LOT more substrate in for her, done a scatter feed in as well and hung a toy in the corner so she wont have room to get to the corner. Here's a pic of it atm, minus the toy that is in the back right corner by the bendy bridge

[Pebbles82]

Our hamster also started bar chewing after we left him somewhere else (along with his cage) when away on holiday. They don't like changes of environment very much! It did settle down after a couple of weeks and he stopped doing it. I ended up doing a combination of letting him out more in the evenings (we set the playpen up round the cage and left the cage door open so he could come and go - eventually he stopped bothering to come out when he realised he couldn't scale the playpen!) - combined with turning the lights out and going to bed early when he started chewing (after we shut the cage again). And gradually he stopped bothering. What finally did it though was - I ended up doing a full cage clean to remove any scent of the other house he had been to and that stopped it. Although I wouldn't normally do full cage cleans. It also distracted him. I cleaned the base and bars with diluted vinegar (rinse well to get rid of the smell). It seemed to still have a slight smell of vinegar which he gave a good sniff of and seemed to like (although some hamsters don't like it). Plus a couple of new whimzee chews and some treats hidden in the substrate afterwards.

But if you're planning to move him to a new cage then that might do the trick anyway.