Help, hamster hurt herself scratching/chewing out of her cage

[Quacky]

So Jaffa has a diy cage that we followed a tutorial from a hamster youtuber to make it, she has plenty of toys, although refuses to use her wheel, she won't stop scratching and biting at the bottom of the cage causing the coating to come off and make a hole. I'll post a photo. I'm really worried about her behaviour, if she goes at it until she's bled a little bit what can I do to stop her?



The small red spots are blood from where shes hurt herself doing it, I don't know what to do

[cypher]

If it's possible you could try putting something over it, a large bendy bridge maybe or some thick card to stop her getting to it.
Once things like that become a habit it can be difficult to stop them & a different cage may be the only answer.
What kinds of enrichment does she have in her cage?
Lots of distractions, chews like whimzees, cardboard boxes & tubes to chew if she wants to, hiding & scattering food rather than using a bowl, plenty of deep substrate for digging are some of the things that can help.
What wheel does she have? Have you checked it spins freely & easily & is large enough for her to run comfortably? It's unusual for them not to use the wheel as long as it works well & is large enough.
Have a look at the bar chewing thread for other ideas on how to distract her from this behaviour.

Managing Bar Chewers

[Quacky]

I'll try putting some card over it, or even lining the bottom of the cage with a piece of card, she has tunnels, climbing frames, little chew toys, and sand to dig around in as well as her bedding, I'm going to try giving her deeper bedding when we can get some in a few days too. The wheel she has is this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The large 28cm one. So I see no problem in that, it might be because shes just picky and doesnt like the wheel, who knows. Do you have any suggestions of other wheels that she might like that are affordable? I'm going to try the food scattering too.

[cypher]

The large trixie wheel should be fine as long as it's spinning ok, they usually work fine & most hams like them so I doubt that's the problem.
Covering it, giving her more substrate when you can & scatter feeding may help, fingers crossed!
A lot of hams don't really bother with things sold as chew toys tbh, if you haven't tried whimzees (dog chews) I would recommend those, most hams go mad for them.