She chews everything...

[SwaggySyrians]

If you already know me then you'll know that I lost my boy Buzz back in February. He was incredibly dear to me and I'm still grieving, even months later. Part of the reason why my grief has remained is that I got another hamster. Don't get me wrong, I really love her, and having another hamster to distract and entertain me has helped. However I got her at the wrong time. She was an impulse adoption while I was shopping for items for my rats, just because I hated seeing that empty cage in the corner of my room. I went through a really intense period of hating myself after this, and conflicted feeling about her. I felt as if I'd replaced Buzz. This paints her in a bad light instantly, but I want to mention that I don't resent her or anything like that. Listening to the sounds of the wheel spinning at night again helped me out when I hated myself for my decision. Her name is Nora, and she's gorgeous - she has the colouring of Syrians named as 'panda bear hamsters' with little white rings around her eyes.
Now that I'm done with the backstory, let me explain why I'm posting in the behaviour thread. She constantly chews. By this, I don't mean that she's just enthusiastic - I mean that she has so far eaten several of those very large object shaped alfalfa toys that pets at home sell. Those green and brown bridges and the cubes? Completely gone. Her teeth are incredibly short. She eats in excess. She currently weighs around 250g. When I got her, she weighed 140. Buzz never got bigger than 150g. Sure, she's a female, but she's being fed no more than he ever was. Perhaps this is a result of her furniture eating habit. She also constantly fills her wheel with food. A decent half of the time I cannot put the wheel in her cage because she fills it up with everything and runs on it. It's so disturbing and stops me from sleeping. She does this every time I put it back in her cage. This might also have something to do with her weight.

The biggest issue with her is that she bites. I have never been able to handle her or stroke her, because she will bite me. Hard. If I put my finger in she will bite it and hang on, causing a ton of bleeding. These bites are very shocking and painful. I have several scabs on my fingertips right now. I have tried daily since I got her to tame her, but she remains untamed as of right now and will not cooperate. She is very curious about everything and is interested in all that I'm doing - she loves to come and take treats from my hand and eats everything in her bowl straight away. But if I present her with a hand with nothing in it, she will bite me. Sometimes she will bite me regardless. I figured that perhaps she was cage aggressive, so I stopped feeding her in the cage and instead tried to make her take it when out of the cage - but when put in the same cardboard pen that Buzz happily roamed in she will make these horrible, distressed screeching noises and will continue to make them until I put them back in the cage. She doesn't bar chew but she does chew absolutely anything given to her. My sister bought a few of those hanging seed bars from pets at home. She has her own hamster now who is as small as a mouse, and, er...'normal.' He has only eaten a tiny bit of it so far. Nora finished the entire thing within ten minutes of it being given to her, and then proceeded to strip off the remaining wood until there was only a few chips remaining. I had to quickly remove the plastic because she got hold of it and bit half of it off. She's the weirdest little animal I've ever owned, but I can't deny she has personality.

Any help/explanation for this? Thanks!

[flowerfairy]

My female syrian Kashi stripped those seed treat things in seconds (unlike any of my male syrians). She also bar chewed for ages in her large barney cage (100cm x 54 cm). I wove cardboard through the bars which she would demolish immediately.

I gave her cardboard roo roll inners with treats hidden inside and egg boxes and little boxes of any kind. I changed these regularly for variation. She has the silent runner wheel and for ages (until she eventually became too huuuuge for it) she also had her beloved junior woden wheel.

She is a biter so I no longer handle her. If I take her for out of cage time it is in a large tunnel which she will climb into. Out of cage play pen time consists of her racing about pouching the food I put out for her followed by frantic climbing to escape!

She is an absolute beauty and I love her cute little face but not one for cuddles!

Sounds like a few similarities there. Oh you could try adding a second wheel and seeing what happens.

Good luck.

[cypher]

A second wheel is a good idea, certainly worth a try. I'm sure taking the wheel out won't be helping, I know how noisy it can be when they put food & anything else that bounces around in the wheel but if you keep taking it out she probably will be getting bored & have excess energy to use up some other way.
I've found that if left too it they tend to stop putting everything in the wheel after a while so it's worth persevering if you can.

[SwaggySyrians]

I've decided to move her into another room so that she can keep the wheel. I really wish I could keep her in with me, but if she's to use the wheel ever again then I need to let her do her thing and then get bored of it. If it comes to it I'd buy another wheel, but as of now I'm going to watch and wait. She's very stubborn, haha. I can imagine that the room she's moved into will be quieter and darker, so perhaps she will mellow out a little.

Thanks for the help - I'll update if she calms a bit!

[Pebbles82]

I'm sure things will settle xxx Firstly she could probably sense your feelings if you weren't ready for another hamster. So it has slowed up a bond forming between you. Secondly they can go absolutely frantic if a wheel is removed. Best to leave it in I would say and just let her do what she wants with it lol. Which will be easier now her cage is in another room. Moving her cage to another room could also cause a stress reaction and a bit of a setback as it's a change of environment, although it sounds like it won't be much of a set back as she bites and screeches!

I would give her a few days completely left alone after moving the cage. You could add something new but I wouldn't move anything in the cage otherwise, or do any cleaning.

Maybe go back to just talking to her through the bars, in a gentle voice about anything you like! Playing some soft music can relax them as well.

She sounds like a real character. I would leave her alone mostly for some time, and just spot clean once a week if it's needed and don't do any big cage cleans for some time. Just make sure she has plenty of substrate and maybe add a litter tray in her pee place, if she doesn't have one/use one already. Then you just need to empty the litter tray about every 5 days.

When she seems a bit more settled you could maybe start again with taming. Using the bathtub with some toys in can be good as she can't escape. Don't try to handle her - you can transport her there in a hamster ball then let her out of the ball into the bathtub. You can use a toothbrush to gently give her the occasional stroke on the back while she's running around in the bathtub. Wear gloves as well. If she turns to bite the toothbrush, then leave it for a bit and try again later. Eventually she may stop turning to bite the toothbrush and get used to it. That would be a big turning point, as it would mean she is not scared of being touched. You could then move onto using one finger to stroke her on the back while in the bathtub (wearing gloves again). If she accepts it just one little stroke then leave her alone. Then maybe two little strokes the next time. If she gets used to that you could move onto gently cupping a hand under her and lifting her a fraction but not holding, just let her walk off (still wearing gloves!). If she accepts that you could do that occasionally, lifting her a little bit more each time but letting her walk off. Then move onto trying to lift her and hold her in both hands (still in the bathtub and still wearing gloves) and see if she accepts being held for a stroke for a bit.

She needs to learn to trust you. If you can get her hand tame and build some trust, then you two could end up with a nice bond. But if she is never handleable, that's ok too - you can still end up with a good talking bond!

As for the chewing - that's ok. She's a chewy hamster - give her lots of cardboard to destroy - egg boxes, tissue boxes and as the other say, toilet rolls (slit them down one side as she's big, so she doesn't get stuck). I would avoid giving her edible houses and toys and alfalfa stuff - just a chew stick and her regular hamster mix and a bit of fresh veg each day.

[Pebbles82]

Here are some tips, if they relate at all

They hate their nest being messed with. So always leave the nest and don't remove it unless it is pee-soaked - then try and leave a little bit of the old nest that isn't wet (even if a bit whiffy) and put lots of torn up strips of plain white toilet paper out in a pile so she can rebuild it. Using a litter tray means the cage should stay mostly dry and the nest fine. Give her lots of extra nesting material anyway as it's getting cooler at night.

They get very stressed by their hoard being messed with. Again leave any hoard (it can be left for really quite a long time if dry) unless pee'd on. Then again try to leave a bit of the old hoard behind and add new food in exactly the same place.

Some hamsters don't like anything being moved in the cage and like everything to stay in exactly the same place, so avoid moving things around or taking them out. Adding the odd new thing is ok.

To feel secure, they need somewhere dark in the cage to retreat to, so a house needs to be big enough and dark inside. A shoebox is ideal for a house. Cut the base out and use the lid as a lift-off roof (so you can check inside without having to remove the house and so the nest doesn't collapse). And cut a hole in one side for a door. If you put a bendy bridge over the entrance hole it makes a tunnel entrance and helps make it dark inside, plus gives a ramp onto the roof so it can be an extra platform.

Try scatter feeding instead of using a bowl. Foraging will help keep her happy and distracted and she won't get stressed by the bowl having been cleaned.

Make sure she has lots of substrate. At least 4 inches but 5 to 6 inches if you can - then she can keep busy moving it around, burrowing in it etc - and it means the cage needs cleaning less.

Hope that helps