Hi there. The Marrakesch is a lovely cage. Is it the 80cm or 100cm one? She must be very determined as that wood is quite smooth and I wouldn't have thought it was easy to chew!
She is a big girl at 215g and girls can be very active I believe. It could be she is just a chewer, but I would look at what can keep her happy. Does she get much out of cage time? Is her wheel big enough? We had a Syrian who was 225g and he was happier with a 12" wheel as he could run properly. An 11" is probably ok but it depends how chunky she is. I found the 11" wodent wheel not quite big enough or deep enough. The 12" silent runner won't fit in the marrakesch height-wise. Unless you drilled a hole in one end and mounted it without the stand. But the 28cm Trixie wheel should be fine.
Maybe give her deeper bedding? So she can keep busy building mountains and digging.
Also sometimes they don't settle well if they don't have anywhere dark to hide - so is her house big enough and dark enough inside? Putting a bendy bridge tunnel over the door can make it darker inside.
So it could be she is just maverick, or could be something she is not quite happy with in the cage and can't settle - eg the house, wheel or substrate. Another thing is if you clean out too much. Not sure how often you do it but that can really stress them and make them want to escape.
So if you just spot clean and use a litter tray, and have deep enough substrate you'll only need to do a clean out every 6 to 8 weeks or even longer. Even then don't clean everything at the same time - so something always smells familiar.
So maybe change half the substrate after 6 to 8 weeks and replace the clean half ad mix it in with the new, but don't clean the toys or wheel. Do the wheel a different week, and toys a different week again (toys often don't need much in the way of cleaning anyway).
Also try not to move things in her cage once it's set up - and don't throw away the nest and hoards at clean out time. Dry hoards can be left for quite some time. If you do remove any, replace them in the same place with new food. The nest can be left unless it is pee'd in and then try and replace a bit of the old nest that is dry (even if a bit whiffy) and put new torn up strips of plain white toilet paper out in a big pile somewhere in the cage so she can pouch them and rebuild the nest.
Their nest and their hoard are the two things they are most possessive about and don't like disturbing, although in time they will get used to your hand changing a litter tray or moving a hoard slightly while they watch
If she doesn't stop you might need to stick perspex on the inside of the two wood end panels.
But maybe look to see if there is anything that is making her unsettled and wanting to escape.
A house that is open underneath helps as well, so they can bury hoards under the nest. If you need a bigger house, a shoebox is a good size - cut the bottom out and keep the lid as a lift off roof so you can check inside occasionally without her nest falling apart (ie you don't need to take the whole house out). You just cut a door in one of the sides.
Do you have a photo of her set up? We might be able to suggest something that would make her happier.
Chewing the cage
Re: Chewing the cage
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