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Old 03-03-2018, 10:27 AM   #1
ClorisandAlex
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Default Sudden biting, aggression, and chewing

Our dwarf hamster, Pablo, has been very comfortable in his huge bin cage. We got him about a month and a half ago, and since the beginning he has been extremely receptive to our touch and interaction. I've had only minor issues of biting, specifically when I accidentally grazed his wheel as he was running and got him angry. When he was angry, he ran a lot, bit and climbed the metal bars in his cage and nibbled on his wooden chew toy. After a day, his anger passed and he became docile and receptive to our touch once again.

Yesterday, out of nowhere, he bit my girlfriend twice (both times through the skin, unlike other times when he would just nip me a little with his teeth) while she was trying to feed him. When I returned home, he was just as angry at me, taking every opportunity to try to bite me.

I woke up today to clean his cage, and found that he was still determined to bite. After cleaning his cage, he destroyed his new chew toy within a few hours (before yesterday, he wouldn't even touch it). Now, he is constantly running around his cage and biting at the bars, and every time my girlfriend or I approach the cage, he keeps climbing, falling down, and climbing again. If I put my finger near the cage, he stretches out his tongue and tries to bite.

This sudden aggression is worrying me. The only reasons I could see for this behavior are me cleaning his cage (I've done it the same way before and he was totally fine), and giving him a new wooden chew toy. My concern is that the new chew toy gave him splinters, making him hurt inside, which could explain his sudden aggression. However, he has had the same wooden material in his cage for a long time as a part of his hiding place, and he was completely fine before even after biting it. On top of that, I also sanded down rough edges of the toy in case it was too sharp for him.

Should I give him a few days to calm down or should I be more concerned about this sudden change?
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Old 03-03-2018, 10:54 PM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: Sudden biting, aggression, and chewing

It's hard to know what might have caused it, did anything change in his environment, anything different in the cage, food, other animals in the room? Anything that may have upset or scared him?
Cleaning the cage won't have helped, it's best not to change anything when there's a problem or they seem unhappy about something.
Is he eating drinking etc ok? Biting & aggression can be a sign of pain or illness.
I would give him some space but keep a close eye on him for a while & see how he goes.
What chew toys does he have & what kind of wood has he been chewing on? You could give him a whimzee dog chew (the small toothbrush ones are best) as hams love them & they are completely safe.
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Old 03-04-2018, 04:26 PM   #3
ClorisandAlex
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Default Re: Sudden biting, aggression, and chewing

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
It's hard to know what might have caused it, did anything change in his environment, anything different in the cage, food, other animals in the room? Anything that may have upset or scared him?
No sudden changes that I am aware of, other than giving him a small new wooden chew toy that he was very fond of.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
Cleaning the cage won't have helped, it's best not to change anything when there's a problem or they seem unhappy about something.
This was a weekly cage cleaning, during which I put him in a hamster ball and let him run around in the room. Should I wait for him to calm down before I clean it next week?

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
What chew toys does he have & what kind of wood has he been chewing on? You could give him a whimzee dog chew (the small toothbrush ones are best) as hams love them & they are completely safe
He has a kiwi tree branch that he doesn't chew on often (the day he got angry he shredded the bark to pieces, however). I gave him a piece of a wooden dowel to chew on that he liked a lot. He also chews on his cardboard homes.

Is it possible that he got splinters from the wooden dowel? I took it away in case that was the cause.
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Old 03-04-2018, 10:03 PM   #4
cypher
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Default Re: Sudden biting, aggression, and chewing

I don't know if it's possible to get splinters from dowels but I wouldn't give them as a chew toy, I'm not sure about kiwi either, it could be safe but I don't know.
I would stick to whimzee dog chews, hazel, willow or apple wood & maybe make some toilet toll treat toys so he can chew those too.
The cleaning may be an issue, weekly cleans are unnecessary & very stressful for them.
It's far better to just spot clean pee as & when you need to then just clean a small portion of the cage every few weeks if it needs it, always putting back some of the nest or food hoard if you clean those areas. I would never do a full cage clean & don't clean the wheel or toys on the same day you do any cage cleaning.
Do you have a playpen for him? If not you can buy or make them quite easily, with a playpen you can interact with him or leave him safely (always keeping an eye on him) to play with toys & explore new things, hamster balls can be dangerous for dwarf hams & they can also be quite frightening for them.
I would give him time to settle down again don't change anything in his cage pr clean now for a good few weeks, keep an eye on him in case there is an underlying cause for his behaviour like an injury or illness.
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Old 03-05-2018, 11:45 AM   #5
ClorisandAlex
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Default Re: Sudden biting, aggression, and chewing

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
I don't know if it's possible to get splinters from dowels but I wouldn't give them as a chew toy, I'm not sure about kiwi either, it could be safe but I don't know.
I would stick to whimzee dog chews, hazel, willow or apple wood & maybe make some toilet toll treat toys so he can chew those too.
The cleaning may be an issue, weekly cleans are unnecessary & very stressful for them.
I found a Whimzee chew at a petstore nearby, I'll grab it for him, thank you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
It's far better to just spot clean pee as & when you need to then just clean a small portion of the cage every few weeks if it needs it, always putting back some of the nest or food hoard if you clean those areas. I would never do a full cage clean & don't clean the wheel or toys on the same day you do any cage cleaning.
I spot clean his cage every morning by picking up his poop and soiled bedding if I see it. I was told to clean his cage weekly, but I would much rather do it less regularly. Do you think replacing 75% of the bedding with new bedding every 2 weeks is good enough on top of spot cleaning or should I do more/less? How often should I clean the cage with soap or similar (I've been told to thoroughly clean it every month, but I'm not sure about that now).

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
Do you have a playpen for him? If not you can buy or make them quite easily, with a playpen you can interact with him or leave him safely (always keeping an eye on him) to play with toys & explore new things, hamster balls can be dangerous for dwarf hams & they can also be quite frightening for them.
I do not have a playpen for him, I was not aware that a playpen serves a different purpose from his cage. How should I structure it? Is it just an open area surrounded by tall walls where he can run around and play with toys in? How often should I take him out to play there? I have a small secondary cage, can it be re-purposed as a playpen or does it have to be an actual open-top arena with toys inside? Also, how come hamster balls are dangerous for dwarfs? Should I never use it or use it once a week to let him run around the room and explore?

Thank you for answering my questions, it helps a lot.
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Old 03-05-2018, 12:57 PM   #6
cypher
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Default Re: Sudden biting, aggression, and chewing

You only need to spot clean pee daily or every couple of days, don't be in too much of a hurry to clean up poo when you see it as they need to eat some of that, it's how they get all the nutrients out of their food.
It depends on the size of your cage really but I would say about a third certainly no more than a half of the cage every three to four weeks is plenty with cleaning.
Does he have a sand bath with chinchilla sand (not dust)? It's important for them to have one & they will often pee in the sand which can make cleaning even easier!

Dwarf hamsters are even more at risk of injury from bumping into things or getting their feet trapped in the air holes than syrian hamsters due to their small size, it's really not worth the risk & they don't offer a hamster any kind of enrichment really, if they just want to run they can do that in their wheels.

Playpens serve two purposes really, one it gives you ham new things to explore & two it gives you a great opportunity to interact with him.
There are some examples of playpen set ups you might find useful here.
Let's see your playpens!
It's best to begin with short sessions of maybe 10 minutes in the playpen, see how it goes & as long as your ham appears to be happy you can extend it to as long as they like.
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Old 03-05-2018, 05:26 PM   #7
ClorisandAlex
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Default Re: Sudden biting, aggression, and chewing

I bought Pablo a Whimzees toothbrush and he has not stopped chewing on it since I put it in his cage.

I will definitely stick to your suggested cleaning schedule, it makes sense and it's cheaper; I can give him more bedding that way. I do not have chinchilla sand, I read online that it's not that good to have it because it rubs off oils that hamsters produce and it ends up being bad for their fur. If it's good for them then I'll get some. Should I place it in a separate area of the cage so that the sand doesn't leak out everywhere?

It seems to me like a playpen is just another cage with shorter walls and no top. I'll try to come up with something out of cardboard and post a picture in the thread once it's done.
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Old 03-05-2018, 10:30 PM   #8
cypher
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Default Re: Sudden biting, aggression, and chewing

Good to hear he's enjoying his whimzee!

Chinchilla sand does take some of the oil out of the coat which actually helps them to keep their coat clean, unless there's some other underlying problem it doesn't dry the skin out, it is more of an essential with Russian hams than Syrians.
You can use any kind of container for the sand bath, ceramic dish, plastic dish, I use salt pigs, plastic storage boxes & bird baths among other things! The sand wants to be at least an inch deep really so they can have a good roll around & dig in it.
The sand does tend to get everywhere whatever you do but it's not a problem.
About the best sand is the tiny friends farm one which is available from many pet shops as well as various places online, some others are too dusty.
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Slave to Zak.
Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
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