Old Age Stress Chewing???

[EatTheKale]

Hello! I am new to Hamster Central and I desperately need to know if my hamster is okay. My hamster (Cocoa Puff) has never been a big chewer when he was younger. I would rarely see him chew on any of the toys or wood chews I would place in his cage. Cocoa Puff is now a year and 5 months old, and I have seen him chew A LOT recently. I have a snack tunnel in his cage which has never been chewed by Cocoa Puff. Just last week he started this strange habit and is gone through at least 1/3 of the whole tunnel! Please help me! I don't know if he could be stress chewing or not, and I am not sure if that is okay. It would be nice to hear all your advice!

[IKrines]

I think you should take tunnel out, I guess he found out it is edible and tasted good.
It is god he eat, but bingeeating is not.

[Pebbles82]

Is it one of those snack shack things? They are very tasty! Made with honey. I don't think it will do any harm, although personally I'm not keen on them. At least he's keeping his teeth trim. He's probably just discovered it tastes nice.

You could get some whimzee toothbrush chews - they tend to like those too and they're a bit healthier. Or the Rosewood chew sticks which are healthy and no sugar. I would give him a new chew before taking the snack tunnel out or he may be a bit upset!

[IamKat]

If he isn't showing any other signs of stress or health issues (pacing, itching, swelling or overgrown teeth, hunching, diarrhoea or constipation, eating and drinking more or less etc....) i wouldn't worry. Chewing in itself isn't a bad thing. As Serendipity said i imagine it's just that he discovered the joys of this particular toy! I second the recommendation of Whimzee chews though!

[EatTheKale]

Thank you all so much for helping me out!