Bar Biting

[Svaz15]

I am to the point that I don't know what else to do. My hamster, Norbert, has 3 connected cages, tons of toys, a rat size running wheel (he loves it, everything was too small for him), scattered feeding, running ball time, social time, proper nutrition, the list goes on. I have discovered he hates (as do I) when my rabbits litter pan is starting to get a strong odor, so that is changed often and right before I go to bed and Norbert gets up. I just do not know what else to do to make this hamster happy and get him to stop chewing on the bars at 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am... any time he either not in his running ball or not getting attention. Please any suggestions will be amazing.

[souffle]

It's not that he sounds to be bored it is just that he actually enjoys the bar chewing. It can be like an addiction to hamsters almost like smoking is to humans so they will chew as they gain something from doing it in the sense that it releases feel good hormones. The on;t way you are likely to stop this is to resort to a cage type with no bars such as a tank or aquarium with a very strongly chewie hamster otherwise try and minimise the chewing using carriers and blocking access if he chews at specific areas. Offering novel chewing items like whimsies dog chews may help.

[Pebbles82]

It does sound like it has become a habit - how long has he been doing it for? He sounds very active and generally one larger floor area cage works much better for them than 3 smaller interconnecting ones - so I also think a cage change will help and it would make sense to get a tank style probably. Sometimes, when a very active hamster is moved to a larger cage though they stop bar biting - they can make that space their own and use little sections for different things - one of the reasons one larger floor area works better for them as it then becomes like a "habitat" and within that is their "burrow" or house/nesting box. With the habitat type space they have more freedom to run around faster and roam and dig etc.

But if getting a new cage you probably wouldn't want to risk him bar biting again and having to change again. Our last Syrian did stop bar biting when he was moved to a bigger cage though. The other thing is if you clean him out a lot it will make him want to escape and he'll bar chew to get out. They feel invaded if they are cleaned out a lot. I tend to leave the litter tray about 5 days before emptying and find our hammies are quite clean and tend to cover it over with bedding if they find it's getting a bit whiffy for them in the meantime. You get more air/ventilation in a larger cage which helps as well.

Sorry if I'm making assumptions that the three interconnecting cages are not particularly large. But a good ballpark size as a minimum for a Syrian is 80cm x 50cm of continuous floorspace and about 4 inches depth of bedding (so they can move it about and rearrange it). I guess one of the cages must be a good size if you have a rat wheel in it

Are you in the US? A lot of people make bin cages there as it's very hard to find a cage big enough for a Syrian hamster in the US - there are a couple but they're expensive. So you wouldn't want to risk spending $100 or more and then finding he still bar chews. Another alternative is a 40 gallon breeder tank - I believe it's Petco that have $1 per gallon sales regularly when you can get one for $40. Or another cheap tank option, if you have the space, is a Detolf cage (hack from an Ikea Detolf) whch is a bit easier than making a bin cage in my opinion as there is no cutting - you just need to make a lid for it out of wood and mesh and staple the mesh to the wood. It's a glass cabinet tipped on its side with the door left off. It can be hard to find bins big enough as they slope in a lot at the bottom. Although some people have cut the ends of two and hot glued them together to make a bigger one - but sounds like a fair bit of diy!

I think he just needs an upgrade so he can do more in his cage. With 3 areas joined together he can't do everything in one place and generally they like the wheel, house, food and water and a shelf all in one area. If they have those all in one cage they often ignore the adjoining cages. It allows more freedom of movement and natural behaviours.

Here are some examples of some detolf set ups

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ha...w=1138&bih=503

And some bin cage examples (again one larger one works much better than two connecting ones)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=....0.PM-NTvAXtTo

Our Syrian is in a 100cm cage and very happy in there and builds mountains out of his bedding and digs the odd burrow or tunnel as well

So a bit more space and lots of bedding should help keep him happy. If they feel secure and have plenty of hidey places or bedding to burrow down in and bury hoards in they can have more natural behaviours. So giving him a house that is big enough to build a big nest for winter and is open underneath and sat on top of the substrate, might help him as well (sorry if you already know all that). They tend to like to bury hoards under their nest.

Although it can take up a lot of substrate - the more there is, in a larger area, the less often it needs cleaning out, especially if you use a litter tray and you can just spot clean now and then and onlu need to do a substrate change every 6 to 8 weeks or even longer (even then I replace some of the old clean substrate and mix it in so it still smells familiar to them).

It must be difficult cleaning out 3 connecting cages as well and cause more hassle for both of you. They are very particular about their nest and hoard as well so best to leave those when doing a spot clean unless anything is soiled by pee and dry hoard can be fine for quite some time. If you do need to remove some soiled hoard then it's best to always leave a bit of the old familiar smelling hoard behind in exactly the same place and then add some new food to it in exactly the same place - they can get quite panicked at their hoard disappearing.

But the bar chewing can be many things. Sometimes it's important - they can be trying to tell you there's a problem - eg empty water bottle or not being able to get to a water bottle - so it's definitely a stress/communication thing then. Or if their wheel isn't working. Or just something they don't feel happy about within their cage environment if they can't hide away or bury hoards eg. But it can become a habit as well. A change in this case could help break the habit and distract your hammy into better and more natural habits.

The Iris Christmas tree bin is popular for a bin cage in the US - tends to be available around this time of year

https://www.walmart.com/ip/IRIS-Holi...d-Red/48037027

[Hammy992]

I think some hams really do become addicted to the chewing, either for attention or just because they enjoy it. My last syrian didn't bar chew all the time but he would go through phases where he would do it often and I would worry about him hurting his teeth. And he didn't want to come out of his cage he just wanted me to notice him. I used to gently blow on his face when he did it as he didn't like that - one time he was so angry at me for interrupting him that he squeaked at me!
Blocking off his go-to chewing areas and giving him more things to destroy like whimzees and even wrapping up little toilet roll parcels with treats inside might help keep him distracted for a while.

[Pebbles82]

I wouldn't blow on them - it will make them stressed and angry and won't help the bond - it's a bit of a hostile thing to do with a hammy. Wrapping strips of cardboard round the bars can help but they usually just move to a different area of bars. Some depends on what cage they're in and how active they are.

[Pebbles82]

There was a study done at a German university with bar biting hamsters as to what amount of space they needed before they stopped bar chewing and they reckoned it was 1 square metre of space before they stopped doing it. Most people find between 80 x 50 and 100 x 50 is plenty of continuous floorspace for all but the most maverick of hamsters!

[mangoandmimi]

I agree that it is likely that either the cage size or the enrichment provided that is causing this. Bar chewing for attention is quite different to continuous obsessive chewing and it does indicate the hamster is stressed and bored. Not to go too much into cage sizes but for me personally, 100x50cm unbroken floorspace is the smallest I’d ever go for a Syrian as a lot of Syrians show signs of boredom in smaller cages (even 80x50cm). Anyone can see this just from personal experience or from reading this forum or reading hamster studies. These signs reduce with larger cage sizes as serendipity says, although it is usually female Syrians who need much more room than that. It is very easy to underestimate just how much space Syrians need and to just put it down to their personality. I personally don’t see how it can be put down to hamsters simply liking to chew bars when this behaviour usually disappears with larger cage sizes. It’s important to not get a “good sized cage” and “minimum” cage size mixed up. Putting hamsters in same sized tanks resolves the issue on the outside - no more bar chewing. But the hamster actually just has less means to show that they are bored. So unless it’s a larger tank I don’t really think it’s worth doing.
Enrichment - it would help to see what the cage setup looks like. Sometimes bar chewing can be stopped or prevented with the correct setup which is always different for each hamster. Deep digging space can also vastly reduce this. Studies also show that a few Syrians have actually not burrowed in bedding less than 12” since it hasn’t been deep enough. So bedding as deep as you can make it really is essential. I might be inclined to add an extra digging bin cage if deep bedding isn’t possible but have never tried this before.
Didn’t mean to turn this into some kind of research lecture but wanted to add my thoughts.

[Pebbles82]

Agree with Mango and Mimi I play it by ear with the depth of bedding - our current syrian would happily dig tunnels with 12" of bedding but I'd never see him Our last Syrian wasn't the slightest bit interested however deep the bedding was. So I go with 4 to 6" which is what I can fit in the cage base - as a balance between a bit of digging and making it manageable. But with a tank you could have one end deeper and have the best of both worlds. The Swiss have a minimum bedding depth of 8" - I'm not sure it's necessary as long as there's plenty of enrichment and they have a good sized house to mimic a burrow.

[mangoandmimi]

I do also think it’s better to vary the bedding depth instead of having say 8” across the whole cage although others might disagree. You do need shallower areas for heavier items as it’s near impossible to support everything from the base of the cage which would be quite dangerous. With my tank (even if it is for a dwarf), I also have one end with deeper bedding and one end shallower where the wheel, bottle and food is as well as heavier wood pieces.
It’s a shame that hamsters sometimes aren’t seen as a burrowing species unlike gerbils, when they really are. I would always try to put the deepest bedding possible in at least some areas of the cage, but best not to get too weighed down in the number of inches deep it is as it’ll change anyway! With barred cages there’s not a lot you can do but with a tank for a Syrian I’d think 8-12” at the deepest areas would be good.

[Hammy992]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

There was a study done at a German university with bar biting hamsters as to what amount of space they needed before they stopped bar chewing and they reckoned it was 1 square metre of space before they stopped doing it. Most people find between 80 x 50 and 100 x 50 is plenty of continuous floorspace for all but the most maverick of hamsters!

The issue there really is that you can't actually buy ready-made cages that are 1m2 of continuous space, it would need to be completely custom built which often isn't an option and would be quite expensive. You could always attach multiple bin cages together to make a larger space but it would still not be one continuous area and that kind of DIYing does not come naturally for everyone. The other problem is a cage of that scale would be difficult to find a space for, particularly if you keep more than one hamster or other small pets in your home.

My last syrian started out in an Alexander cage which is 101x52cm of continuous floorspace. It was a great cage and I utilised it well. It only lasted 8 months as he chewed a 5 inch hole (basically the entire corner) out of the cage. Anything I used to block it or deter him he chewed through that as well. He had plenty of chews, a silent runner, ramps, hides, sandbaths, hanging toys like a sputnik and tunnels. There were areas of deep substrate for digging and tunneling. He had out of cage playtime every night with lots of different toys and other things to explore. He would speed through using all the toys and quickly become disinterested. I arranged the toys into obstacle courses and mazes but he would still only do those a couple of times and then lose interest. I also tried scatter-feeding for a while but he preferred to eat from his bowl.
When I bought his second cage it was a rat cage 80x50cm, which was the only thing I could get in a pinch but it was too tall. It was incredibly difficult to set up in a way that blocked any drops with shelving, levels, ramps and hammocks but I managed to do it. He seemed to really enjoy running up and down the ramps and levels but in reality it was not ideal for a hammy and the time and effort it took to "hamster-proof" was not worth it. I would not use that cage again to house any hamster for that reason alone. But once he had reached a year old he mellowed out a lot and completely stopped being destructive. He was still difficult to please but became a much more chilled out and relaxed hammy.