Intense bar chewing : anxiety ?

[gmoliere]

Hi ! Nice to meet you all, I am new here and I registered because I need to reach out !

I adopted Scrooge, a male russian hamster last christmas. He is a rescued pet : his previous family wasnt letting him out of the carton box he lived in, and they gave him dry cat food. When I adopted him he was sick and I had to go to the vet many times.

Surprisingly, he has always been adorable around humans. Never bites, never squeaks, never hides from us. He is curious and loves to explore.

But his problem is that he chews on bar very intensively : when he chews, he goes for it violently and can go on for over an hour if I dont let him out. I try to let him out when he starts. He stays out for 1 hour or more everyday while I mark papers (I am a teacher), but of course I am unable to let him out during the night for exemple ! This is when I notice that he goes on for over one hour : because I cant sleep and check my clock to see how long he does it.

The thing is, I dont understand what more I could possibly do to help him reduce that stress he seems to be under. He has different chewing toys (mineral and wood), a big cage, a wheel... At some point I put toys in the areas he chews on but he started biting himself instead. He has stopped biting himself after I got help from the vet but the chewing never stops.

I am not looking for a miracle answer that will change my hamster, I accept him the way he is, but I want to try to understand is why he acts this way and know if he is okay, not suffering. Once again, he is a very curious little one and is always very good, he never bites and his very docile !

You guys probably have a lot of experience compared to me, and I would love to hear about your opinions.

Sorry for writing so much and thank you for your time !!!

[SeymourHammie]

Sounds like he is lucky to have found his way to you! I think the reason for chewing can be different for different hamsters--certainly could be stress but also could just be that he likes chewing! It sounds like he is well adjusted and gets his time outside the cage. I would just eliminate any possible sources of stress--having his cage in an area with a lot of activity, eliminate him being near noise (tvs, stereos, etc), don't make any huge changes to his cage/environment all at once, etc. It sounds like you are providing him with lots of toys and other things to chew on. You could try moving him to a different kind of cage without the bars but if he is stressed he will just start another behavior most likely and you are running the risk of creating more stress from the cage change. I wish I had some ideas for you--I had 2 robos that had issues (I think they may have been inbred) and it was so hard to watch them sometimes. One would just constantly throw himself into the side of the cage non-stop and it was so hard to see. But after doing whatever I could for him I just had to accept him the way he was and set up the cage as safe as I could. People told me I should take them back and get my money back but I had to keep them.....I couldn't stand the idea of them being "disposed of" since they had issues that made them less than ideal pets. So they lived out their lives with me. Too bad they can't talk! Good luck to you and your little one!

[cypher]

Welcome to HC & well done for giving this little guy a good home.

It can be hard to fathom just why they chew the bars sometimes, it can be stress, boredom, attention seeking (especially if it results in being let out!) or sometimes just because they can. You can't always figure out a definitive answer tbh.
If you have a photo of your cage set up we might be able to come up with ideas that could help.
I wouldn't use mineral chews as they aren't generally good for them & a lot of hams aren't interested in wooden chews or chew toys, if you can get them try him with a whimzee dog chew (little toothbrush is best) most hams love those.
Do you scatter feed or use a bowl? Scatter feeding & or hiding food & treats around the cage for them to forage for is a good distraction.
You can also try threading cardboard through the bars so he can chew on that.
If you possibly can try not to respond to the bar chewing but get him out when he stops or isn't doing it as otherwise you can just end up encouraging the behaviour.
Hope some of that might help.

[gmoliere]

Thank you for your message !!! His cage is in my room because that's a quiet place. I am scared of moving him to a cage without bars, I'm afraid he might start biting himself again !
I didn't think about the inbred thing. Maybe the little guy had issues before he has even adopted by his first family : they got him abroad so I have no idea if he's from a pet shop or a breeding place (im not sure how that's called in english sorry XD)

[mangoandmimi]

Chewing for an hour sounds quite serious, if it continues it’ll ruin his teeth so he wouldn’t be able to eat properly. What cage is he in? Most of the time bar chewing stems from cages being too small unfortunately. If it does continue I’d still try a tank as you certainly don’t want any teeth ending up bent/snapped or any jaw problems.

[gmoliere]

Thank you for your reply !
Thanks a lot for the information on the mineral and wooden chew stuffs. I'll try to get what you told me about instead, to see how he plays with it.
I put his food in a bown but also scatter little fresh stuffs around (if I cook I'll keep some carot and fruit bits for him fo exemple). I scatter things in my room too when he's out so he can explore and find them (he loves doing that).
I am not sure how to attach a photo here ? At first he had a smaller cage that a friend gave me - we thought as he had never been in a cage before it would be better to start small but about six months later, as the chewing intensified and since he is very curious and into exploration, I got him a bigger one.
I had no idea cardboard was suitable ! Thanks !

I try not to respond but it hurts to see him do that. Especially at night when I am really supposed to sleep

Thanks for the attention and for the good tips !

[gmoliere]

I know that sound quite serious, that's why I'm really concerned ! :'( his new cage really isnt small, the previous one was but I started with a modest cage on purpose as he had never been in a cage for the 6 first months of his life. But I switched to a larger one with lots of climbing stuffs and stairs (if that's how you would call it).
The tank is a good idea, but I am afraid he would start biting himself again if he doesnt have access to bars anymore (that happened before...)
Although this is a really good tip. Thank you !

[cypher]

I think you were right to begin with a small cage after his previous experience sometimes it can be hard to know if or when they might need an upgrade though, he might be ready for something larger.
There's a thread here that shows show to upload & embed photos.
How To Embed Photos
And one here about resizing if you need help with that too.
How to resize photos 2018

It's not a good idea to give fruit to Russian hams or too much sweet veg as they are prone to diabetes so better to stick to the less sweet veg, things like broccoli & other green veg are good.

I would try scattering more of his mix, put a little in the bowl as he's used to that but scatter or hide more of it for him to forage, I often use an egg box (only the cardboard ones, not plastic) with a hole cut in each end put some substrate in & hide food in there, things like that will help keep him busy & distracted.

I can understand your reluctance to try a tank style cage if he bites himself when he can't chew the bars, hopefully if you try a few different things he will stop before he damages his teeth.

[alpacassei]

Your hammy sound like he’s very lucky to hve found you!

Russians don’t usually bar chew as much as Syrians so there is a possibility it’s genetic unfortunately. I have/had 7 Russian dwarfs and only two have ever bar chewed. I’ve never come across a hamster that bites himself though, are you sure he’s actually over-grooming as a stress reaction rather than biting? The way they groom their sides can look quite similar to biting. He could be stressed out from all the changes in cage, diet, smells, etc which could likely be triggering his bar chewing.

Cypher’s egg box idea works really well, my Russian’s love them! They’re like little hamster mazes toilet tissue tubes are also much appreciated. Millet sprays are also good foraging toys/treats and might help to distract him, you can usually find millet sprays in the bird sections of pet shops. I also second the whimzees, I’ve never met a hamster that didn’t love them! I recommend filling his cage’s floor space eith lots of toys thst he can hide in/under - it’ll help him to feel safe.

How deep is his substrate? Russians like atleast 15cm of substrate to burrow through and can get restless if they can”t burrow properly. Also check that his wheel spins properly just in case

It would be useful to have at least the name or dimensions of his cage so we can give better advice on the overall setup. For Russians I recommend a minimum cage size of 70x40cm, a good cage if you wanted to try out a tank style would be the Duna Multy. You had a good idea with starting him in a smaller cage too! Hamsters that have been through a lot of trauma or are just generally shy usually do better in a smller cae at first before upgrading to something bigger.

[gmoliere]

Thank you very much for the tips !
Yes unfortunately, it was biting. He was biting himself until he bled so I had to take him to the vet...
I didnt know about the substract though !!! He had hiding places but apparently not enough substract ! I'll add on to that.
The new cage I have for him is I think about 70x47. I moved to the UK in september from France so I needed to have a foldable cage. The trip with him went absolutely fine, I was more stressed out than him for once. I expected him to freak out but he just... Slept the whole time in the car and the ferry. He doesnt dislike his transportation cage for some reason.
I dont know what brand his current cage is as my mother went to collect it for me from a re-seller, but it has a deep base, two "floors" with little stairs, and at the top there is a little cabin.

So, whimzees are dog treats but they can be given to hamsters safely as well ? I want to make sure I got this

Thank you SO much, all of you, for the good tips and for your sensibility. It is very much appreciated !!!