Hi all,
my hamster has began to chew a hole through her cage base. She's in the barney cage which she seems otherwise happy in - she never chews bars or anything. I only bought this cage about a month ago so it's not ideal that she's chewed a hole in it already - I was planning for this to be her permanent cage until I move out of student accommodation in 1 year.
She has plenty of chew toys - wicker baskets, cardboard tubes, whimzees (medium crocs and the small toothbrushes - only one at a time of course) and she also has a carrot chew thing attached to the bars and a grass chewy thing dangling from the roof of the cage. I've just ordered her some more chews which are set to arrive in a couple of days but I'm worried she's just going to make the hole bigger in the mean time - I'm off out now to buy her some more bedding to fill the cage base right up so that she can't get to the plastic but is there anything else i can do in the meantime? she's really not a huge chewer to be honest, even whimzees, which i thought hamsters go crazy for, don't interest her that much. But for some reason she loves to chew her brand new £65 cage!! ugh. classic. Any help would be really appreciated!!
I would be tempted to sit something heavy ontop of it (for example something like a stone garden ornament) that she would definitely be unable to move herself. Even of that's just a short term solution.
I tried the more substrate method - she just dug through it and chewed it even bigger in the space of 10 minutes! It's in the corner, on the top part of the base just below the lip of the base - so I can't put anything on top of it. I've temporarily put a coconut hide in the corner to cover it up and have tried to dig it into the substrate as much as possible so she can't move it - i would get a picture but I don't want to move that for a while to see if it works! I get home from work tonight at 3am - if she's moved it and chewed even more by then im going to go to a hardware store and try to get a piece of wood to cover it up but I'm not sure how I'd attach it to the cage. (i'll also get a temporary bin cage just to prepare for the worst!!). I know its hard to visualise so i'll get a picture tomorrow. Hopefully the coconut hide being in the way will deter her for a while until I can find a solution. I put 4 new chews in the cage too. It's so annoying! is there any kind of safe stuff i could maybe rub on the cage that they dont like the taste of?
I am so sorry - that is a complete nightmare! I have heard of hamsters chewing through cage bases before. There is a thread on here by vectis about how to repair a hole in a cage base. I wouldn't use lemon juice - it's not good for them and won't stop her. She clearly wants to get out. She sounds like a very active hamster. It is a lovely big cage as well so it is nothing to do with the size. Do you think there is something about the set up that might be making her stressed? Sometimes if something is not right for them they bar chew (or in this case, base chew). Examples are - if they feel a bit exposed (seems unlikely when the Barney has a shelf and a good house), or if their wheel isn't working and they have pent up energy. Or if the wheel is a bit small for them and uncomfortable to use. Or even just to try and tell you something - eg water bottle not working and they are frantic. Or if they can't reach food and water easily.
It's a bit of a long shot but could you post a photo of her set up - there maybe some minor change that might settle her.
I know some hamsters feel stressed by too much open space above them. Our Syrian is in the Barney cage and he didn't like too much space above and always moves around the cage "under" something. So I have a couple of rat sputniks hanging from the roof and an extra shelf and he feels more secure with that as there are things above him that give some more shelter.
But simply putting something on top of the cage can do - eg a blanket - not covering it completely. I have a fleece hammock sat on top. You'd need to be careful there though as if she is really chewy she could chew it through the bars. Could you put an envelope folder/file thing or something on the top large door in the middle. It would make it darker underneath and feel less open above?
Found Vectis's info on mending holes in cages - it's on her website
A few thoughts. Have you had to move her cage at all? Any change of environment, even moving the cage from one area to another, can mean a change of environment that can stress them. Our robo started bar chewing a bit after I moved him to another room and had him for ages without issue. It settled down though - distracted him with some tasty food elsewhere in the cage.
Make sure she has a huge pile of paper nesting material available in the cage and scatter feed a little bit of her food each day as well as putting it in her bowl and see if that distracts her.
I would also suggest propping something heavy in front of the current hole and see if that helps. Even just a piece of wood propped up that blocks it. She can chew the wood instead!
Hi all, sorry for the late reply I've just got back from work and checked on her, she's asleep and so far the coconut house in the way has been a success - actually there is something that could possibly be stressing her out in her set up, she has the 28cm trixie wheel so its deffo big enough for her but the bloody thing is kinda faulty, it sort of leans so it hits the stand if you know what i mean? i think its a common thing with the trixie ones. It does still spin and she does run on it but I imagine its not as smooth as it could be and it means she has to stop/slow down every few seconds. I have been thinking of replacing it but I don't want to buy another faulty one as ive heard a few people saying they have the same problem. Though I guess if i order another i know what to look out for regarding it being faulty and can just keep sending them back until i get one that works - I'll order a new one for her now. I'll post a photo of the set up (and the hole) tomorrow to see if theres anything else wrong with it. I dont know if shes bothered by open space too much - but I'll try your suggestion! she has a lot of shelves etc to provide 'shelter' but ill see if putting a book on it helps.
I'll have a look at that link now thank you so much!
Well, incidentally she was in her travel cage for a couple of hours today but i noticed the hole yesterday before that happened, prior to that there were no changes at all to the environment.
I usually scatter her food anyway - as you said shes a very energetic hamster so anything to keep her occupied i already do! ill put more tissue in tomorrow for her also. Going to head to the DIY store tomorrow to find some wood just to be safe.
Thank you for all your suggestions i feel a lot less panicked now, hopefully its an issue that can be rectified!! I'll update with pics of the cage tomorrow and any further solutions (or problems lol)
It could be the wheel There is also the wood trixie wheel at about the same price - zooplus sell it. It is sturdier and more stable but would really need painting with plastikote so it's wipe clean both the wood and the cork surface. Two coats ideally. I've painted a wood/cork wheel with it, and it's fine on the cork surface. I don't bother to paint the stand, just the wheel itself.
My preference, with the Barney cage, is to have a bar mounted wheel as the cage is high enough that the wheel can sit above substrate level even when the base is full of substrate and no problems with wheel stands and substrate height.
An ideal wheel for that is the 12" Silent "Runner". It isn't a cheap wheel though, and the bar attachment plates cost an extra £5 ish. I have to say though it has lasted me longer than any other wheel - it is still going strong over 2 years later with no issues. It is completely silent as well (has ball bearings). The key is not to submerge the back plate in water when cleaning (so the ball bearings don't go rusty). I just wipe the back plate of mine.
It's a lot of money to spend on a wheel but it fits very well in the Barney, bar mounted, and solves a lot of issues. It also spins really well and freely and hammies like it.
Having bought two wheels previously that broke I feel it's worth the extra cost. Also if you didn't want to cage mount it, the stand is very strong and sturdy and safe and the wheel sits a bit higher up the the stand than most. But any wheel on a stand limits the depth of substrate in the wheel area, because the stand really needs to be directly on the base of the cage (not sat on top of the substrate) to be stable/safe so it can't topple over.
It's Imported from the US and sold by the sugarglider shop in the Uk. It is one of the most popular wheels now.
12" Silent Runner. It's showing as out of stock at the moment but if you email them they will tell you when they're due back in stock again which should only be a few days.
I did a video review of it (in the Barney cage) when they first arrived in the Uk If that helps. It's a bit long winded in places but you can fast forward There are some photos at the end that show how it's assembled.
This is a video of our current Syrian, Newt using it in the playpen area.
hope ive inserted these pictures okay.. her cage is super messy atm cos i've been frantically putting stuff in there in the hope that she'll chew it! but yeah you can see ive added a couple of shelves, bendy bridge etc and she seems to be fine with being not covered - she loves climbing up to the higher spots! The wheel is attached to the cage bars as she was insistent on making her nest behind it at one point which stopped it from turning all together. Ive ordered the trixie wheel from amazon for now and its arriving later today - if it arrives and its broken or not right then I'll probably get that more expensive one, it looks ace thank you for the suggestion! I also tried to attach a photo of the hole, as you can see its not huge at the moment but it could easily get worse over night, and its in a tricky place to put stuff over it.
Fingers crossed this wheel arrives in full working order and that gets rid of some of her energy!
chewed through cage base!!
Any help would be really appreciated!!
Re: chewed through cage base!!
Absolutely typical of a ham she'd wait until now to start chewing things. 
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