Bar Biter

[WinterMonkey]

Hiya all,

A couple of months ago I brought a female Syrian, all was fine till about 4 weeks ago, when she started biting on her cages bars!! Can anyone give me any tips to stop her, I've already used lemon juice onto the bars, put gnawing toys into her cage and I do play with her most days. I've 4 winter whites in the past and non of them ever gnawed onto the cage.

[Amys_Mum]

What size is her cage and what does she have in there? Our previous hamster was a cage biter, the only thing to stop her was to upgrade her cage to a Barney (100cm x 50cm) with a 12" wheel, and lots of other toys. Seemed the cage biting was due to boredom / not enough space.

[oreopopcorn21]

you could use olive oil instead or upgrade your hamster to a clear cage with no bars I recently had to do this even though I had a massive bared cage.I would recommend
living world green eco habitat -on sale right now on zoo plus- quit expensive around £100-£170 but great :

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/hutches_cages/rabbit_cage/120_cm_cages/348156[/IMG]

ikea detof-partly DIY as will need to make lid-£40
zoo zone 2 -will still need mesh-around £45-£70
I think its a good investment personally because once they start this trate it can be hard to get rid of
if they are to expensive bin cages are always a great cheap alternitive.

[AmityvilleHams]

Bin cages would definitely be a quick,cheap,and simple option!Of course,once you make them expensive they aren't a cheap option anymore which defeats the purpose of bin cages in the first place However,there are some bins out there which could be connected together directly to form a cage that has more floor space than even a Detolf for a much better price in terms of the actual floor space in comparison.There are definitely a lot of benefits that bin cages have which others don't,and while they're not the nicest to look at they get the job done and that's what matters.

[chesca_27]

Please don't put lemon juice on the bars in future . Citrus fruits are toxic to hamsters because they are too acidic for a hamster's stomach to digest.

There is an excellent thread on managing bar chewers on the forum. A cage upgrade may be necessary, so bear this in mind.

[cypher]

Don't put anything on the bars, it's not good for them & may only serve to draw attention to the bars even more, if you must put something on the bars thread cardboard through the bars & replace as it gets chewed.
Chewing toys often aren't the answer, lots of enrichment of every kind, what that may be depends on the individual, but lots of substrate to burrow or dig in, scatter feeding, an appropriate sized wheel & other forms of distraction & alternative ways to use up that excess energy.
This is the thread chesca mentioned.
Managing Bar Chewers