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Old 12-07-2018, 06:31 PM   #1
HamsterLad
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Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 28
Default I just need to get this off my chest to get some relief.

Bianca has started to chronically chew the bars of her cage again and she won't stop regardless of what I do such as placing pegs in the spots that seem to get chewed the most for example. I end up putting her straight into a playpen not long after the dreaded bar chewing begins. Money is really tight at the moment with it being the Christmas season so therefore I cannot get a tank or anything similar for the time being.

I can not tolerate this irritating behaviour no matter how hard I try and it puts my back up even more when she rubs her teeth together for a brief moment before going right back to bar chewing. I don't like feeling so het up! It would be one of my absolute worst nightmares to be locked in a room with the sounds of a hamster bar chewing played on a loop with no way to turn off the sound.

I feel as though I cannot express how distressing and intense I find the sound of bar chewing and bruxing right afterwards.
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Old 12-07-2018, 09:58 PM   #2
Sasha04
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Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: California, USA
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Default Re: I just need to get this off my chest to get some relief.

I totally understand this. My past ham, Comet, was like this. He would chew bars consistently and I wouldn’t know what to do. I ended up making a bigger cage and he stopped completely! Trust me, I do know how you feel.

I understand you may be tight on money but there are options. What cage do you use? Can you show us pictures of her setup? That may help. You can sometimes have a big cage but not have enough enrichment. T

Try giving her new toys. You can easy grab an empty tissue box and put it in the cage, this is a new and cheap hide. You can also put a toilet paper roll in the cage. You can still have a little toilet paper on so she can use it as bedding. For Syrians you at want to cut a hole down the tube so she can get out if she is to big. Hope this helps!
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Old 12-08-2018, 10:05 AM   #3
Pebbles82
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Default Re: I just need to get this off my chest to get some relief.

Hello. This is a serious issue in a number of ways. I totally understand the stress of a bar chewing hamster. Also it could lead to vet bills as her teeth could become damaged.

Is her cage big enough? If that is the issue and money is tight right now I would suggest buying a large plastic bin and setting it up as a cage, until you can afford either to convert it or another bin into a full cage, or afford a tank.

In the Uk the cheapest reasonable size bin I know of is the Ikea Samla 78cm bin -although personally I don't think it's big enough for a Syrian - it slopes in at the bottom. It would be ok for a dwarf hamster if you had plenty of bedding in and smaller dwarf items in it.

If you;re in the US the Iris Christmas tree bin is perfect - not expensive and plenty of space.

For a dwarf you could get away with just leaving it open at the top providing it is in a safe place where nothing can fall or drop into it.

For a Syrian maybe just a piece of mesh (very cheap) froma diy store - fold the edges uner and make a temporary lid with it. Although Syrians are great escape artists. So if you can stretch to £33 ish then a duna multy would be a good cage - it may or may not be big enough for her but it's tank style, cheap and would be a good upgrade for now.

Unfortunately it is now £43.99

https://www.portonaquapet.co.uk/shop...a-Multy-M36261

Also just checking - do you clean her out a lot. Excessive bar chewing is usually a sign of stress and wanting to escape - too much cleaning out and inappropriate environment can cause it, as can a cage that's too small. It can also become a habit. But hamsters who have moved to larger barred cages have often stopped the habit once theyhave enough space. some continue with it as a habit so a tank style would be the way to go.
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Old 12-09-2018, 07:09 AM   #4
Ruth Edwards
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Default Re: I just need to get this off my chest to get some relief.

do you have freecycle in your area? lots of people give up keeping rats, hamsters etc. you could get a bigger cage for free. i did.
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Old 12-09-2018, 11:01 AM   #5
Sasha04
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Default Re: I just need to get this off my chest to get some relief.

I also agreee with Serendipity. It dose normally come down to as stress and cage size too.
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Old 12-11-2018, 08:19 AM   #6
Emsmum
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Default Re: I just need to get this off my chest to get some relief.

Could you afford some hemp matting?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kerbl-Hemp-...s=hemp+matting

I have lined part of Noodles cage with this to help him feel more secure - he can't get the the bars at all as it is quite thick stuff - maybe that would help?
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Old 12-23-2018, 10:25 AM   #7
Megan16
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Default Re: I just need to get this off my chest to get some relief.

https://youtu.be/Q_2-RG_UIKs ( link to an old video off a YouTuber doing a video on how to stop your hamster bar chewing.) It might or might not work and is old but has some good methods on it . The most common cause of chewing is stress or boredom
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Old 12-27-2018, 06:29 PM   #8
HamsterLad
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Default Re: I just need to get this off my chest to get some relief.

Please accept my apologies to you all for such a late response. Bianca no longer spends her waking hours bar chewing but will still occasionally bar chew for a brief moment or so. I've been unable to pinpoint what caused her obsession with chewing the cage bars and I feel as though she has enough in her cage to keep her mind stimulated etc.

This was her cage layout until yesterday: http://www.hamstercentral.com/commun...113_184757.jpg and this is what her cage layout is now: https://www.instagram.com/p/Br30nKjgSxb/
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