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Old 11-21-2019, 09:24 AM   #1
Cyanic
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Default Bar Chewing

I've recently discovered that Hershey has taken a strong liking to the bars on his current home and this has only been a recent discovery as he is quite a late riser. I discovered him doing it the other night when I came home later in the evening and found him happily chomping away. He has quite a lot of enrichment within his current habitat (tunnels, deep bedding, chew toys, ledges, hide aways, 28cm wheel, scatter feed etc), but after close inspection of his toys, I haven't found any signs that he has been chewing them. With all of my previous hammies, I did find evidence of them chewing anything and everything I've given them in the past so at first I presumed he wasn't a chewer until I found him chomping on the bars. This has put a current halt on my cage purchase as I was going to buy him either the Savic Plaza from Pets at Home or the Barney cage from Zooplus.

Now if he's dedicated himself to chewing the bars instead of his toys, then is it worth getting a cage in which he will just chew or should I just see if the Barney or Savic would indeed help as it will be bigger and there will be more room for him to roam and explore - bigger space equals more enrichment for him. He is currently housed in the Hamster Heaven which has been only temporary and he is currently reaching the sixteen weeks mark.

I'm just worried that if I get another barred cage, he'll only continue to chew it and ignore all the enrichment he does have like he is already doing so the whole problem would not have been sorted. I know I could switch him to a bar less cage, but I feel I'll be limited to providing enrichment that hangs from the bars because I do know he enjoys a good climb and want to provide that for him.

I guess I'm after a little advice and whether or not I should just take the plunge or focus on getting something like the Zoozone 2 instead.

Thank you for reading
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Old 11-21-2019, 05:46 PM   #2
alpacassei
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Default Re: Bar Chewing

The hamster heaven is much smaller than the savic plaza or barney and honestlynot really suitable for syrians. Upgrading him to a larger cage should stop the bar chewing.
Sometimes bar chewing is also caused by having an incorrect setup, could you post a photo so we can see the set up?
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Old 11-24-2019, 08:54 AM   #3
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Bar Chewing

I can understand that concern. Has he only just started chewing the bars and do you think anything could have triggered it off? A cage clean, moving something, changing something eg. Our first syrian didn't bar chew in an 80 x 50 cage - except in later life for a couple of weeks after a change of environment when we left him with a petsitter. And then it settled again. So with an 80 x 50 cage it isn't really lack of space that is causing bar chewing. It could be change or set up related, but if it's neither of those I would also think twice about getting another barred cage.

The maxi duna multy may be a good alternative. 100cm perspex tank style cage. It's about the same height as the Hamster Heaven but more floor area. It is a lot more expensive than a Barney cage though. The Barney and Alexander have 7mm bars which make bar chewing more difficult to achieve (but not impossible). The Savic Plaza has 1cm bar spacing like the HH.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferplast-Ma...4610754&sr=8-1

If you like the idea of the Duna multy maxi, there is also the Zoozone 2 which is about the same size and half the price but the lid has 2cm bar spacing and needs meshing. Aside from the meshing the only gripes I've heard are the lid is fiddly and stiff to open. The maxi duna multy is simpler and probably better overall - narrow bar spacing on the lid etc but costs twice as much.
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Old 11-24-2019, 12:07 PM   #4
Rads
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Default Re: Bar Chewing

I haven't had a Hamster that hasn't chewed the bars in some way or the other, No matter how much enrichment they have and chewable goodies, they all have gone off it after a few weeks, none have been harmed by the practice.
The Alaska Cage is the home they have lived/live in, which is a good size at 80x50com. Currently Poppy does it then quits and has another go a few weeks later, she doesn't do it for long, normally for about 5 mins.
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