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Old 02-07-2016, 01:06 AM  
M3gan
Adult Hamster
 
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Ireland
Posts: 337
Default Re: Impossible Syrian

Quote:
Originally Posted by Piebald View Post
Hopefully you have identified a triggering event in the joint cage move and clean. That seems to me to mean there is a way to address the issue. However chewing can get to be a habit if not stopped regardless of how it started.
So firstly, no more big cleans. Do spot cleaning only. Sounds like your hammy was very upset by both changes at once. In his little world, moving and cleaning changed everything.
Second, playtime! Set up a playpen with toys and chews and let him run around. I wonder if playtime in the old location might be calming? Try to play at the same time every day. This is because hamsters find routine calming, and so you don't end up fighting a chew-play cycle.
Thirdly, more tunnels and chewies. I know you have some, get more. Try some Whimzees chews. Scatter feed instead of bowl feeding to encourage foraging behaviour.
And, ignore chewing this includes any kind of penalty attention too. Any attention is a reward, even a "no" to the attention seeker.
Hang in there, hopefully the behaviour will subside as it did with Charlie. Your fella is not trying to drive you crazy he is only expressing his own frustrations the only way he can.
If you can post some pictures of your set up some of the members might be able to make suggestions to help.
Yes I do do various types of play time through out the day. If I ever see him up an not chewing he gets a mealworm or a healthy snack. He gets playtime once a day at the same time but he has started chewing the playpen too He nearly damaged his pouch and caused a vet visit. I will stop all cleans and telling him no from now on. He has a million and one chews and tubes. As I said yesterday I bought a load of chews and toys. I am big into diy toys so he has multiple of them such as toilet roll bridges and a cardboard castle. I will try to figure out how to send photos as soon as possible. Thank you so much
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