Pouchy
12-11-2007, 01:12 PM
Just been surfing another site and the reasons hamsters bar chew are as follows:
They are bored witless in their tiny cages.
They hate/fear their owners and do it to relieve stress every time their owners go near the cage.
They are trying to escape from their nasty little prison.
They are frustrated with life (see above).
They are frightened of something in the house, another pet or person, so this is a way to relieve stress.
Handling by their owners makes them all stressed out. Bar chewing helps them get over it- the hamsters that is not the owners).
Should we be keeping hamsters at all as pets.
When Asbo was younger and got excited and worked up if I put my hand in his cage he used to chew the bars. Now he doesn't chew at all so he must be happy. The only time he chewed a lot was when I tried to give him a bigger cage and he went crazy trying to escape.
Food for thought . Asbo exhibits no symptoms of stress like that, doesn't want to come out of the cage either. I won't make him. It's his choice and who am i to dictate how he should behave because of my personal expectation.
Maybe he's so depressed he can't even be bothered to chew the bars...
They are bored witless in their tiny cages.
They hate/fear their owners and do it to relieve stress every time their owners go near the cage.
They are trying to escape from their nasty little prison.
They are frustrated with life (see above).
They are frightened of something in the house, another pet or person, so this is a way to relieve stress.
Handling by their owners makes them all stressed out. Bar chewing helps them get over it- the hamsters that is not the owners).
Should we be keeping hamsters at all as pets.
When Asbo was younger and got excited and worked up if I put my hand in his cage he used to chew the bars. Now he doesn't chew at all so he must be happy. The only time he chewed a lot was when I tried to give him a bigger cage and he went crazy trying to escape.
Food for thought . Asbo exhibits no symptoms of stress like that, doesn't want to come out of the cage either. I won't make him. It's his choice and who am i to dictate how he should behave because of my personal expectation.
Maybe he's so depressed he can't even be bothered to chew the bars...