Obsessive bar chewing & escape attempts. o_o

[casuconsulto]

Oookay. So, I'm starting to think the person who gave Molly away wasn't entirely honest. The woman said she had three hamsters, and so felt she had too many... When we wnet to collect Molly, no other hamsters were in sight. Had Molly since Sunday now, and she's proving herself to be an obsessive bar chewer. It's not something she sometimes does. It's something she does for hours every night. I don't want her to hurt herself doing this, and I end up feeling sort of stressed watching her because I can't work out if she's in some sort of distress herself, to do this so single-mindedly?

She focuses her bar chewing on each of her three doors. She came with a three levelled cage, and it cost fifteen quid. I don't have the money to buy another cage at the moment (got one heck of a lot of problems in this house currently) and so I went tried to work with what I've got thinking if I gave her stuff to do, she might calm down a little. Last night she had her first ever dog biscuit, which occupied her for fifteen minutes. Then she went back to chewing the bars, and climbing like a little money around and around the top of the cage. She can force the doors open, and so I bought mini padlocks to prevent her escaping. These work up to a point, but she can fit through small spaces and could slip out the little gap the door still opens at - so, nightly, I'm tying three separate pieces of string around each door to offer a more secure way of locking it. I know she can untie these - with her teeth! Seriously, she doesn't chew them, she unties them! :shock: - but I don't know what else to do.

As well as hiding food all over, giving her tunnels, a little grass nest thing, chewstick (even though it was made with honey, but she'd had them in the cage when she came here and I thought maybe her old owners had used them with success to stop her escaping/bar-gnawing), little wooden blocks, I had her in her ball twice for twenty minutes at a time last night. Both times she lodged herself behind the ironing board to try and dig her way out. I used an old storage bin type thing to set up a playground for her. Filled with with deep wood shavings, because she also likes to dig. Put a bunch of cardboard tubs, little plantpot, and an old wooden see saw... Within moments she was trying to force her way out of there, too.

I swear her only purpose the moment she wakes up is to escape and run around. :shock: I really don't think she'd be happy unless she could race around for miles... During the day when she wakes up (and any slight noise must be investigated) she's chilled, and potters about happily, but after about 9pm she's like a little beastie possessed. :lol: I honestly love her, and want to make her happy. I just feel like some big failure already because she seems to get really worked up and I don't know how to fix it!

[souffle]

What a naughty little miss giving her mama stress. Is she actually damaging her nose or the side of her mouth when she chews? If not then it is not so much of a concern as if she was rubbing it red raw has we have had one do. Remember a wild hamster would actually cover many miles in a night foraging for food.
I think that if she is young then she will eventually calm down and do it less. Youngsters are often so full of zeal that they drive you mad. So what can you do. You seem to have tried lots of things which is good. You need to check her wheel. How big is it and does it spin easily. She needs a good sized wheel of around 8in diameter and it needs to be positioned so it spins freely when she is on it. A wodent wheel or a Savic jumbo rolly are nice wheels or a large comfort wheel. Hopefully a good fit wheel would challange her excess energy into running. Other chewing activities might help such as washed fruit tree branches, cardboard boxes with holes cut in them to trash etc.
You need to prevent her escaping. If there is any risk you should place her cage in the bath with no chain to the plug so if she gets out she will be unable to climb up the slippery sides. A large, strong bulldog clip round the door should prevent her opening it. We also use wooden or plastic clothes pegs which work well. At a pinch twist shut with plastic coated gardening wire or ever stronger wire as you cannot risk her out and adventuring. Try and prevent her accessing the chew zones. Take the hut and run some of the garden wire through it and wire it over the chew zone. She wont be able to get it pulled aside if it is attached on. You can wire on pieces of clear perspex or even old tiles/lino/ cardboard to stop her getting her nose through those bars to chew.
Look here: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=5240&p=58190&hilit=+gabber#p58190 (http://www.hamstercentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=5240&p=58190&hilit=+gabber#p58190)
If all else fails have a look on your local freecycle/put an ad in the local free ads part of the newspaper/ paper shop etc for anyone with an old fish tank that is leaking or a tank type hamster cage they want to get rid of. If you pick up they are usually free of charge. You could also consider a bin cage and they are not too pricey in Wilkos. Make sure you get one with a clip shut lid though!
I think you will find that a female is very active and anxoius to escape every 4th night when they are on heat. It is instinct to seek a mate at this time and they will try anything. Let her stair climb, clamber on the bed and sofa. You could even try a tiny squirt from a water pistol when she chews to see if that will stop her. Don't take her out everytime she does it as she will learn to attention seek. Instead take her out when she doesn't.
Good luck and you are not alone! Been there done it :D

[casuconsulto]

Thank you very much for replying! =^^=

She's not actually hurt her mouth - yet! I just really worry she will, because she tries to take about two-three bars between her teeth at any one time, and her little mouth gets all stretched. I've been trying to hide bits of her food around her cage, along with a grape... She found all of these very quickly. She is one VERY busy little girl when she wakes properly. It's kind of awe-inspiring.

She has a wheel in her cage - one of the first things I did was check this. When we first got her here, I had to move it a little as it was pushed up against her ladders and this made it difficult to move. Since then, it WILL turn with relative ease, but it does squeak a little. She can definitely fit on it, as she sometimes sits on it - for like a second or two, before she's off again :roll: - but she doesn't seem at all inclined to really use it. I've been looking at hamster wheels online incase getting a different one would help her. I gave her hazel branches, because I'd gotten some chunky ones for my rabbits (who didn't appreciate them in the slightest) and stuck these through the bars she seemed to like chewing most. She managed to tug them in, push them behind her and ignored them entirely.

I swear I hardly slept the first night worrying she'd escape in here! o_o I had these images of coming down, finding the cage doors open, all the computer cables bitten through and her having taken up residence under the bookcase. Bullclips or pegs... can try those, certainly. I'm going to try and somehow tie her grass hut into the top corner where she chews quite a bit. Because she chews on the grass hut, especially if it's in her way, so that might dissuade her a little.


Shall remember her coming into heat every fourth day... And shall give the stair climbing a go. I was wondering if reacting to her bar chewing by going over, taking her out etc. would lead to attention seeking... so last night I turned my mp3 on and tried to ignore her. The music gave her something to think about!