Right, I have had an utter disaster
On Saturday night Mocha seemed to rediscover his bar chewing habit with a vengeance and spent much of the night gnawing on the small bars in the round Rotastak. In desperation I weaved cardboard all the way around those bars and secured it with heavy duty tape yesterday morning. I was a bit concerned about ventilation but thought that less of a worry than him pulling a tooth out/wearing away his fur/annoying the hell out of me
Anyway this morning I arrived home from a night shift at 7am to discover to my utter horror that, overnight, he's gnawed away about a 10cm length of the cardboard and, very worryingly, the tape as well. I don't know how much of the tape he's ingested but I certainly can't find much evidence of it in or around the cage so it could be quite a bit.
He seems perfectly well so far - he's been out in his ball whilst I modified his cage to remove the circular bars completely and I've had him out in the playpen and on my lap - he's totally normal.
I assume that the main dangers are poisoning from the tape or some kind of intestinal obstruction? How long is it likely to be before I see any symptoms? What am I likely to see? Is there any chance that he'll be ok? (I'm really panicking and feel really angry with myself). Is there any point taking him to the vet this morning whilst he's well?
As I said I've removed the bars completely now and secured the lid directly onto the plastic "room", making absolutely certain that he has no access to the tape at all:
Obviously ventillation will be affected but I can't risk him gnawing bars/cardboard/tape again