Gabber Rex Bar Chewing

Basia · 12-14-2007, 05:36 PM

I am being driven to distraction by Pudding and Cara chewing the roof of their gabbers. I have tried the tile thing, which was more successful with Cara than Pudding who spends the night pushing the tile from below and banging it on the roof.

As Pudding now has a bald patch on her nose I have taken their shelves out but feel a bit mean doing it. I am confused, eveyone on here says that gabbers are the way to go, especially for bar chewers. I have 8 barred cages and 3 gabbers and the only 2 bar chewers live in the gabbers.

Have I got abnormal hamsters?
They all have wooden things to chew in their cages along with other toys and wodent wheels so it is not for lack of something to play with or sharpen their teeth on...

souffle · 12-15-2007, 03:21 AM

Napoleon is doing this too and he is also acrobating around the roof bars then cartwheeling off

You have to weight the tiles quite a lot to stop them moving. Another thing which helps is to put an old magazine which you dont mind being trashed under the tile. This will cushion it a bit and tends to give a closer fit to the bars. Once they stop they usually stop for good and then you can stop the tiles!. You could get a sheet of plastic or even card and attach it to the underside of the bars over the shelf area. Use cable ties? No it does not solve the bar chewing but when a bar chewer is in a barred cage things can be much worse. Red rubbed her whole nose and side of her mouth to bleeding stage when she was in a barred cage We have cotenplated removing the shelf but they do enjoy it. What about a big dog biscuit to chew? I expect you have tried this. Some like a washed branch from a fruit tree like aple or pear. Try giving a stiff cardboard box. Other than that you may have to leave the shelf out till they stop. Why not try a cage swap and see if they stop in another cage? Napoleon has developed some attitude lately. He is very cheeky with his cartwheeling and we have noticed he does it more when we are in the room as if to attract attention and get out. He succeeds!

**Spuds Mum** · 12-15-2007, 11:16 AM

Oh we do have some naughty boys and girls dont we? Bronte does this too, and so does Dubaku and Butterbean. Amelie spends all her time upside down hanging from the Gabber roof, though she doesnt seem to chew.
What I did with the 'chewers' is an idea I pinched from Holly, but its really successful. I attach 'chubes' those thick tubes that are like loo rolls only thicker/stronger, across the cage with cable ties. I do it across the back bit of the bars - above the shelf. The smaller hamsters use them as a roof run too, and seem to enjoy them whilst Butterbean just chews at the cardboard, but at least not as damaging as bar chewing. she chewed one off completely, but instead of going back to bar chewing has just moved on to the next chube, but if she does start again we will just replace another chube.
I think that it is just one of those things, nothing to do with boredom etc. as mine all (as I am sure Souffle's and yours do Gill) have loads of toys and wood in the cage for interest.

Basia · 12-15-2007, 11:24 AM

Thanks for the tips, I am willing to give anything a try. I took the shelf out because I was worried about Pud's nose, it is bald and red.

Cara can't get her nose through yet, she has to stand on tippy toes to reach!
My dad gave me small apple branches for them and the rabbit and guinea pigs back in the autum and they do chew them quite a lot, along with their toilet rolls, chubes, etc. I think they just want to get out.

DonnaB · 12-16-2007, 06:15 AM

My little Luna is at it to. She 'monkey' swings from one end to the other then falls off about 12 times, before she starts having a chew at each corner, shes managed to removed mostof the paint.

A magazine on top distracts her for long enough to watch the end of a tv programme. I'm glad I didnt buy a complete bar type

...... why do they always think outside their cage is so much more interesting, no matter how big their accomodation!

Holly · 12-17-2007, 03:19 AM

Mine do it too - I've got five in Gabber's: Mocha, Caramel, Minnie and our two babies (from Teresa - Malteser AKA Molly and No-Name, who is soon to reside in Duna Fun cage with her new owner) and they ALL do it, even the babies

Minnie's the worst and will be at it all night if I let her - I use two show pens placed at either side of the roof grille above the widest part of the shelf. Caramel and Mocha both seem to have grown out if it a bit, thank goodness, though they still chew for a while each night.

Funnily enough I find those in the Cambridge/Imac's - which have bars everywhere - seem to chew less

Basia · 12-17-2007, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Funnily enough I find those in the Cambridge/Imac's - which have bars everywhere - seem to chew less

This is my experience too. Berry, Fuzz and Basil will chew the door when they see me but other than that I have no bar chewing at all in my 8 ordinary barred cages.

**Spuds Mum** · 12-18-2007, 09:22 AM

You're both lucky Basia and Holly, mine in barred cages do it more than the others in the main. Cookie would spend the whole time when she's not sleeping chewing the bars if I didnt get her out to run off her energy!
Funnily enough the only one who doesnt is little Pip, who seems to have finally got rid of her last tooth totally. So she has nothing to chew bars with (or maybe she does it and I dont notice as 'gumming' the bars doesnt make the noise!)

**babyboos** · 12-18-2007, 05:51 PM

aaarrgghhh how frustrating

I have thankfully never had a bar chewer so bad they drew blood, though a fair few bald patches which I found went when transferred from their Ferplast Rainbow to a Gabber. I would be tempted to see how they respond to a change of environment, maybe try a different cage for a few days, even a barred one, if available.

If I wanted to try and disuade a hamster from chewing and monkey barring along the roof of the Gabber I would not attach it properly but rather lie the grille on the top, held up from the roof aperture an inch by a wooden frame my dad made for me - this was slightly larger than the hole it was surrounding to be stable and then I put something heavy on top of the grille such as a big hardback tome. After a few days of this the hamster generally found the many toys they had to play with in the body of the Gabber and didn't monkey-bar anymore (for a while at least).