Bar chewing?

[MissMarvel]

Just put lemon over all the bars (including the roof).... so far she hasn't been interested, just curious and sniffing, but now chewing yet! fingers crossed!! If this works how often do I need to apply the lemon juice? Or is it okay just the once..I have no idea if it wears off...I presume it does.

[Cupcake]

Originally Posted by Jessandsweep

Just put lemon over all the bars (including the roof).... so far she hasn't been interested, just curious and sniffing, but now chewing yet! fingers crossed!! If this works how often do I need to apply the lemon juice? Or is it okay just the once..I have no idea if it wears off...I presume it does.

I clean the cage weekly, and I decided to wash the bars as well every two weeks or so, so just make a habit of it and whenever you wash the bars apply the lemon! I hope it works out for you

[racinghamster]

Bar chewing (when they have access to bars) is a learned behaviour and one that tells you the cage is too small. I`m quoting this from reading about it on well informed websites and I now believe that bar chewing isn`t attention seeking, it`s because the hamster feels claustaphobic. A syrian cage size is well documented to be at least 80 to 100cm long, so anything under this can trigger this kind of response from a hamster. A wheel should be 8" inches or bigger also, to allow the hamster something to take it`s mind off bar chewing. Or, the hamster might be better kept in a Zoozone 2 which would take away the option for bar chewing.

My syrian is in a 7mm bar spaced cage (the Savic Mickey 2XL) and although he`s a good lad and never has bar chewed, he has a senior wodent wheel aswell, which he loves. I would like a bigger floor space for him, but since he will be my only syrian and he`s absolutely happy, I didn`t want to upset him by switching him to a different cage as he`s happy where he is and has no behavioural issues. If he did, I would switch him. I could just be lucky, but I do believe part of his good behavior is due to him having space and a large wheel.

My roborovski male is in a Gabber Rex and I feel even he would benefit from a Zoozone 2 and I`m in the process of considering it because it would mean much more floor space and room for more natural accessories, which I know would enrich his life more, even though his Gabber Rex is 70cm x 45cm and a decent size.

Go bigger if you can as I`m sure it would make all the difference and stop the bar chewing. Lemon juice is acidic (like bitter apple) and if a hamster keeps attempting to chew this, it could cause burns to his mouth at the sides. He may stop chewing the bars, but will he be happy?

[Mona's Humans]

I don't always agree on bar chewing being down to space tbh, Pepper is in an alexander and still occasionally bar chews, yet he'll stop if we talk to him or fuss him. I think it can be due to space, but I don't think this is a given.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Our Scamp has over 18000 square cm of space, spread over two 80cm by 50cm cages plus a bin about the size of an imac fantasy with an extension and her rotastak. If she bar chews sometimes (and she does) its not just about the space.

Her two wheels are 11" and 12" so its also not about the wheel size. She has tons of toys she likes and loads to do and its not about lack of simulation either.
Some hams like to do it, end of. Yes, often it is cage size or lack of toys or a dodgy wheel or whatever, but for Scamp it is 100% that she enjoys it. She usually plays with other things, and putting a chew toy where she liked to chew has helped a lot, but it really can just be that they think the bars are a good chew toy and fun to gnaw.

Space and wheel size really aren't guaranteed causes. If they were, Scamp would never even think about bar chewing, but she does.

[Lougarry]

Magic bar chews and he has a cage with lots of ground floor space, several levels, a 12" FS, a 12" SS, hammocks, bridges, chews, a digging tower and more. It's also not for attention as he does it when we're not in the room. I'm inclined to agree with Charli and Sam on this one - some hamsters just like chewing bars Even in a ZZ2 he chewed the plastic round the lid - at least he isn't ingesting splinters of plastic now ...

[racinghamster]

I do believe in the main, that some hamsters will just do this anyway if given a barred cage regardless of size just because it has access to bars so takes advantage of that and some will also attention seek. But if I had a bar chewer, I would use a perspex cage and not allow the hamster to reach the bars, or I would do what I did with my Gabber Rex and remove the grill altogether and make a `vaulted` meshed roof. I made a wooden frame bolted at the corners with mesh over the top, but the wood on the frame isn`t flat, it is two inches tall, so when it sits around the clear lid on top (where the little plastic moulded notches run around the top) the lid is too high for any hamster to be able to easily reach it.

I don`t use the lid right now as my robo doesn`t require it. But making a new lid for a perspex or glass tank is a really good way of vaulting the mesh up where they can`t get to it and the wooden frame is heavy, so they can`t lift it either. Well....not dwarf hamsters but a sturdy syrian with a brain might find a way if there was something too high up in the cage he could use to reach up.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Whereas the rest of us do what we feel is personally best for our hams.
In Scamps case that means trying to stop her bar chewing without having to drastically downsize her cage by either giving her a ZZ2 or buying a detolf. Both would be tiny compared to what she has and I don't feel its fair to drastically downsize our syrian before trying all other possibilities - such as distracting her which has worked quite nicely recently.

[TraceyH]

Originally Posted by Jessandsweep

I've just moved my Syrian from a Mini Duna cage to a Savic Cambridge, and she has been bar chewing, I was just wondering if there was any tips I could do to help her stop? thank you

My Fernando, who is in the 102 Igor, chews at 3am trying to wake me up to get him out. But, I just hide under the duvet and he gets the message after five minutes and clears off. He always chews the front door bit that lifts up so he's not daft.

[racinghamster]

Of course everyone has their own views on this. My view is more to do with upsizing (from a smaller barred cage if you use one like the Cambridge being an example) and using a bigger, barrless cage, not downsizing! You would only downsize if you were going back to using a Zoozone 1 for a syrian or a similarly sized glass tank, which I wasn`t suggesting at all. If the barred cage is huge to begin with and the hamster continues to bar chew, then the hamster is either attention seeking, or a bar chewer and needs put into a large cage that prevents this behaviour for it`s own good, i.e broken or damaged teeth. This is my own reason for debating the bar chewing to promote a solution (if there is one). It`s well documented that bar chewing can be caused by not having enough space, or not having a big enough wheel, but that has already been mentioned and some people say their hamsters still bar chew even when in a large cage with a big wheel. So if that`s the case, the hamster (if he`s constantly bar chewing) should be kept in a Zoozone 2 or equivellant like a Rody rabbit perspex tank, although these have bottle holes which may catch the attention of a chewer, so you might find those are targetted instead.

There is no easy answer but there are actions we can take to try and prevent bar chewing, pacing and similar behaviours. Puting lemon juice on the bars isn`t one of them I have to say. I`ve read that some people do this, but they don`t look at the cause, which is probably the cage and what`s inside it.