Biting on bars

lovelyhamsters5 · 02-09-2015, 07:16 AM

So my Syrian hamster, Einstein seems to be chewing more and more on the bars of his cage even though his cage has so much wooden toys he can chew on he continues to chew on the harsh metal bars more and it's starting to worry me. Is there anything I can do to keep Einstein from biting on the bars so much?

Thin Lizzy · 02-09-2015, 07:21 AM

How big is his cage?
Sometimes them biting constantly on the bars can mean something's wrong. It could be to do with the cage size or health wise.

cypher · 02-09-2015, 07:25 AM

From your other post (if I've got the right one!) it sounds as though your cage may be big enough so this could be more attention seeking, possibly the same problem as the bar climbing.
Have you tried whimzees/antos dog chews? They're a lot more popular with hams than wooden chews!
Have a look at this thread which has lots of advice on bar chewers Managing Bar Chewers

lovelyhamsters5 · 02-09-2015, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

From your other post (if I've got the right one!) it sounds as though your cage may be big enough so this could be more attention seeking, possibly the same problem as the bar climbing.
Have you tried whimzees/antos dog chews? They're a lot more popular with hams than wooden chews!
Have a look at this thread which has lots of advice on bar chewers Managing Bar Chewers

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I will definitely get those!

lovelyhamsters5 · 02-09-2015, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thin Lizzy

How big is his cage?
Sometimes them biting constantly on the bars can mean something's wrong. It could be to do with the cage size or health wise.

Well he is always very active, and he does this before he goes to sleep in the morning. And whenever I walk into the room because I hear the chewing he stops and looks up at me then goes to the front of his cage and will stop and watch me. He chews on the same spot every time he chews so I put a small towel over the bars in that area so that if he does chew it won't hurt his teeth as much or it will stop the chewing hopefully. I just got him about a week ago and he's really young so hopefully he doesn't have any health problems.

Thin Lizzy · 02-09-2015, 06:26 PM

My oldest hammie was chewing the bars and he was doing it for attention, so I decided to ignore him whenever he started it, it was so hard but Imanaged it by keeping busy like tidying up, housework, ironing (I hate ironing), reading a book. He soon realised that he was being ignored and he stopped, but, the minute it started up, I would ignore him. When he stopped I would praise him, tell him he's a good boy.
He does it occasionally still but I ignore it. I've even started to enjoy ironing lol!

cypher · 02-10-2015, 12:15 AM

If you can try threading some cardboard between the bars instead of putting a towel over them, he can chew on the cardboard without harming himself but if he ingests some of the towel it could harm him.

Thin Lizzy · 02-10-2015, 01:05 AM

I've done the weaving cardboard through the bars, it's so funny to watch them trying to pull the cardboard out. Mine got bored after a while.

crazyc4tlady · 02-10-2015, 03:19 AM

My Syrian has started doing this for attention when he can hear me walking about. It's so annoying to listen to lol but don't give in to cuddles!

bbbarker · 02-10-2015, 08:22 AM

My hamster Tibbles previous owner had her in a tiny cage with 1 toy that was broken, she'd picked up a habit of bar chewing because she was bored. As soon as I got her I put her in a bigger cage with loads of toys and unfortuanately the bar chewing continued, I dont think her previous owner allowed her to come out of her cage and get exercise either. Her wheel was tiny so I doubt she ever used that's so when I first got her she was massive, she was literally the size of a guineapig. But since being with me she's comes out of her cage every night for a few hours in her ball which she loves and for a bit of handling aswell, she doesn't use her wheel maybe because she never had one to use in the past but she's always got one in her cage in case she ever decides to go on it. So back to the point she still chews her cage bars, not as bad as she once did but still does to a point where I feel she is damaging her teeth. I use carboard and wrap it around the bars but she managed to pull it off and shred it to pieces haha. Maybe try getting your hamster out more, other than that I do agree with what everyone else has said, I think my hamsters chews her bars a lot as a way of her telling me she wants to come out but I suppose it's something I should address and use the advice from everyone