Marys bar chewing

[Heather]

It's getting a little out of hand! He's in a Barney cage, which is packed with toys, he comes out of his cage to play and gets lots of attention. But he is absolutely addicted to chewing the bars! I feel guilty like he must be bored, but I honestly don't know how he could be. I hadn't realised just how bad his problem was until last night. I've had him in the cage for less than a month and I ran my fingers around the cage and the bars are chewed everywhere except the cage roof. So he's clearly been very busy while I'm sleeping! I've tried hanging toys to distract him, but he just climbs and chews wherever he can. I read that using olive oil on the bars can help? I really don't want move him to a tank if I can avoid it because he seems to enjoy climbing. Any advice to help distract him??

[Heather]

The little monster in action!

[becky1412]

Roland chewed the bars in his smaller cage so I moved him to the Alexander there was a bit last month where I thought he was going to start again because I heard him chewing in a corner. I'm not sure if olive oil on the bars works but I'm sure it's worth a try if it wont cause any harm to your ham.
What I did was put in loads of food type chews like the ones with carrot and parsley and stuff like that and tied them up to the sides of the cage where he had started to chew. He started to chew on those and then started to chew on the things he was actually supposed to be chewing on in his cage! The wooden toys and that.

[becky1412]

Super cute fluff btw

[Heather]

Mary doesn't seem interested in any of the things he's supposed to chew the nuisance haha. I've just ordered more toys, maybe I need to swap his around more often. I've also read about weaving cardboard through the bars, I think its worth a try. Though it will be a lot of card since he chews everywhere!

[Heather]

Originally Posted by becky1412

Super cute fluff btw

Thanks . He is so adorable!

[bbbarker]

My Hamster Tibbles was a nightmare at bar chewing and it wasn't because the cage she had was too small, it was a habit she'd picked up from her previous owner because of her small cage and lack of exercise and toys. No matter how many toys I put in the way of the bars she'd chew them for a little bit and then go straight back to the bars. I've since moved her into a detolf and she seems much happier! You may want to consider moving her into a tank style cage if the above advice doesn't work because chewing the bars can really damage there teeth, Tibbles teeth aren't in the best of ways so I'm assuming sooner or later I'm going to have to feed her baby food

[Yzma]

There are a lot of reasons why hamsters chew bars. I'm not sure of all of them, but these are the most common ones:
1. Boredom. It doesn't sound or look like that should be the case with your hamster. I see lots of great toys there!!
2. Small space. Hamsters need a LOT of space, and as much as they are climbers, they are runners even more. If you don't want a tank, there are other cages you can buy off the internet that provide a lot of space.
3. Little interaction. Hamsters need to be taken out of their cage pretty much every day.
4. Stress. Is he a new hamster? That might explain why he chews. Mine did too the first week after I brought her home.

I hope any of that helps

[Nat]

I had the same problem with Dolly. She used to sit on top of her house and chew the bars relentlessly for hours. I was very concerned for her teeth, plus it was super annoying!
I tried putting lemon juice etc on them but it didn't deter her. I also tried doubling the mesh so it was smaller and she couldn't for her nose through but she still managed to chew them.
In the end, I had to just buy a new bin cage where she can't reach the mesh...

[Heather]

Originally Posted by bbbarker

My Hamster Tibbles was a nightmare at bar chewing and it wasn't because the cage she had was too small, it was a habit she'd picked up from her previous owner because of her small cage and lack of exercise and toys. No matter how many toys I put in the way of the bars she'd chew them for a little bit and then go straight back to the bars. I've since moved her into a detolf and she seems much happier! You may want to consider moving her into a tank style cage if the above advice doesn't work because chewing the bars can really damage there teeth, Tibbles teeth aren't in the best of ways so I'm assuming sooner or later I'm going to have to feed her baby food

Thanks . I'm not sure how Mary has picked up the habit, he was in a glass cage at the pet shop and I had him in a smallish cage for a couple of weeks then he went into quite a large cage and that's when it started :S. I'll try the advice and hope for the best. I would love a detolf its my dream cage! It's just so long I have nowhere I could fit it . I think it would have to be a bin cage for Mary if I can't stop the chewing. Oh poor Tibbles