Bar chewing?

[Hollykw]

Hello!

My Hamster always chews just one part of his cage, he climbs up into the back right corner and just chews that bar. He has loads of different chews in his cage and it isn't breaking the bar in anyway im just worried he might fall down and it is quite noisy.

Im not sure how to get him to stop?

[Pygmypuff]

Hello!

What cage is your hamster in? How many/what toys are in your cage? Are you making sure he's getting plenty of time outside the cage? Bar chewing is generally a sign of frustration and wanting to escape, he may be bored or the cage may be too small. Or he may just be a bar chewing hamster, it's hard to tell!

[SugarFairy123]

It might be because your cage is too small , just make sure its 80 by 50 cm or 360 square inches . If it gets too bad just rub a little bit of olive oil on the bars , don't worry its perfectly safe for them . Hope this helps !

[StarlightSerenity]

It may not be possible to stop him without putting him in a different cage. Once they start it's hard to get them to stop.

However, working out what is causing him to bar chew is the first step. Bar chewing and other negative behaviour is usually because of boredom - what size is his cage? What size is his wheel?

Another possible reason is that he's trying to get to something. I accidentally left a pot of mealworms open next to my first hams cage and she went mental trying to get to it!

Some do it for attention as well - be sure never to get him out or give him any kind of attention when he's bar chewing. Rewarding the behaviour will only make it worse. I had an attention seeking bar chewer, she was a nightmare (and also the mealworm lover!).

Good luck!

[Hollykw]

Its the Alaska cage!

at the moment he has 2 wheels, a loofah carrot, a plastic jingly ball thing, a wooden house, like 3 wooden stick things, this other weird wooden ball thing, a hanging wooden daisy chain thing, a hanging wooden christmas tree, a little pouch thing [ i feel like im saying thing a lot haha] a big tube, a toilet roll tube and probably something else i'm forgetting.

He doesn't have too much time outside the cage just because I have a cat who is always indoors and I have quite a small house and I always want to keep an eye on him when he is in the exercise ball and I don't have much time spare to do it but I have let him out recently :3

edit: there is a curtain right next to the bit where he is chewing and he has bitten that before haha so it may be that as the cage obviously has 4 corners and he only ever chews the same one.

[Bertiebobbins]

I would have thought 2 wheels in the Alaska would be a bit cramped - or at least a bit of a waste of space. I'd revisit your cage set up and provide more variety - at the end of the day running on a wheel is just running on a wheel no matter how many you have it's not a variety of activity is it. In my Alaska I had two of those rat sized sputniks connected with tubes, creates more to do and an extra 'level' for them. Nibble bar chewed very briefly when I first got him, only in one particular spot too and only at one specific time of day (9:30am to be precise!) I wove some cardboard through the bars so he couldn't do it, that put him off, he only had the one Sputnik and tube so I got him more stuff - sandbath on the shelf, another Sputnik and connected them with tubes. He just needed a more stimulating and varied environment. He hasn't bar chewed since. Glowy has one Sputnik and a shelf and I'm going to get him lots more things for his cage come payday because he is a pickle and needs soooooooo much entertainment it's unbelievable!

[Hollykw]

Yes I am going to remove one of the wheels soon as I only gave him the flying saucer one last week and I didn't want to take off the normal one until I knew he was happy with using the other one :3

The cardboard is a good idea!! I might try that. I will see what other things I can get too.

[Wookiee]

Chewie is a bar chewer as well (also in an Alaska). I've added a rat sized sputnik and a bendy tube this evening in an attempt to provide more variety and will do a bit of a cage reshuffle in a couple of days when we do a cage clean - I'm just waiting for a Fitch delivery and his new wodent wheel before doing that.

I've threaded cardboard through the bars before - he goes nut and shreds it, it's the only time he really bothers with cardboard to be honest. Put a loo roll in the cage and he ignores it, flatten it out and thread it through the bars and it's in bits by the next morning!

ETA: he loves the sputnik set up. He was never really interested in his hamster sized one and I've only ever seen him stick his nose in a couple of times. He's visited the larger one more times in the past 20 minutes than the smaller one got in months!

[Hollykw]

I will certainly try using the cardboard! :3

[TriciaB209]

My Trixie does that. One certain bar. In fact, she has a bald spot above her nose from it rubbing on the bar directly above the one she chews.