Bar Chewing!

pinkgoldfish · 06-06-2009, 02:12 PM

So we've had the naughty hamster about 5 weeks now, but in the last few days hes started chewing the bars all the time!, weve tried blowing on him as a way of telling him not to (it works for about 5 minutes, then hes back!).
I just wondered if anyone has any ideas of how to stop him doing this? Or if theres something we can put on the bars to put him off but not harm him?

Toria · 06-07-2009, 08:07 AM

I know there are some bits you can put on the bars to put them off, but i can't think what they are.
What about a plastic cage?

pinkgoldfish · 06-07-2009, 10:33 AM

We were thinking of getting a plastic cage as a last resort, tried the wooden chews as well, he does use them but still chews the bars.

Toria · 06-07-2009, 10:41 AM

I had a look on the internet. One site suggested lemon juice on the bars, or Vaseline, that might work

capricorn30 · 06-07-2009, 10:59 AM

One technique I use is to get a sturdy piece of card and use cable ties or garden wire to attatch it to the bars on the outside of the cage were it gets chewed - stops the ham getting its teeth round the bars!

Alternatively you could try blocking the area off with a toy, or wedging chews through the bars to encourage the ham to chew that instead.

pinkgoldfish · 06-07-2009, 11:51 AM

Thanks for the help! I think ill try the lemon juice thing, I read about trying cardboard but the door to the cage is on the side that he chews, which would make life quite difficult.

souffle · 06-08-2009, 02:33 AM

You should not use lemon juice or any citrus fruit juices as they are very bad for hamsters.
Unfirtunatly bar chewing is a hard habit to break. Hamsters are rodents and some simply just like to do it. We find the best was to discourage it is to block of the chewing area with something like a toy or perpex cable tied over the favourite areas. Even weaving cardboard through the bars can help stop it a bit. You may need to move him to a bin or tank type cage though. Try rearranging the cage to make it more interesting and give him boxes with holes in to chew and tubes and bonio dog biscuits. Ther is an article on the WIKI you may like to read too.

gem · 06-13-2009, 07:37 AM

My first hamster was a real bar chewer too!
It's not really something you can completley stop the hamster from doing, however,it may be a sign that the hamster is bored, it's waring it's teeth down, or it may just like to do it!
When this was happening to me, we put scented chew toys in the cage, and although she still chewed the bars like mad, it wasn't as bad as it used to be.

pinkgoldfish · 06-13-2009, 02:43 PM

Ive put cardboard over the bars now and it seems to have stopped the chewing, also changed his cage round. I think he just likes doing it though rather than boredom cos we have him out of his cage nearly everynight. Got some wooden pegs to clip to the bars to chew as well as the toys. Although he did put ALL the sawdust from his cage in his wheel!