bar chewing hamster!!!! grrrrrrrr lol

[candice clews]

My snowy hasn't stopped bar chewing tonight for at least an hour! Its getting on my nerves now lol. What can i do to stop her? Shes got loads of wooden chews, loads of toys, a hamster heaven cage and everything she can possibly want lol. Ive put carboard through the bars ane she keeps forcing it out or moving too a different place :/ #trying to get too sleep!

[Amys_Mum]

Have you tried lemon juice on the bars where she chews? It's the only other 'deterrent' I can think of other than weaving cardboard - Harvey just used to chew through the cardboard in a matter of seconds and be back to chewing the bars <sob>.

[Pebbles82]

Does she do it all the time or is there a pattern? (Just wondering if she's on heat!). It clearly isn't cage size, and I'm guessing her wheel is big enough.

[candice clews]

Yes her wheel is big enough for her . No haven't tried lemon juice! She does tend to do it for a little bit maybe 5 or 10 mins every night however there are times when she does it worse.... like tonight! Is there a way to find out if she is on heat? Is lemon juice okauy for them?

[Pebbles82]

Charlie went through a spell of doing it after we'd been on holiday and he'd been staying somewhere. When he started for 5 or 10 minutes we would put the lights out and go to bed early. Eventually he stopped bothering lol. It had become an attention thing, as he did it until I opened the cage and let him out. So we did the opposite and ignored it and turned the lights out. It was quite funny after that as he'd go to the bars as if to start - I'd look at him and say no - he'd look back and then he'd kind of look sheepish and not do it. Or he'd do it a little bit - and we'd leave the room and turn the lights out. He'd stopped within a couple of weeks.

I don't know how you'd know she is on heat, but I believe they have a heat every four days.

[Amys_Mum]

Does she smell? Harvey is a girl (pet shop told us she was a boy and it took us a few weeks before we realised she wasn't!) and she has a certain odour when she's on heat, you can't miss it! Not all hammies are as whiffy though.

Oh I've just searched, and although I've seen lemon juice suggested on here, it's not good for them. Best not, in case it doesn't deter her and she ends up ingesting it

[Amys_Mum]

Not ideal for now, given it's nighttime, but have you tried something like a log roll? Harvey loves the carrot ones, that keeps her busy. Or I've just put a zooplus nibble stick in, and she's taken to chewing that - has ignored all other wooden chew toys, but likes a stick.

Something to distract for a few minutes, but making a cardboard chew toy from toilet roll centres and hiding a treat inside?

[Pebbles82]

What do you do when she chews the bars? Let her out for a bit? Ignore it? Tell her to stop? Just wondering if it's an attention thing.

[candice clews]

Thanks all for commenting!

I try too distract her with carboard and buy her new toys often.i show her them but she still prefers the bars lol! I tell her too stop calmly, i dont shout or anything like that.

A cardboard toy is a good idea! Thank you! Will try that

Yes she does smell a bit every so often. She smelt a bit last night.

She tends to do it a lot more when the lights are off though lol! I have her run round in her ball for 20 mins then she plays on my hands and runs on the carpet. Then she has a break and goes back in her ball for another 20 mins. Before being put in when i go to bed! She likes her wheel but the bars are still better lol!

[TriciaB209]

I have had good luck attaching apple wood sticks to the exact bar my Trixie chews. Trixie use to bar chew so much that she actually had a bald spot above her nose from rubbing the bar above.