-The first reason could be their cage is to small. All species of hamster need a minimum of 360 square inches of floorspace (Or in cm it would be about 2322 square cm), which is equivalent to a 20 gallon long tank. Hamsters need lots of space so they can run, play, burrow, hoard food and such. Just because a hamster is a small animal doesn't mean they need or can have a small cage; in the wild they wouldn't live in such a confined space. To make sure your cage is big enough, measure the width X length to get the floorspace of the cage. So for example 30 x 12= 360; fairly simple eh? If you do figure out your cage is too small please try and upgrade it. You can make a bin cage (Tutorial here) or even make a simple and cheap DIY cage (Thread here).]
- Do you have chews in your cage? Make sure you have chews in your cage! Like mentioned above, a hamster's teeth are always growing and having chews wear their teeth down. You may already have chews in your hamster's cage but they don't chew on them; it's a common problem! Try different type of chews not just the wood kind. There are mineral chews, cheesy chews, colourful fruit flavoured chews and tons more! But sometimes not even the tastiest looking chew can urge your hamster to chew them. Try taking their favourite treat (i.e. Yogurt Drops, dried fruits, anything that will rub off a taste and smell) and rub them on the chew. This makes the chew taste somewhat like the treat, making the hamster want to chew it. If you don't have store-bought treats you can use veggies like cucumbers, carrots, and other veggies to rub the chews on.
- Hamster still refuse's to chew it's chews? Try a dog biscuit. These are safe as long as they don't contain any thing like Citrus Fruits, Onions, leeks, Garlic. These are great for gnawing since they are hard and can last a pretty long time. Refrain from excessively giving dog biscuits as to many can give tummy aches try giving one once a week or every second week. Another option is raw pasta; whole wheat pasta is recommended.
- Even with a big cage and plenty of chews, excessive chewing can be a sign of boredom. Try giving more toys! Your hamster may bored with a couple toys try giving more; or switch out the ones currently in the cage to shake things up a little! You can also make homemade toys instead, here's a whole topic on homemade hamster toys (Click here).
- Another idea to quell boredom would be to hide and scatter treats/hamster food around the cage to get them foraging and exploring.
-And sometimes hamster's even chew the bars because they want to play with you or spend time out of it's cage! You would want to come out and explore to if you were kept 24/7 in a cage.
- Your next step might be to try lemon juice on the bars, but before doing that please read this topic Here.
-Now your last choice would be to change their cage to a tank. This way chewing is stopped. Just make sure that the tank is a minimum of a 20 gallon long tank!
Original Thread Here
*Edit* The formatting was warped for some reason, just some extra coding that found its way in there, I took it out so now the post looks normal. ~CH
Edited by Christmas_hamster, 25 January 2013 - 02:38 AM.
