140 replies to this topic

[CritterLover]

Thank you Tori for the great info!

[FuzzyPolkaDot]

Amazing post, Tori! 

[TheNeatNerd]

Stupendous post Tori!

[Hamster_Holly]

So I read over this because I was hoping somebody else had the same problem as me but apparently my hamster is just that unique lol. Well my dwarf hamster he is a Russian. He chews on his wheel not only the yellow centre piece but the edges of it too. He also chews on his metal food dish. :( I am worried about him chewing these things, I don't want him hurting his teeth. He has a 99L bin which gives him tons of space he also has a great chew toy he loves(the potato crocodile chew) and has stuff to play with and he has bedding he loves. I do take him out of his bin to tame him, but I just got him 07/13/13 and I don't want to take him in and out of his cage too much. :( I don't know what else to do. Should I try putting lemon juice on the wheel? I have already tried watered down vinegar but that didn't help.

[Bandit My Hamster]

Cool thanks for the help!!!!!!

[JolieJohnston]

One of my hammies has chewing problems, on my fingers. I've had him and Jackson for well over 6 month and sometimes when he's out, he nibbles my fingers or sometimes when I put my hand in the cage he nearly has my finger off.

[jess32247]

So I read over this because I was hoping somebody else had the same problem as me but apparently my hamster is just that unique lol. Well my dwarf hamster he is a Russian. He chews on his wheel not only the yellow centre piece but the edges of it too. He also chews on his metal food dish. :( I am worried about him chewing these things, I don't want him hurting his teeth. He has a 99L bin which gives him tons of space he also has a great chew toy he loves(the potato crocodile chew) and has stuff to play with and he has bedding he loves. I do take him out of his bin to tame him, but I just got him 07/13/13 and I don't want to take him in and out of his cage too much. :( I don't know what else to do. Should I try putting lemon juice on the wheel? I have already tried watered down vinegar but that didn't help.

 

How often do you change around his toys and such? Changing them around more often (two/three+ times a week) can sometimes help curb boredom. If you don't have many toys to change with, making your own can be a fun and creative option! This thread here (<-- click) has some really neat ideas if you wanted to give some of them a try.

 

Also- how do you feed him? Scatter feeding is a great way to get hamsters to use there natural instincts of finding food- you can hide a bit of food in/around his toys or sprinkle it all in his bedding and let him dig around for it.

 

If none of that works, I would try using full white vinegar (not watered down, as there's no point) on the things he chews. I usually don't recommend doing that (as there's a reason he's doing in the first place that we need to fix), but chewing/eating on plastic can be very dangerous if ingested. I'm not quite sure how it is for metal, but I would imagine it's bad for the teeth. 

[Hamster_Holly]

I add home made stuff almost every day. This Friday I get paid from work so I plan on buying a wooden bridge for him and maybe one other thing. I love making him tunnels and fun stuff :p I am currently trying to use up this box of tissues so I can make a second floor for Moomoo. I have tried hiding his food in his tunnels and through out his bin. I also rubbed a tiny bit of peanut butter on his wood chews but he is silly and just licks it off (or I guess you could say smart?). I do know he love attention even for just getting him a week ago. I take him out of his bin at least two times a day to bond and tame him and he is doing so great! He crawls on my hand and I can move around with him slowly to put him back in his cage and I just love him to bits. It makes me really sad when he chews on his plastic wheel :( I honestly am trying everything I can to prevent that from happening but I am beginning to think that might just be his weird thing. The only thing I haven't really tried yet is the lemon juice but I am holding out on that until I have tried getting him a few new things. I wont give up on my little Moomoo I love him to bits.

[BizzaroNumber1]

great thread SP

 

i scatter feed sometimes and gretel ABSOLUTELY loves it!

 

your ideas are great

[SyrianHammie5362]

my hamster chew on chews and also the wires on the cage

[jess32247]

my hamster chew on chews and also the wires on the cage

 

Bar chewing isn't very good, unfortunately. :/ Have you read through this thread (<-- click) to get ideas on how to help your hamster from being bored?

[JazzyHamsters]

Hmm, interesting. A lot of hamsters seem to chew things(not including bars) but mine chews nothing except for her food. lol       

[hammielover95]

Thank you Tori for this very helpful post  I also read somewhere that another thing you can do if your hamster chews on the bars of the cage is to use oil. You can rub the oil in the bars. One of my dwarfs used to chew a lot on the bars but i did this a couple of times and it worked.Also i believe that if the hamster is new it takes a while to adjust to the new cage so maybe that's why she/he is chewing on the bars.

Edited by hammielover95, 25 October 2013 - 07:51 PM.

[DwarfCrazy]

Great post

[Tier]

We have a 40 gallon long that is really narrow. When our hamster leaves her nest, she'll run from one end to the other, pushing the bedding out of the corners, then she'll try to dig and chew in the corners. She probably even chews off some of the silicone that keeps the aquarium tank together. She has chew blocks, houses, paper towel rolls and a little fence made of popsicles that she loves to climb over. But still she'll race from corner to corner chewing on them. Is she trying to dig or do corners make hamsters angry?