Syrian Bar Biting on cage

I know it's too soon, and tomorrow will probably be a different story, but I had to share. Jas has chewed for less than 5 mins tonight in total. I know that might not seem much to everyone else, but it's real progress for us. She has been so good, we had to let her out again for more playtime, (trying to reward). I wanted to share as I feel all I do is ask for help and I thought a bit of good news would be nice. Fingers crossed I really hope we might be getting there
 
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Woohoo! That's great. Maybe you could start a thread for Jas under the Syrian hamster section so we can follow updates :-) And maybe see a photo :)
 
RainbowBrite said:
I asked as you can get some 140cm for £30. Luckily you supervise Jas so you would stop her trying to climb out. :)
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I'm thinking of getting her a bigger playpen, do you have a link or can you please let me know where the one you mention above is from? Thanks
 
This is quite an old post now Hammie Heart :-) The hamster has an 800 square inch cage and settled in and isn't bar biting any more.
 
Hi Hank, i feels this now. Did Jas bitting behaviour has been solved? I found tako have similliar problem which is bitting every corners in the cage. When i left him alone, he does bitting the corner. I gave him a lot chew toys, however it doesn't attract him. Maybe i can follow your experiences from handled this problem.
 
I'm sure Hank will answer that one :-) All I would say is it tends to be when the cage isn't big enough, that hamsters bar bite - which is understandable if they feel cooped up. It's very rare for them to bar bite in a cage 100cm or over. Female Syrians can be a bit of an exception sometimes. Other things that can cause them to do it are too much cleaning out or not enough hiding places (ie not enough bedding or nowhere dark to nest), which is a stress behaviour, so even in a very large cage, if there's only 2 or 3 " of bedding they might still bar bite if feeling stressed.
 
Jas did stop chewing the bars, I'm not sure there was one thing that stopped it, but I'll share what I did.
As Maz has said, bigger cage and lots of deep bedding, my little girl loves to burrow. I did the same as you and gave her lots of chews, however I think different types of chews help, she likes a variety, and just change them up.
I'm not sure if you can get them, but Whimzee chews were also a favourite.
Also cardboard really helped. Someone on here suggested putting it through the bars, then they chew the cardboard and not the bars. If you put some through where they are chewing, they might start chewing the cardboard instead.
You can also make them little puzzles with cardboard, check out the cardboard creations section on here, lots of goods ideas.
Jas enjoyed out of cage time as well, I have a playpen for her, she would come out for about an hour and then again for another 30 minutes later in the evening.
I also scatter feed and add sprays, so not just in one place, it allows her to forage, which she enjoys.
I hope this helps and gives you some things to try.
I hope your hamster stops chewing the bars soon.
 
I think that was in the old cage wasn't it ponyo? The bar chewing. Now he's in the new bigger cage presumably that isn't an issue any more?
 
Hank said:
Jas did stop chewing the bars, I'm not sure there was one thing that stopped it, but I'll share what I did.
As Maz has said, bigger cage and lots of deep bedding, my little girl loves to burrow. I did the same as you and gave her lots of chews, however I think different types of chews help, she likes a variety, and just change them up.
I'm not sure if you can get them, but Whimzee chews were also a favourite.
Also cardboard really helped. Someone on here suggested putting it through the bars, then they chew the cardboard and not the bars. If you put some through where they are chewing, they might start chewing the cardboard instead.
You can also make them little puzzles with cardboard, check out the cardboard creations section on here, lots of goods ideas.
Jas enjoyed out of cage time as well, I have a playpen for her, she would come out for about an hour and then again for another 30 minutes later in the evening.
I also scatter feed and add sprays, so not just in one place, it allows her to forage, which she enjoys.
I hope this helps and gives you some things to try.
I hope your hamster stops chewing the bars soon.
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Thanks for sharing, Hank. I gave him 3 types of chew toys : Rattan Ball, Dried Corn, and also Hay Stick. I make a boredom breaker also which is i put sun flowers seed into the rattan ball.

The bedding itself is 5" i will add more to make it 6". Maybe same as Jas, he love to burrow as well.

I will buy Whimzee soon, i have apple stick and also hanging chew. for the corner which is always be bited by him, i put a marble cooling pad.

Scattering feed also have be done in several places and for the sprays will be added soon.

For the free roam, i gave him around 2 hours. This problem occured when i dont supervise him and left him alone. When im near, he doesn't goes to the corner.

how long did you wait for to change all the contents inside the cage?
 
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Maz said:
I think that was in the old cage wasn't it ponyo? The bar chewing. Now he's in the new bigger cage presumably that isn't an issue any more?
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Yeah, he is already moved but still bitting the corner. Absolutely this is make me concerned since the corner is metal and will adding more items tomorrow since the all items already completed and arrived. Maybe its make him stress a bit and redo my bond with him, however i hope his bitting habit gone after the last cage change.
 
He is bound to be a bit stressed after a cage move. I would give him at least 6" of bedding - more if possible :) He'll soon be digging and burrowing. Also after adding the new things, maybe give him chance to adjust for a few days before taking him out. But if he looks desperate to come out and continues to chew at a corner, then maybe let him have a bit of out of cage time anyway.

Does he have a house that's dark inside? One thing that can make them feel stressed and wanting to escape, is if there is no dark place to nest. That would either be deep bedding they can burrow down in, or a house that's dark inside. A shoebox house is fine and if you put a bendy bridge over the door it makes it dark inside (light doesn't go round corners).
 
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