# Tips so stop hamster chewing bottle & cage.



## JamesJ

I recently re-ventured into Syrian ownership (and quickly wishing I hadn't now!) The nut case is chewing at the water bottle spout and bashing it around and chewing at the cage where the bottle spout enters the cage (its one of those plastic cages with a mesh panel on the top) At first I thought she couldn't get the water out but upon tapping it it works fine (she's managing to empty it in her cage being a :censor: so it does work) I still offered her another bottle but she still does the same :devil:

She has wood chews and toilet rolls galore to chew if shes doing it to keep her teeth down, ideas?


----------



## morning-star

Sounds like it's getting bored, try some new/different toys or chews (cleaned fruit wood makes a natural/cheep chew), you could also try taking it out of the cage more often, or try putting it in a ball to tire it out more. Does it have a wheel in the cage?


----------



## MattsZoo

Once a chewer, always a chewer! :lol2:


----------



## Shell195

The only way you can stop a hamster from bar chewing is to put it in a glass tank with a wire lid:lol2:


----------



## morning-star

MattsZoo said:


> Once a chewer, always a chewer! :lol2:


I had a hamster that chewed her way free of a bottom side of a cage and the nearly destroyed a second one that had to be thrown out after she died. :devil:


----------



## Kare

I have a hamster chew a perfectly round hole on top of a plastic cage, escape across the kitchen, chew into the chinchilla nuggets.....and put themselves back to bed.

Found the hole, saw the hole in the bag and searched the kitchen for ages before I found him. Noone expects an escaped animal to have put themselves back where they came from :whistling2:

I think he made a few trips, he had a substantial number of chinchilla nuggets stashed in his bed.

Any ways on to the point of posting, try a water bowl, you have to check it regularly they have not filled it with bedding but I use water bowls with both my syrians, the hole they had for the bottle snout allowed a great deal of the red plastic bit of the spout in, had three chewed to the point the water all escaped and then gave up. I got a pack of GU desserts on offer, ate pudding, washed the glass ramkins and they have had water bowls every since. Mine stand on small flat bits of slate which helps raise them a little from the bedding a small left over tile should work or something similar


----------



## JamesJ

Yes she has a wheel  Tbh ive only had her about a week as shes a mean :censor: She tries to bite me so im not getting her out to handle yet im letting her settle in. I put tissues with my scent on with her and let her sniff my fist and when she goes to bite me move it away slowly so as not to spook her. Shes ridiculously skitty and screams when nobodys near her or even in the room :/ She's a total nut job! I used to keep alot of syrians a few years ago but none of them were this annoying :lol2:


----------



## samurai

James_and_Hana said:


> Yes she has a wheel  Tbh ive only had her about a week as shes a mean :censor: She tries to bite me so im not getting her out to handle yet im letting her settle in. I put tissues with my scent on with her and let her sniff my fist and when she goes to bite me move it away slowly so as not to spook her. Shes ridiculously skitty and screams when nobodys near her or even in the room :/ She's a total nut job! I used to keep alot of syrians a few years ago but none of them were this annoying :lol2:


She's not a nut job she terrified :bash: Lots of people say different reasons about why they chew but i believe hamsters bar chew if their environment isn't meeting their needs. They need a lot more space than most cages provide (that are apparently designed for hamsters) and they should be able to dig as they have evolved to to do. If you are worried about handling her get some gloves anf handle her over a tub so she cannot run off


----------



## Shell195

samurai said:


> She's not a nut job she terrified :bash: Lots of people say different reasons about why they chew but i believe hamsters bar chew if their environment isn't meeting their needs. They need a lot more space than most cages provide (that are apparently designed for hamsters) and they should be able to dig as they have evolved to to do. If you are worried about handling her get some gloves anf handle her over a tub so she cannot run off


 
The problem is if its a learnt behaviour its very hard to stop. Ive got a rescued foster hamster here who was an avid bar chewer, shes now in a large glass tank with a wire lid and has plenty to do. Shes only just stopped trying to hang onto the lid and Ive had her a few months


----------



## JamesJ

samurai said:


> She's not a nut job she terrified :bash: Lots of people say different reasons about why they chew but i believe hamsters bar chew if their environment isn't meeting their needs. They need a lot more space than most cages provide (that are apparently designed for hamsters) and they should be able to dig as they have evolved to to do. If you are worried about handling her get some gloves anf handle her over a tub so she cannot run off


I'd disagree with environment not meeting their needs being the cause, obviously it can be the case of course but not always. When I was keeping and breeding them year ago I spent hundreds on zoozones so they had loads of space with hanging toys, chews, multiple houses, wheels, climbing toys and most of those just spent nights chewing out the cages, once they had made holes which I patched up giving me ugly tanks they stopped :/ 

I'm not scared of handling her although I don't appreciate being bit. She's new and settling into a new cage, new home smells, away from her siblings. Last thing I want to do is stress her more, she's a pet shop hamster that's probably never been handled but I'm sure she will come round I've never had a problem taming them.


----------



## morning-star

samurai said:


> She's not a nut job she terrified :bash: Lots of people say different reasons about why they chew but i believe hamsters bar chew if their environment isn't meeting their needs. They need a lot more space than most cages provide (that are apparently designed for hamsters) and they should be able to dig as they have evolved to to do. If you are worried about handling her get some gloves anf handle her over a tub so she cannot run off


what a load of rubbish, hamsters can have loads of toys and space but still chew on the bars. Hamsters chew because it's like a nest building, food gathering instinct. Toys can help reduce this but some will get have it as a compulsive behaviour (where others will develop a compulsive running disorder) 

it sounds like the OP knows what they are doing and have provided it with lots of stuff for it.


----------



## Hammyhogbun

Once a chewer always a chewer unfortunatly.

I also disagree. You can give a hamster loads of bits and bobs and them still go back to the fave chew spot or bottle. its in there genes and they follow what there mum taught them to do.

One thing i can suggest is to hang the bottle rather than having it on the side. I know a few people who do this.
Another thing is to put pegs in the same area to try and make it chew that instead.

Other than that glass tank is needed.

Pet shop hams will be worse than breeder hams, they just need a bit more handling and getting used to smells and sounds and will calm down in that respect. as op said it is a stressfull time for a young ham.

I know many people who listened to the "if theres a problem then you need a zoozone gang" spent a lot of money for the hamster to just chew through it anyway.

Hana its not a tort by any chance lol


----------



## JamesJ

No Lisa its not a naughty tortie, but its close behavioural wise :Na_Na_Na_Na: she's a satin longhaired dove  She's actually been much better the last 2 nights, maybe she feels guilty!!


----------



## Hammyhogbun

Oh dear not a dove. A few of our doves were mad chewers, hubby said no more doves now lol

Satin dove sounds verrrrry pretty. photo needed lol


Hope she is a better girl for you soon. shes only a baby


----------



## JamesJ

I'll get some pics up soon I'm not at home tonight. I was on the look out for a tort and white but had no luck after a few months and fell for her shiney coat!


----------



## Hammyhogbun

Are you going to be breeding again? you will need a yellow banded if you are going to  then you can have tort and whites again


----------



## Devi

I have found that hamsters are terrible in plastic cages. There's an ace water bottle by superpet which is glass with a metal spout, it is rather good at discouraging chewing, might be worth a purchase.
Apart from that, all hamsters have toy preferences, some like wheels, others like tubes, others just want to destroy some stuff. Try a load of different stuff, you can get a lot of bits around the house and garden, wood, tissue paper, boxes, tubes, ping pong balls, bits of wool tied to the roof, use your imagination.
You can also get a bitter apple spray for puppies, maybe if it's an issue you could try to redirect the chewing with this?


----------



## JamesJ

I'm not sure about breeding. The pet shop who has all my dwarfies keeps hinting I should breed them again cause she hates getting them from suppliers as they are always tiny, terrified and bitey. But I don't think I ever had a Syrian litter without keeping at least 1 baby for myself and I don't want to end up with as many as I did :blush:


----------



## Hammyhogbun

Haha i know what you mean. I am worst if its a small litter of around 3 i keep them all just to see what they will all look like. you never had that many really lol


@devi I wouldnt suggest that as its the water bottle it could stop them from drinking


----------



## JamesJ

I had 15 adults at one point lol which was alot with all the reps etc too and the racket they made being in my room. If i get back into them I'd need them in a shed or something like James feeder rodent shed. 

Did you ever breed your hedgehogs?


----------



## Hammyhogbun

Yeah they do make a noise thats why they ended up in there own room.

I did try with the hogs they didnt want to breed. they are in again now as a last chance. they just cuddle next to each other and thats about it. Trust me to have a pair that just want to be friends lol


----------



## Evilshiddenclaws

ive had two hamsters in my time and never again, i vowed never to own one but i then feel in love with the cutest i'd ever seen, he was a sweety, nothing wrong whatsoever, he was perfect, when he passed away i thought i'd get another one, and i hated it, it was evil incarnate! it was the nastiest little :censor: i'd ever met, i couldnt handle it at all, couldnt even put my hand in the cage without the horrid little thing trying to kill me. I'm convinced it had something wrong with it, it died when it was only a year old. and i didnt miss it! never had one since, but he used to constantly chew his wires, he demolished anything and everything in his cage, it looked like a disaster zone just minutes after giving him a chew or toy


----------



## JamesJ

Hammyhogbun said:


> Yeah they do make a noise thats why they ended up in there own room.
> 
> I did try with the hogs they didnt want to breed. they are in again now as a last chance. they just cuddle next to each other and thats about it. Trust me to have a pair that just want to be friends lol


:lol2: Bless um!! Im hoping to pair mine up soon I was waiting for her to get a bit older as reccomened by the breeder as she was the runt of the litter and is a little girl so we thought best to let her get a bit older and a bit more weight on, just gotta fine enough time when im around to listen out for any scuffling!!



Evilshiddenclaws said:


> ive had two hamsters in my time and never again, i vowed never to own one but i then feel in love with the cutest i'd ever seen, he was a sweety, nothing wrong whatsoever, he was perfect, when he passed away i thought i'd get another one, and i hated it, it was evil incarnate! it was the nastiest little :censor: i'd ever met, i couldnt handle it at all, couldnt even put my hand in the cage without the horrid little thing trying to kill me. I'm convinced it had something wrong with it, it died when it was only a year old. and i didnt miss it! never had one since, but he used to constantly chew his wires, he demolished anything and everything in his cage, it looked like a disaster zone just minutes after giving him a chew or toy


I did have a tortie girl who was the devil herself :devil: She would chew everything including her foodbowl and through the bars of her cage she ruined numerous water bottles, she was an nightmare to clean out cause you couldnt hold her without being mauled :lol2:


----------

