Please help, bar gnawing...

[CREEPSHOW]

My hamster has just recently started chewing/gnawing the bars of his cage. Is this dangerous for him and if it is, what can I do to prevent him from doing it?

Please reply ASAP as I am quite worried about this.

Thanks............................. :)

[yodelinghamster]

Everything is fine, is is actually GOOD for him to do this, it wares down his teeth!! :D My hammies do it too.

[SnowPrincess]

yeah, it's fine. it's a natural urge to chew and wear their teeth down.

there is no way of stopping it, mine do it too even though they have tons of chew toys and treats. :)

[CREEPSHOW]

Oh okay thanks. It's just I heard that bar-gnawing can lead to misaligned teeth & brain damage? Is this not true? Please let me know thanks.

[SnowPrincess]

i've never heard of that and almost all the hamsters i've ever owned chewed on the bars.

[lilforjc]

Ralph and Hoop have lotsa options in their cages as far as chew things and they still seem to prefer bars, slides, tubes...they seem to be fine. kinda like when you buy expensive toys for the baby and it only wants ribbons and boxes! hehe

[Chaos]

I heard about the mis-aligned teeth/brain damge thing but I don't know how true it is. I've never had a hamster with either of those yet, and unless someone can find and show me a case of it I'm not inclined to believe it.

[yodelinghamster]

It is not true.

[CREEPSHOW]

It is not true.

Phew, well that's good to know.
It's put my mind at rest at the very least! :)

Thanks... :fluffy:

[yodelinghamster]

:) thats good:)

[Tumbledown]

All of my hamsters in the past and present have chewed the bars of their cages,it does them no harm at all.It can mean that they want out and some attention though. ;)

[Jiffykat]

Try to get him/her to chew on chew toys the paint can sometimes be harmful to them.

[OmniscientOnus]

I've found that hamsters love dog treats to chew on. My hamsters used to gnaw the bars all the time and it drove me nuts, but after I put the dog treats in there, there too busy chewing the dog treats to chew the bars. You might want to try it, they are so cheap. Hope that helped.

[Jiffykat]

Snowbell loves dog biscuits, she drags them around her tank with her until she has eaten the whole thing. I give her milk bones so it is funny to watch her dragging a bones shaped puppy treat around the cage.

[babyboos]

I am afraid guys that bar chewing is dangerous to hamster health. Brain damage I am still waiting to get confirmed but death from misaligned teeth does happen, I see a lot of tooth, nose and mouth damage from bar chewing in my rescue efforts. It is really is avoidable. We are not allowed to post external links but there is an article on Hamstercentral (hope you find it with a Google search or something) currently describing some of the dangers. You should do everything you can to try and stop this obsessive behavour pattern. It is a sign of dissatisfaction in your little one's surroundings they are bored and frustrated, and needing to grind down their constantly growing teeth. If you want them to have something to chew on give them a clean stainless steel spoon. Fruit, such as apple, tree branches are great but be very careful about presticides and car exhaust fumes etc. Often the only solution is to remove them from a wire enclosure and use a plastic housing system instead like a Rotostak or a home-made bin. Please don't ignore your furball's cry for help!

[Jiffykat]

Car exhaust fumes? Why would you have to worry about that in a tree branch?

[babyboos]

because the dioxins etc are absorbed by the tree and they are toxic - just like we should not eat berries or anything from near a roadside