Pet hamster doing my head in!

Bamama

Any idea why my hamster is incessantly chewing on his bottle? He chewed all the plastic off his original and pulled the spout out. Scaring my half to death because I couldn't find the ball bearing (I did evenutally, little scamp had buried it).

He is doing it with his new bottle and I was wondering if there is anything I can do to stop him?

gollygosh

I think some hamsters really enjoy chewing anything and everything! You could try giving him something like an apple wood log, mine always enjoyed that and mum and dad had fruit trees for me to steal from, just make sure you wash it well.

pawsies

Provide something else in the enclosure you want him to do?

He's probably bored, found that was something to do and has developed a stereotypical behaviour over it.

You could start training him to perform some behaviours- these might activate his mind a bit.

Also agree with gollygosh.

krlyr

There are a few various designs of bottles so you can hunt for a less chewable one.
E.g. Classic do this one with a longer spout, so no plastic should reach into the cage to be chewed
http://www.4littlepaws.co.uk/4-little-pets/bottles-bowls/hamster-bottle

I agree with providing alternative chewing materials and also making the hamster's cage more mentally stimulating. Is the cage large enough? Unfortunately many cages aimed at hamsters are far too small to be suitable really. I've heard hamster 'keepers' to recommend the Savic Cambridge cage as the smallest size for a Syrian hamster, so 62 x 36 x 43 cm
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Savic-Cambridge-Navy-Blue-Hamster/dp/B000LXVT3I

When I had a hamster she had a rat cage, I've often found with small animals, you're better off going for the next species larger in terms of cages (so a regular hamster cage for a dwarf hamster, rat cage for a regular hamster, ferret cage for a rat, I even had a dog crate for my rabbits as they were bigger than any indoor rabbit cage available at the time!)

Providing mental stimulation in the form of chews and toys. Make them work for their food - I never used a food bowl in the latter years of keeping small animals, if you scatter the food around the cage they have to hunt and gather it like they would in the wild - providing mental and physical stimulation to keep them occupied. A suitable sized wheel to provide extra physical exercise (again, you may find many commercial wheels to be too small - the Superpet Comfort Wheel and Silent Spinner ranges come in decent sizes if I remember rightly), a variety of beddings, toys they can climb under, over, through, etc. Wild hamsters will apparently travel miles overnight - so they're much more active creatures than we'd peg them for!

Bamama

I've tried toys/things to chew on/hiding food in tubes to stimulate him.
He has a wheel which he hasn't used since the first few months. He now sits in it when he's cleaning himself instead.

First thing he does when I put him in his clean cage is go straight to the bottle and have a few tugs... then maybe look at his house, check noone's in it, then food. Back to tugging on the bottle then.

Perhaps I'll have to treat him to a larger cage... It probably isn't big enough for him. A larger one would mean I could get a larger wheel too.

aileth

Oh my how frustrating! All the suggestions above are great. My sister had a similier chewing situation with her hammy, who chewed a whole in the plastic base and managed to escape through it. The cage was against the wall so didn't notice the hole it was creating, and she must've been working on it constantly when she was awake at night as my sister cleans her out once a week.

Only noticed when my dad came down in the middle of the night for a drink, said hammy had managed somehow to get onto dining room chair (seems from climbing up a coat that was over the back!!!!) and was just sat there, while cat stared at it from floor! :eek:

picklepick

I've kept gerbils in the past and they are terrible for chewing through plastic. To stop them chewing through plastic bottles, I had to make little chicken wire cages for them. Only not out of chicken wire, the smaller holed, oblong shaped wire mesh. You can get it from diy stores.

krlyr

I've always found that when a hamster stops using a wheel, generally it's because they've outgrown it, so a larger wheel could definately be the solution for that

Bamama

Any recommendations on where to start looking for cages? They seem an awful lot more expensive if they are classed as "rat cages" and not actually that much bigger.

calicocat

As I had wnated a big environment for my hammy years ago I went for a 6ft secondhand fish tank. Obviously a bit big for most people however, but it meant I could put loads of things to chew/play on etc (I think I read a wild hammy will cover 4 miles a night?). It ended up like a huge army assault course in the end. You also have to make sure you don't put the tank anywhere it would be in sunlight as it would get too hot,and keep the top open etc. Just as a precaution have you also checked it's teeth are ok ?......but sound more like boredom.

Person_one

Ebay'a great for cages, I've bought and sold them on there.