Thursday, November 15, 2012

Does Your Hamster Chew The Bars Of His Cage?


So you adopted a cute hamster, bought the cage, the wheel, the food and some toys and set the cage up and that night when you go to bed...you hear this gnawing noise that starts to drive you completely crazy. You get up to find out what it is only to see little bubbles chewing like crazy on the bars on her cage. 

That's pretty much what happened to me.

So why do hamsters chew on the bars of their cage? That's a really good question. The first answer is they are bored. If they don't have something to do at night while they are up, they will chew. Hamsters are nocturnal, meaning they sleep most of the day and are up all night. You have to give them something to do at night while they are awake. 

Make sure there is a wheel in their cage, some toys for them to chew on, at least 2 different houses to sleep, hide or rest in, plenty of treats and a full food bowl. 

I always bought chew sticks, honey sticks that are food glued together with honey that are in a stick form so they have that to chew on instead of the bars. If you have a wheel in their cage they will run for a really long time, tire out, take a nap and run some more. 

If you'd like to know more about why hamsters chew on their cage bars please read my article