Black bear hamsters obsessive chewing problem, can you help us out?

Question

My sisters black bear hamster has a really bad habit wich is chewing on the bars on his cage. We don't want to try putting soap onto the cage bars becasue were afraid it might hurt him. And putting him into an aqarium isn't an option seeing as we also have two highly curious cats! Do you know any other methods that won't hurt him, and is easy to do.

Answer 1

You might try putting vinegar on the bars, or buy Bitter Apple from the pet store.

Hamsters need to gnaw, to keep their teeth in good condition.  Gnawing the cage bars doesn't hurt the hamster and it doesn't hurt the cage.  It's only a problem if the noise bothers you.  

Make sure he has something hard to gnaw on, if you stop him from gnawing the cage.

Answer 2

try giving him a thew chew toys toilet roll tubes work well or abit of bark im asuming u have a wheel if not u should get 1 it keeps them ocupied for hours or every so often put new toys in there they love them caus there new just kep it ocupied and it wont chew the bars an u can wash the bars with soap just make sure u rinse all the soap of after and that it is dry before putin the hamster bk in

Answer 3

It is normal for hamsters to be chewing and gnawing on anything they can get their teeth into!

Hamsters are rodents and therefore their teeth grow continuously. This means that a hamster needs to grind its teeth down regularly to stop them from overgrowing and the hamster does this by gnawing on something hard. If a hamster had nothing to gnaw on to keep its teeth in trim the teeth may overgrow and could puncture the mouth or jaw.

Many hamsters will use the bars of the cage to gnaw on.

You can give them the following to gnaw on too -

Wooden chews available from pet shops.

Hard dog biscuits will also help the hamster to keep its teeth trim.

Chew bones (small ones) available in pet shops for dogs

Tubes of toilet rolls

My dwarfie used to even chew her exercise wheel until I removed it out and put in a moulded one in its place!!!!!

Answer 4

Sounds like you need to give your hamsters some new toys to play with - it'll keep them occupied.  Try a wheel and some wooden chew sticks.  You can also bring in twigs and branches from your yard - they'll love smelling all those new "outside" smells.  Rodents have teeth that continually grow longer and longer.  Their constant chewing may be an indicator that they need something (like wood) to knaw on to help trim their teeth down.  If you allow their teeth to grow too long, it can interfere with their ability to eat and chew normally.