- Messages
- 14,923
- Reaction score
- 31,997
- Points
- 1,373
Bar chewing is usually caused by stress and the commonest causes are usually:
1) The cage is not big enough for the hamster
2) There is not enough enrichment in the cage (or a suitable dark area to retreat to). Eg not enough substrate.
3) Too much cleaning out removing all the hamster's scent and causing stress. They don't feel secure. Partial cleanouts are better.
Hamsters can bar chew for other reasons - eg to get your attention if something is wrong in the cage. So if a hamster who doesn't normally bar chew starts bar chewing, take note and check things out, for example:
1) They can't reach their food or water (ie no ramp to a shelf or a ramp fallen down).
2) Their wheel is stuck and won't spin
3) Their water bottle is empty
But the most common cause of regular bar chewing is, the cage is not big enough for the hamster. If you think about it, if you let them out to run around, do they bar chew? No - because there are no bars and they have plenty of space. There has also been academic research done showing that the larger the cage, the less the hamster chewed bars. I believe the optimum point where they stopped chewing the bars was 1 metre square. See below.
From personal experience, I have never known a hamster bar chew in a 100cm cage. There may be some hamsters who will (maverick females perhaps) as for some hamsters, even a 100cm cage isn't big enough for them.
You may come across various remedies for bar chewing, which tend not to work long term. The most effective is weaving cardboard through the bars in the area they chew - but they will often just move to another area. Some methods are unsafe (eg putting lemon juice on the bars to deter them as lemon juice is citrus, acidic and bad for hamsters - plus it does not solve the cause of the bar chewing). It's not recommended to blow on the hamster either (as suggested in some places) as this is unpleasant for the hamster and can create more hostility and lack of trust. Plus they don't understand why it's being done and it doesn't have a permanent effect. What is needed is a solution.
If a hamster is bar chewing constantly then the usual solution is to upgrade them to a bigger cage. This poses a dilemma for some owners - what if they buy a bigger barred cage and the hamster still chews the bars? And they've just bought a second expensive cage. It's possible they might. If it has become an ingrained habit rather than just stress of needing more space (or more enrichment). But usually they stop if they're in a 100cm cage with plenty of enrichment.
I am not keen on the idea of just saying - put them in a tank or solid sided cage. Obviously they can't chew bars then but it may not reduce the stress that caused it (unless the tank or solid sided cage is significantly bigger than the original cage). And stress can lead to disease as it lowers the immune system.
So if the hamster is in at least an 80cm by 50cm cage and bar chewing, the first thing to try would be
1) Weaving cardboard through the bars and adding extra enrichment (or seeking advice on how set up and enrichment could be improved). If the hamster is in a cage smaller than 80cm by 50cm then the first thing to do would be to upgrade the cage to a 100cm or larger one. With suitable enrichment.
2) If adjusting the cage and enrichment doesn't work then upgrading the cage to a bigger one is the next step. Narrow 7cm bars are harder to chew so it's much rarer for hamsters to chew those - however most of the narrow bar cages (Barney and Alexander) aren't available any more - except second hand. But size of cage does make a difference. So either a larger barred cage or a larger tank style or solid sided cage - but not a tank or solid sided cage of the same size or the stress will be the same which is bad for the hamster (even if it relieves the noise of bar chewing).
Bar chewing is directly related to cage size stress and environment stress (or temporary bar chewing can be an urgent way of getting your attention to a serious problem - like no water).
Bar chewing is bad for hamsters. Even if you can tolerate it (which most can't) it can damage their teeth (leading to needing regular vet dental work) and it can cause sores on their nose that keep re-opening. So a solution is needed and that is usually - a bigger cage and suitable enrichment.
Here's the research (but many of us have found out by trial and error anyway!)
"Frequency and duration of wire gnawing significantly decreased with
increasing cage size. Thus, the welfare of pet golden hamsters might be improved by
providing enriched cages of at least 10,000 cm2"
This appears to be a translated, redacted version of the original research (the original contains some possibly distressing photographs so I'm using this redacted version from the Hamster Welfare site). It's in English from page 4.
1) The cage is not big enough for the hamster
2) There is not enough enrichment in the cage (or a suitable dark area to retreat to). Eg not enough substrate.
3) Too much cleaning out removing all the hamster's scent and causing stress. They don't feel secure. Partial cleanouts are better.
Hamsters can bar chew for other reasons - eg to get your attention if something is wrong in the cage. So if a hamster who doesn't normally bar chew starts bar chewing, take note and check things out, for example:
1) They can't reach their food or water (ie no ramp to a shelf or a ramp fallen down).
2) Their wheel is stuck and won't spin
3) Their water bottle is empty
But the most common cause of regular bar chewing is, the cage is not big enough for the hamster. If you think about it, if you let them out to run around, do they bar chew? No - because there are no bars and they have plenty of space. There has also been academic research done showing that the larger the cage, the less the hamster chewed bars. I believe the optimum point where they stopped chewing the bars was 1 metre square. See below.
From personal experience, I have never known a hamster bar chew in a 100cm cage. There may be some hamsters who will (maverick females perhaps) as for some hamsters, even a 100cm cage isn't big enough for them.
You may come across various remedies for bar chewing, which tend not to work long term. The most effective is weaving cardboard through the bars in the area they chew - but they will often just move to another area. Some methods are unsafe (eg putting lemon juice on the bars to deter them as lemon juice is citrus, acidic and bad for hamsters - plus it does not solve the cause of the bar chewing). It's not recommended to blow on the hamster either (as suggested in some places) as this is unpleasant for the hamster and can create more hostility and lack of trust. Plus they don't understand why it's being done and it doesn't have a permanent effect. What is needed is a solution.
If a hamster is bar chewing constantly then the usual solution is to upgrade them to a bigger cage. This poses a dilemma for some owners - what if they buy a bigger barred cage and the hamster still chews the bars? And they've just bought a second expensive cage. It's possible they might. If it has become an ingrained habit rather than just stress of needing more space (or more enrichment). But usually they stop if they're in a 100cm cage with plenty of enrichment.
I am not keen on the idea of just saying - put them in a tank or solid sided cage. Obviously they can't chew bars then but it may not reduce the stress that caused it (unless the tank or solid sided cage is significantly bigger than the original cage). And stress can lead to disease as it lowers the immune system.
So if the hamster is in at least an 80cm by 50cm cage and bar chewing, the first thing to try would be
1) Weaving cardboard through the bars and adding extra enrichment (or seeking advice on how set up and enrichment could be improved). If the hamster is in a cage smaller than 80cm by 50cm then the first thing to do would be to upgrade the cage to a 100cm or larger one. With suitable enrichment.
2) If adjusting the cage and enrichment doesn't work then upgrading the cage to a bigger one is the next step. Narrow 7cm bars are harder to chew so it's much rarer for hamsters to chew those - however most of the narrow bar cages (Barney and Alexander) aren't available any more - except second hand. But size of cage does make a difference. So either a larger barred cage or a larger tank style or solid sided cage - but not a tank or solid sided cage of the same size or the stress will be the same which is bad for the hamster (even if it relieves the noise of bar chewing).
Bar chewing is directly related to cage size stress and environment stress (or temporary bar chewing can be an urgent way of getting your attention to a serious problem - like no water).
Bar chewing is bad for hamsters. Even if you can tolerate it (which most can't) it can damage their teeth (leading to needing regular vet dental work) and it can cause sores on their nose that keep re-opening. So a solution is needed and that is usually - a bigger cage and suitable enrichment.
Here's the research (but many of us have found out by trial and error anyway!)
"Frequency and duration of wire gnawing significantly decreased with
increasing cage size. Thus, the welfare of pet golden hamsters might be improved by
providing enriched cages of at least 10,000 cm2"
This appears to be a translated, redacted version of the original research (the original contains some possibly distressing photographs so I'm using this redacted version from the Hamster Welfare site). It's in English from page 4.
Last edited: