Why does he constantly do this?

[whatofit]

My chin has it in his head that if he constantly chews at the bars of his cage he will get out. When he does it I try and bring him out for playtime. 9/10 times he would much rather stay there eating the cage.
How do I stop this? Its really annoying.

 

[liewwan]

Stop taking him out when he does that is my best suggestions.

 

[Riven]

If it is always one spot, put a toy or something there so he can't access that area and see what happens. He may have just gotten "stuck" on that area. I always worry about cage biters breaking their teeth...

 

[whatofit]

If it is always one spot, put a toy or something there so he can't access that area and see what happens. He may have just gotten "stuck" on that area. I always worry about cage biters breaking their teeth...

I put the water bottle in the way. Hes a bit mad that I did but im sure he'll get over it

 

[Godofgods]

If it is always one spot, put a toy or something there so he can't access that area and see what happens. He may have just gotten "stuck" on that area. I always worry about cage biters breaking their teeth...

you dont wanna see my ferrets then! Iv had my chins bit bars and ill tell you, it doesnt even compare to my ferrets. Its like the diffrence from getting flicked and hit by a car. Im amazed they havnt hurt them selves.

As for chin chewing on bars, it does happen. My guys did it for a while. Generaly it was a sign of anxeity. Them wanting something out side the cage that htye cant get to. (atleast for mine). In my case, my guy wanted to get to his girl in the cage next to him. He couldnt see her any more but he new she was their. And he wanted out to get to her!

With a FN cage their was rly nothing at my disposal to do about it. To much area for me to try and cover, and even then i doubt it would work. It was just something i had to wait out. They eventuly stopped doing it and clamed down.

 

[Riven]

Did there used to be a toy, chew, ledge or anything else in that spot before the biting happened? I'm assuming it's in one spot as you didn't say otherwise, lol. It may be that he wants what was there back... or he might be OCD... lol

 

[Cuddlebug]

Every time you take him out when he's chewing the cage bars, you are rewarding him for the behavior. You need to ignore the behavior completely. Right now, chewing bars = getting out.

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

Every time you take him out when he's chewing the cage bars, you are rewarding him for the behavior. You need to ignore the behavior completely. Right now, chewing bars = getting out.

That's exactly right!!! Reinforcing negative behavior just encourages them.

When Mr. Whiskers was a baby, he started doing that. I knew that he loved any attention from me, so when he started it up, I immediately left the living room and went where he couldn't see me.

These little critters are VERY smart and he caught on very quickly -- chewing bars = NO attention from Mommy!!!

Give it a try!!! :thumbsup:

 

[Tillygizmo]

Our one boy did it so bad that we had to line the inside and outside of the cage with fleece like 6 inches from the bottom and around all the shelves! it looked like he just had windows to look out of... it worked though!!!!

 

[ChinnyMom]

Every time you take him out when he's chewing the cage bars, you are rewarding him for the behavior. You need to ignore the behavior completely. Right now, chewing bars = getting out.

precisely! my Guss will bar bite now and then, mostly when i am across the room from his cage and not paying him attention. when he does this i continue to not pay attention to him, and if he really gets into 'i'm gonna chew my way out of this jail cell!' mode, i leave the room for a bit. when i come back in, if he is not chewing bars, i will lavish him with attention.

 

[partygirlha]

Does he havew other stuff to chew on? toys, twigs etc? Some animals are bar chewers... I've got a GPig who will chew bars all day long... even if his cage is wide open and he can have floor time.. even when he has tons of toys...

 

[whatofit]

^ There are a lot of chew toys, and a hut made of wood that he's using as a toy instead of a hidey hole. I figure its just his personality that makes him a bar chewer, maybe he likes the noise, who knows.

 

[Tillygizmo]

Maybe he's flossing :rofl: