hamster chewing water bottle

Question
hey!
I've had my Syrian hamster for a year now and recently hes started chewing his water bottle. he does this every night. the water bottle is full but he still does not drink from it, he just attacks it. he is in a ferplast cage from pets at home and seemed happy in it for the past year. he has things to chew on in his cage but does not. thankyou in advance.

Answer
Hi Louise

Thanks for your question.  Chewing is fairly common in hamsters - sometimes they chew their cages, or bars or bottles.  It is difficult getting a hamster to stop chewing once they start.  The important thing is making sure that he has lots of things to do, and lots of safe things to chew.  you can buy edible houses and tubes in Pets at Home called Snackshaks and these are quite good.  It is worth checking his teeth regularly in case he breaks a tooth whilst chewing - in which case you might have to clip the other one so that he can eat properly.

I have tried many things over the years to stop some from chewing, but I think it becomes a habit in the end.  Whenever I see one chewing the bars, I interupt them with either a treat, or a run in their exercise ball to snap them out of it.  Sometimes this works.

Sorry I can't give you a definte answer as to how to deal with this problem.

Regards
Sheila