chewing on plastic

Question
Please help me! I have been losing sleep because my hamster chews on her plastic play tubes, which makes an awful, nails-on-a-chalkboard sound. I imagine this can't be good for her teeth. She has plenty of chew toys but loves to chew on her plastic tubes. I would really appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks.

Answer
hi courtney,

as you know hamsters gnaw, and where they can they will. they are also natures little escape artists and will go to any lengths to get out, and if that means gnawing on plastic, then so be it!!.

i believe (but you may want to check up on this when you go to the pet store, ill explain why you need to in the next paragraph lol)that the plastic made for small animal cages is non toxic, and not any more or less dangerous than chewing on wooden chewstick for getting 'splinters' etc. so i wouldnt worry about this too much.

heres a list of things that you can pick up at the pet store that can help you.

1. Anti-Gnaw Rings.
These should come with any good brand cage with tubing, you buy brand new. so check the box, if not then get some of these, these can be attatched round the edges of the tubes to stop your hamster gnawing the tubes, be sure you buy the rings to match your cage brand, like rotastak or habitrail.

2. Hamster Stone Chews
These are chew toys made from a stone substance (what exactly im not sure), and are great for grinding your hamsters teeth down, the material its made from sands them down like a chisel, so it grinds rather than chips or breaks like wooden ones do, they come in many flavours.

3. An Excersize Ball (im sure you have one, but just incase)
All hamsters LOVE these things. let her out in this for about 20-30 minutes at the very very most, making sure she has water when she goes back in the cage. be warned though, she will come to expect this and gnaw ALOT to be let out, but this leads on to my next piece of advice.

once she's had something to drink, get her out, play with her, give her treats to hoard, like a raisin, small piece of cheese, some lettace. she'll be so tired, and excited about her new treats, she should be less inclinded to gnaw the tubing or anything else she can get those tiny mits on!.

i wish you the best of luck with this, it'll be alot of fun. thank you so much for a great question to answer, and if theres anything else, just ask, also, do leave a comment and tell me how you got on.

joanne :)