Bar chewing and climbing

willow&clover19

willow&clover19

New Born Pup
Joined
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Northern Ireland
So I was downstairs and heard some noise upstairs in the Guinea pig’s room I went to check and since they have only been with me for five days of course they ran and hid so I set up an iPad and recorded them. They have a c and c cage. I watched the video back and saw they were going up on their hind legs against the bars of the cage and one of them was chewing on the bars. So I put cardboard along the cage. Is this ok to do? Or is it cruel?
 
What else have they got in their cage? Can you describe your setup? Do they have unlimited hay?
 
Some piggies are bar chewers, sometimes to get attention (aka tricking you into giving them some more food....After all they must be starving if you fed them 10 minutes ago) but @sport_billy makes a good point they should have lots of hay at all times. I also keep a hay cube or carrot cottage for them to chew...it's less noisy.
 
Posyrose said:
Some piggies are bar chewers, sometimes to get attention (aka tricking you into giving them some more food....After all they must be starving if you fed them 10 minutes ago) but @sport_billy makes a good point they should have lots of hay at all times. I also keep a hay cube or carrot cottage for them to chew...it's less noisy.
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I woke up this morning to them chewing the bars again, this time the bars are chipped. the only bars they have to chew are beside the water bottle as I could not put cardboard there. I’m very scared that they’ll escape😕 as I said they have been up on their hind legs. Since I’m new I read and I found it said some guinea pigs can climb.
 
Are they chewing for breakfast. Widget used to chew the bars for meal times
 
They’re chewing all the time they have unlimited hay and pellets in the morning. I read somewhere on here to put vapour rub on the bars?
 
Mine have only chewed bars when they've wanted to get through them but it's not been persistent... then again mine might be older than yours as one is 2 and three are 3. Is there something interesting they can see that they might want to 'explore'? Can they see the hay bag? Do they fancy a bit of floor time!

I do a cage tidy and hay refresh in the evenings, but in the morning after a few veggies I give a handful of fresh hay to keep them busy while hubs goes on the 'grass run'. They still have plenty of hay from the night before but they're always delighted to get a bit of fresh on top!

Mine won't climb but young Flora could possibly jump a C&C if she was determined to do so because I've seen her jump effortlessly on top of the bars in this picture and perch there. This barrier is 27cm high which is 10&1/2 inches - she perched on the top wire like a bird. If there was a big drop on the other side I might think about whether I need an extra row of grids on top? Mine are on the floor - those on the right have the run of the kitchen, but if Flora fancies her chances on Zara's side of the fence... well, I suspect she'd rapidly jump back out again.
4 way grass pile.webp
 
My boys will put their front paws up on the bars and Gundham will chew as though his life depends on it any time they think there's a chance of me feeding them, which is any time I move, talk, open the fridge, enter their room or sometimes just for fun.

Don't worry too much. The only thing that I've found has reduced how much they do it a bit is to stop feeding treats through the bars and instead lean over the bars so they have to come into the middle of the cage/ away from the bars to be fed.
 
Sweet Potato said:
My boys will put their front paws up on the bars and Gundham will chew as though his life depends on it any time they think there's a chance of me feeding them, which is any time I move, talk, open the fridge, enter their room or sometimes just for fun.

Don't worry too much. The only thing that I've found has reduced how much they do it a bit is to stop feeding treats through the bars and instead lean over the bars so they have to come into the middle of the cage/ away from the bars to be fed.
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my Ozzy is the same as gundham! The moment he sees me roll over in bed, move, breathe? He begins chewing like his life depends on it too, worst part is that then sets Bruno off who shakes the bars as well as chews them :yikes: :))
 
Free Ranger said:
Mine have only chewed bars when they've wanted to get through them but it's not been persistent... then again mine might be older than yours as one is 2 and three are 3. Is there something interesting they can see that they might want to 'explore'? Can they see the hay bag? Do they fancy a bit of floor time!

I do a cage tidy and hay refresh in the evenings, but in the morning after a few veggies I give a handful of fresh hay to keep them busy while hubs goes on the 'grass run'. They still have plenty of hay from the night before but they're always delighted to get a bit of fresh on top!

Mine won't climb but young Flora could possibly jump a C&C if she was determined to do so because I've seen her jump effortlessly on top of the bars in this picture and perch there. This barrier is 27cm high which is 10&1/2 inches - she perched on the top wire like a bird. If there was a big drop on the other side I might think about whether I need an extra row of grids on top? Mine are on the floor - those on the right have the run of the kitchen, but if Flora fancies her chances on Zara's side of the fence... well, I suspect she'd rapidly jump back out again.
View attachment 171214
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Here’s a picture of the cage, now I have cardboard the whole way round the cage except the grid with the water bottle which is what they’re chewing now. I suspected they were trying to chew my string lights so I took them down straight away. They are in the spare room. I’m thinking maybe they could see the pellets bag... but I moved it and they still did it.7D59E975-4A1C-4061-B44E-F56686FD8587.jpeg
 
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