Bar Chewing

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chelle83

chelle83

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Dudley has taken to chewing his cage bars when he wants feeding, does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop this as its only started in the last couple of months? For a start I thought it may have been boredom or something but I've noticed its early mornings when he hears my partner get up for work, he then does this constantly until I get up, as I soon as I feed him he stops.
At nighttime when he knows its bedtime he runs back inside the cage and chews the same section until he gets his bedtime snack.

i've tried the theory of if I ignore him he will get bored and stop knowing its not helping but its really hard ignoring when your laying in bed trying to sleep but get woken by it.

I've just brought a treat ball which I am going to try putting in the cage but I think if I put this in at night with his dry food in they will both just empty it before morning and have the same problem.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. xx
 
Sorry but its not help - its rod and back, we started a routine where ours get a piece of cucumber when we get up and have a cup of tea. Then when we are getting ready we prepare their breakfast. During this time (6am to 8am) they have floor time, ie cage is left open. They invariably congregate at the kitchen door wheeking until breakfast is served. Then a couple of weeks ago I gave them a bedtime treat two nights running. Now they expect it and wheek until they get it. They also now expect a head rub at night from OH.
 
As you say, this is a routine he has cottoned on to, so maybe try making a routine that suits you? Such as making a point of feeding him a piece of veg when you're up and before you go to bed and ignoring anthing in between? It may take some time to break but it could work. It's a really tough one, I have a bar chewer but luckily for me my bedroom is at the other end of the house!
 
I totally understand how you feel as I have a fanatical bar biter. Amelia Jane starts to bite the bars at about five in the morning and will not stop until my boyfriend gets up which is usually around six. Once she is fed she will often carry on. He picks her up only for her to complain so he puts her back. This happens every single day! She bites the bars throughout the day too. I ignore her and she just does not stop. She never did this when her sister was here and stopped after so it breaks my heart when she does it. If it is in the day I pick her up but often when she asks to be put back she will carry on biting. I am at a total loss of what to do. I can only suggest you try and put some fleece around the bars as I tried it but she took it off!
 
Jeni does this when she thinks it is feeding time and I dont! I just give in and feed her!
 
How heartbreaking! I did read that it can be frusrtration too which seems to be how Amelia is expressing herself, maybe given time this will lessen? In the case of my Tyler I think it is because he can smell the boys below *but* as he is getting older this is lessening too, as he leaves his hormonal phase, touch wood. I have tried every accessory under the sun to aleviate boredom that's for sure!
I did buy a wicker/twig ball from my garden centre, its from the woodlands range and inside it there is readigrass so of course, the more the break up the ball the closer they get, that's a quite a good distraction, you can get them in pets at home too.
I found those hay covered tubes good too, until they'd eaten the exterior lol rolleyes
You can buy a 'chew stopper' spray that is aimed at house rabbits but I dont know how safe this is for piggies, you'd need to research it really.
 
You can try the usual things of giving them more space and making sure they have every chew toy under the sun and all their needs met (so they have no obvious reason to chew) but you may find that once this becomes a habitual behaviour it's very hard to stop. The reduction in chewing from giving them extra space and toys only seem to last as long as the novelty, so regularly changing things around introducing new toys and taking others out (have a rotational system going) and giving them plenty of 'free range' time may help or you could consider a cage extension that they can only access when you let them so the space is more novel (preferably without bars!). Also, a constant supply of willow/apple/hazel twigs is a useful thing to have!

You could try and encourage wheeking instead of bar chewing, don't feed him if he's chewing the bars, encourage him to wheek for his food instead (by making a wheeking noise yourself!) and feed him then. Or you could get your OH to feed them (even if it's just some hay) when he gets up for work!

One of my boys is a bar chewer, a few weeks back he developed a pea sized blood blister/swelling on his lower lip which he then managed to bite into (causing it to bleed everywhere!). After a trip to the vets and an anti-inflammatory injection the swelling went down and it healed up fine but obviously I would have preferred he didn't cause injury to himself by bar chewing. I've heard of pigs who've broken teeth chewing on bars which is more serious so it is definitely worth thinking about how to stop him not just for the sake of your sleep.

I've gone for the simple preventive measure of some long cardboard tubes (from dunelm mill fabric rolls) cut in half lengthways and cable tied along the lower bars of the cage which does mean he can't chew - although he has now taken to chewing on the water bowl, which is a metal coop cup, they can't have a water bottle because he chews on those too! He is however chewing less now the bars are covered and is more inclined to chew on appropriate things. :)
 
Star has expanded the bar chewing, they dont do it very often but Star has developed the technique of twanging the bars like a guitar string to grab out attention.
 
perhaps you could try rubbing the bars with lemon juice? They might find it too tart to enjoy the flavour.. I'm not sure if it will hurt but vinegar might be an alternative. My guineas are picky about oranges that are too bitter.. and even with sharp grapes!

if you combine this with a preferred behaviour, like calling out as suggested above, followed by immediate reward then the old behaviour will automatically be dropped for the new one! Might take a few months but my guineas were excellent at learning not to bite. I nipped it right in the bud before it even became a thing!
 
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thank you to everyone fgor their suggestions/comments, its really helped me to know I'm not the only one with a chewing piggy :-)

On the plus side the treat ball worked last night so fingers crossed with that and everything people *** suggested above we might be able to nip it in the bud.

x
 
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