Chewing cage - please help! At my wits end

Lymaine

Lymaine

Junior Guinea Pig
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So Branston and Norman are in side by side c&cs as they were having vicious fights. I don’t know who is the instigator of the fights but since doing this Branston is chewing the grids constantly. His teeth have already ground to a funny shape and I’m SO worried he will hurt himself or lose a tooth.
I have tried putting vinegar on the grids, moving the cages further away from each other, giving him more things to chew and I’ve even bought clear Perspex and lined the side of the cage with it.
For an hour he’s been going nuts running back and forth, climbing up on his sticks to bite above the Perspex, pushing on the Perspex and biting the grids where there is no perspex!
I don’t know what to do! I’m so worried he’ll hurt himself and I don’t know how to stop him! Please help! What do I do?!
 
Lymaine said:
So Branston and Norman are in side by side c&cs as they were having vicious fights. I don’t know who is the instigator of the fights but since doing this Branston is chewing the grids constantly. His teeth have already ground to a funny shape and I’m SO worried he will hurt himself or lose a tooth.
I have tried putting vinegar on the grids, moving the cages further away from each other, giving him more things to chew and I’ve even bought clear Perspex and lined the side of the cage with it.
For an hour he’s been going nuts running back and forth, climbing up on his sticks to bite above the Perspex, pushing on the Perspex and biting the grids where there is no perspex!
I don’t know what to do! I’m so worried he’ll hurt himself and I don’t know how to stop him! Please help! What do I do?!
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Hi

Try to wait a little bit longer to see whether he will calm down now that he cannot get at the grids easily anymore. Piggies will usually do. Remove his sticks to another area so he cannot get at the top of the perspex from there.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

Try to wait a little bit longer to see whether he will calm down now that he cannot get at the grids easily anymore. Piggies will usually do. Remove his sticks to another area so he cannot get at the top of the perspex from there.
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How likely is it he will hurt his teeth eventually biting the grids? He’s so frustrated with the perspex that I’m worried he’ll get out or hurt himself on that now! He’s biting the edges of the perspex now.
 
Lymaine said:
How likely is it he will hurt his teeth eventually biting the grids? He’s so frustrated with the perspex that I’m worried he’ll get out or hurt himself on that now! He’s biting the edges of the perspex now.
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Hi
I hope that he will settle down eventually once he realises that he cannot get past the perspex. Right now, he is obviously very upset and is trying to get past it somehow.

Could you peg or cable tie some cardboard above and or behind the perspex for the time being so the barrier is optically more solid? That should do the trick for any piggies that do not settle at all.

Out of ca. 80 piggies I have only ever had broken incisors from a persistent culprit once in over dozen years. Bar biting at feeding time is a competitive sport here right now since with 10-12 cages it takes a few minutes to get all piggies served. I have three piggies that are so focused on the biting that they do not even notice when food is being served although they are learning to heed my warnings unless they want to be physically pried from the bars and plonked in front of their food with some scolding!
 
Thank you that made me feel a lot better! I have removed the perspex because he was SO stressed out and with the heatwave we’re having I just thought that level of stress is not good… and I knew I’d never get any sleep either! I am going to just ignore him and hope he stops… he has only started this since they’ve been separated so it’s obviously to get to Norman. As annoying as it is I can cope with it now being reassured how rare it is for them to break their teeth on it. I laughed at the image of all your piggies waiting to be served! I imagined them all with bibs banging their knives and forks on a little table 🤣
Thanks so much Wiebke 😊
 
I’ve found that if they are as persistent as he sounds, then the only thing to do is to block their line of sight. As a stop gap measure in the past we’ve used cardboard cable tied to the grids while awaiting for a new piece of Correx to arrive. However, one persistent menace managed to rip his way through that during the night so he could still try to get at the neighbour (ironically this was a neutered boar and sow fight).
When the new correx arrived we cut a piece to size and cable tied it in position. Peace reigned. Although that pair have since passed on I’ve still kept my 2 grid divide with correct cable tied to it in case of a similar situation occurring in the future.
 
VickiA said:
I’ve found that if they are as persistent as he sounds, then the only thing to do is to block their line of sight. As a stop gap measure in the past we’ve used cardboard cable tied to the grids while awaiting for a new piece of Correx to arrive. However, one persistent menace managed to rip his way through that during the night so he could still try to get at the neighbour (ironically this was a neutered boar and sow fight).
When the new correx arrived we cut a piece to size and cable tied it in position. Peace reigned. Although that pair have since passed on I’ve still kept my 2 grid divide with correct cable tied to it in case of a similar situation occurring in the future.
Click to expand...

Hi yes I did think maybe block the line of sight. They are in 2 separate c&cs so I could just use a great big piece of cardboard in between the cages. Not the prettiest solution but after wasting £12 on perspex I don’t really mind if it works lol
Since I’ve removed it he has calmed down! He was so annoyed about it lol
 
VickiA said:
I’ve found that if they are as persistent as he sounds, then the only thing to do is to block their line of sight. As a stop gap measure in the past we’ve used cardboard cable tied to the grids while awaiting for a new piece of Correx to arrive. However, one persistent menace managed to rip his way through that during the night so he could still try to get at the neighbour (ironically this was a neutered boar and sow fight).
When the new correx arrived we cut a piece to size and cable tied it in position. Peace reigned. Although that pair have since passed on I’ve still kept my 2 grid divide with correct cable tied to it in case of a similar situation occurring in the future.
Click to expand...

I put a big piece of cardboard in the way but he went nuts again chewing madly and running back and forth. I removed it and he’s chewing again. I don’t know what to do for the best
 
Wiebke said:
Hi
I hope that he will settle down eventually once he realises that he cannot get past the perspex. Right now, he is obviously very upset and is trying to get past it somehow.

Could you peg or cable tie some cardboard above and or behind the perspex for the time being so the barrier is optically more solid? That should do the trick for any piggies that do not settle at all.

Out of ca. 80 piggies I have only ever had broken incisors from a persistent culprit once in over dozen years. Bar biting at feeding time is a competitive sport here right now since with 10-12 cages it takes a few minutes to get all piggies served. I have three piggies that are so focused on the biting that they do not even notice when food is being served although they are learning to heed my warnings unless they want to be physically pried from the bars and plonked in front of their food with some scolding!
Click to expand...
I have a baby whom rattles the bars when hearing fridge open, me getting up, feeding time, she in with two others, they are older but baby is the noisiest one of all my 9 piggies lol
 
Lymaine said:
Thank you that made me feel a lot better! I have removed the perspex because he was SO stressed out and with the heatwave we’re having I just thought that level of stress is not good… and I knew I’d never get any sleep either! I am going to just ignore him and hope he stops… he has only started this since they’ve been separated so it’s obviously to get to Norman. As annoying as it is I can cope with it now being reassured how rare it is for them to break their teeth on it. I laughed at the image of all your piggies waiting to be served! I imagined them all with bibs banging their knives and forks on a little table 🤣
Thanks so much Wiebke 😊
Click to expand...
Feed me now! Hooman
Me first nobody else just me 😂
 
How is Norman reacting to Branston's bar chewing? Is he interested or does he ignore it or does he chew back?
 
Perhaps it was Branston having a pop at Norman then, and Norman is quite pleased to see the back of him!
 
That I don't know. When I had to split my boys some years back there really wasn't much chewing by Casper. He just chewed around to see if he could get into Harvey's bit and then accepted it. They'd been bonded all their lives and then Harvey got unwell and Casper made a play for dominance. It was a shame but boys are boys!
 
Could you try tying some Perspex to the grids? Or correx? There’s proplex which is thinner but the same type of material. Or you could drape some fleece over it and pin it somehow?
 
Siikibam said:
Could you try tying some Perspex to the grids? Or correx? There’s proplex which is thinner but the same type of material. Or you could drape some fleece over it and pin it somehow?
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See above.. it didn’t go well 😐
 
could you drape fleece over it so he can’t see through or get to the grids to bite on them? Or you may have to move the cages apart but that isn’t helpful given they still need the interaction.
@Piggies&buns @PigglePuggle @VickiA
 
At the moment I have moved the cages further away from each other and blocked the line of sight by putting a big piece of cardboard in between the cages. It’s purely to get to Norman because he gets floor time, lots of cuddles, has chew toys that I change around regularly and he’s in a big 2x5 c&c. Norman just ignores him most of the time. Every now and then he stretches up to have a look but that’s about it. He’s quite happy on his own! I had to separate due to the vicious fighting they started. They both drew blood and had nasty teeth marks and bald patches. Branston lived with an older pig who then died, on his own and then with Norman. He only started biting the grids when I separated them.
 
Does Branston not get floor time? Does he have enrichment in his cage that he merely ignores?

Sometimes they have to have view blocked for a good while to give them a chance to calm down.
 
Siikibam said:
Does Branston not get floor time? Does he have enrichment in his cage that he merely ignores?

Sometimes they have to have view blocked for a good while to give them a chance to calm down.
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Yeah they both get floor time separately. Lots of enrichment which he does use. He’s a bundle of energy! I will leave the divider up and hope that works. I’m the sort of person that expects it to work straight away lol
He’s not bitten today I think because it’s been so hot he’s just been laying on his ice pack!
 
He’s cooled down enough now to resume normal behaviour of chewing madly and running back and forth! Just don’t know how to stop it! The cardboard is still there blocking his view of Norman
 
Siikibam.. it worked! I have left the view blocker up and he has finally stopped! He chewed madly Wednesday evening when it cooled down. Think he was making up for 2 days of not doing in the heat 🤣 it went on for well over an hour just constant… but since then… PEACE! He bit for maybe 20 minutes on Thursday, then less than 10 minutes on Friday and tonight.. nothing! He’s fine and popcorning and NO CHEWING! Hope I’m not speaking too soon but it seems to have worked! We completely ignored him the last few times. Didn’t go in at all, didn’t speak to him.. I think ignoring it and the view blocker did the trick. Norman also appears to be enjoying the peace 😁 so thank you everyone 😍
 
I’m glad he’s stopped. Keep it up for a good while then you can try removing it and see how he is. Definitely ignore if he does it 👍🏾
 
Thank you. I’m scared to move the sight blocker to be honest. No biting at all today or tonight either so I’m really happy about that! Might just leave it there.. when I take him out I cover his eyes so he doesn’t see Norman as we pass his house 🤣
 
You can leave it up for a long while - perhaps a month? Then see how he is.
 
I left mine for 2 weeks then moved it twice a day for about 10 minutes at a time, gradually increasing the time until it was no longer needed.
I have another pair though where one pig has full grid height and width perspex on his side of the divider as he will not stop biting the bars. He goes into a frenzy and does it continually, bar biting took over his life except for when he was asleep and he wore his front teeth to stubs. Now he can't get at the bars he sits and chatters to his neighbour happily, not ideal as they can't touch noses or smell each other but the best I can do for them.
Good luck!
 
piggieminder said:
I left mine for 2 weeks then moved it twice a day for about 10 minutes at a time, gradually increasing the time until it was no longer needed.
I have another pair though where one pig has full grid height and width perspex on his side of the divider as he will not stop biting the bars. He goes into a frenzy and does it continually, bar biting took over his life except for when he was asleep and he wore his front teeth to stubs. Now he can't get at the bars he sits and chatters to his neighbour happily, not ideal as they can't touch noses or smell each other but the best I can do for them.
Good luck!
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Thank you. I don’t think my two will ever be able to touch noses 😔 but I will try to move the sight blocker maybe after a month or two.. thinking perhaps once the hormones have calmed down. They’re both 9 months old.
 
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