Licking the bars of his cage?

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amyjane94

Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
10
Location
Nottinghamshire
Hiya, so recently I've noticed my chinny licking the bars on his cage, he goes up and down them almost obsessively for 5 or 10 mins each evening, but I can't tell why he's doing it? He's never done it before these last few days. I've tried putting more toys in his cage incase he's bored, but he's still licking the bars... :hmm:

If anybody's experienced this before, do you know why they do it? Is it something to worry about?
 
Since no others have an idea here is what I was thinking.

I have not had this with my chins. Obsessive repetitive Behavior in other animals can be caused by boredom. No amount of toys can substitute out of cage time or interacting with another. Could be a way to sooth him self if he is stressed. No real way to know unless you give more info on how the chin is kept.

Where is the cage kept? Do you have other chins? How often do you let him out? How often do you spend time with him in or out of the cage? How big is the cage? do you have a wheel?
 
I live in a studio flat (kitchen and bedroom/living room all open plan), so when I'm at home he's always in the room with me, he gets a minimum of 2 hours free roam time each evening, but it's usually more like 3-4 hours.
He's pretty independent, doesn't really like to play with me but he likes running and climbing around the flat and comes up to me for pets and scritches every now and then, occassionally he lets me cuddle him for a bit but he's not the biggest fan of it :laughitup:

I don't have any other chins at the moment, however I will be introducing another boy to him in a couple of weeks and trying to bond them.

I don't have a wheel as yet, do you think that would be a good idea?
 
I live in a studio flat (kitchen and bedroom/living room all open plan), so when I'm at home he's always in the room with me, he gets a minimum of 2 hours free roam time each evening, but it's usually more like 3-4 hours.
He's pretty independent, doesn't really like to play with me but he likes running and climbing around the flat and comes up to me for pets and scritches every now and then, occassionally he lets me cuddle him for a bit but he's not the biggest fan of it :laughitup:

I don't have any other chins at the moment, however I will be introducing another boy to him in a couple of weeks and trying to bond them.

I don't have a wheel as yet, do you think that would be a good idea?
Could there be dust on the bars? My girls like to lick dust off of things. By dust I mean their dust bath. Since it floats into the air and settles, sometimes they find a dusting of it on something and they'll clean it off.

Sent from my BLU R1 HD using Tapatalk
 
Could there be dust on the bars? My girls like to lick dust off of things. By dust I mean their dust bath. Since it floats into the air and settles, sometimes they find a dusting of it on something and they'll clean it off.

Sent from my BLU R1 HD using Tapatalk


So I've been observing him to see if this is what he's doing (I don't think it is, I can't see any dust) and I've realised he's not just licking the bars of his cage... He seems to like licking all metal he can get to. My hamsters cages, the legs of chairs, legs of my bed, my piercings, I even caught him licking the radiator! :hilarious:
 
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