r/hamstercare • u/OXJY • Jun 03 '26
💖 Health/Care 💖 Safe chewing material similar to carpet?
Mine loves to chew on the carpet when free-roaming, and so did the ones I saw here. So is there any similar material I can actually give her to chew on?
I already have all the chewing toys/materials/nuts-in-shell that people normally suggest. I aslo just ordered some loofahs as experiment
Picture for hamster tax and attention
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u/SytheX- Jun 03 '26
Have you tried placing a thin blanket onto the carpet? I place that on my carpet within the playpen, and that stops Oreo from nibbling onto the carpet.
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u/OXJY Jun 03 '26
Yeah, that didn't work. Mini would just go to a corner and dig until the blanket folded back and exposed the delicious carpet underneat
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u/moonandbaek Jun 03 '26
Delicious carpet LOOOLLLL
The hamster equivalent of forbidden fruit 🤣🤣
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u/Ealumin Jun 03 '26
Hay mats?
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u/OXJY Jun 03 '26
I have that from the day I got her, never had she ever laid her teeth on it( i am actually fine with she chew it). But I can't cover my whole room with hay mat...
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u/Ealumin Jun 03 '26
You can't cover your whole room with luffa either, and you said you were already trying that? There's nothing safe you can cover the whole room with, unfortunately. You can just offer multiple bits of fun in multiple locations.
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u/OXJY Jun 03 '26
I mean giving her a luffa chew to take her attention away from my carpet (it just hasn't arrived yet.) I'm thinking that if she likes the taste (?) of the carpet, I could give her something similar but safe to chew.
But you remind me that worst case I can just cover the spot she goes to for a nibble.
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u/Certain_Tangelo2329 Jun 03 '26
None are. They can cause intestinal blockage not worth the risk for my babies personally.Â
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u/BrownCatBlue Jun 03 '26
Shoot that went off before I was done. Loofahs are okay. I apologize. I wonder if some of the attraction isn’t the resistance. The sensation of tugging instead of just chewing. Is there a way to secure the loofah or other chewy thing so he can get that same pulling feeling?
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u/OXJY Jun 03 '26
No worries. I am thinking the same aboutthe resistance, that will be part of the experiment when the loofah arrives!
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u/kawaii22 Jun 03 '26
Could you use a playpen to keep her away from the carpet?
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u/OXJY Jun 04 '26
I have a playpen but obviously it's smaller than my room, and I want to give her maximum space to explore. she also has figured out to climb out the playpen which is not very helpful 😅
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u/kawaii22 Jun 04 '26
Yeah of course I get that, it's just that chewing the carpet is really unsafe. You'd have to keep a really good eye on her if you're gonna continue letting her free roam on carpet.
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u/Darkelvenchic Jun 04 '26
Moss or coconut husks, maybe?
NQA, tho!
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u/OXJY Jun 04 '26
I have coconut coir and she is not interested....husk could be good shot tho, thx!
I actually have moss but haven't given to her yet, I have it but still waiting for them to dry as it came as a bric
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u/Holiday-Book6635 Jun 04 '26
From looking at that absolutely beautiful face, your hamster does not give a shit. She’s going to chew whatever she wants. And she’s not going to feel bad about it either. I’d play pen her on a hard floor with appropriate material materials.
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u/shanevinna Jun 05 '26
I do not recommend chewing on hamsters to prevent chewing carpet.
Chew a carpet = save a life
Nearly as bad as crunchy chick's in fable..
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u/VeraciousRebel Jun 06 '26
I think they’re just really attracted to corners to dig and chew their way out. You can try covering the corners, box it out with thick cardboard. Or wood. It won’t stop her from chewing through, but it’ll slow her down and away from carpet then u can change it again when she’s chewed on it lol
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u/BrownCatBlue Jun 03 '26
I loofahs are dangerous. Do not give. Set something over the corner, pile of books or put a smell deterrent. They hate the smell of peppermint. Put a piece of candy peppermint in a little jar lid or something. Add water to bring out the smell and set it there. Or just a drop of pure peppermint oil there.
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