Hamster with water bottle fetish

[Jonathan S. Pollack]

Hi all.

It would appear that I have a hamster with a water bottle fetish; she
keeps on banging it against the side of her home from about 11:00pm
until around 5 in the morning. I'm sure this is normal hamster
behavior, but is there anything I can do to make her stop? It's not
for my health; I can sleep straight through it. She, however,
successfully makes the entire bottom of her home fully wet every few
days, and I have to dry/replace the bedding and refill the water.

Incidentally, she has plenty of toys and plays with them as well, but
she seems to especially like this water bottle.

Any suggestions?

--
Jonathan
j...@cs.wustl.edu

[Daniel Plante]

In article <3fk04g$1...@siesta.cs.wustl.edu>, j...@siesta.cs.wustl.edu
(Jonathan S. Pollack) wrote:

I had a water bottle problem last year: my hamster Loulou (he passed away
since) would keep plugging the little glass tube that brings the water to
to cage by sticking seeds into it, and thus would run out of water and be
very thirsty when I woke up in the morning. I solved the problem by using a
new water bottle, one of those with a metal tube instead of glass. That
tube contains a little stainless steel ball at the tip that prevents leaks.
The hammie has to gently push the ball with his/her tongue in order to get
water. Those bottles are (almost) totally leakproof, wich is good for you,
and can't be plugged by seeds, wich was good for me and Loulou. Mine is
made by Hagen but I think you can get them from other companies as well. Be
careful when you buy one, though, since they are offered in different sizes
for different critters (hamsters/gerbils, guinea pigs, etc).

Hope this helps!

--
****************************************************************
Long live to all hamsters. They make our lives better every day.
****************************************************************
Daniel Plante
dpl...@vm1.ulaval.ca

[Chad M. Nelson]

>Hi all.

>Any suggestions?

duct tape works wonders. Tape the back of the bottle to the wall of the cage. The hamster can still climb but the bottle won't move.

>--
>Jonathan
>j...@cs.wustl.edu

[Michele E. Johnston]

My hamster chews on his water bottle as well..I usually just took it as a sign
that he wanted out.