Chewing plastic pans of her CN?

So recently I've come to learn that Bubbles has a certain bad habit that her cagemates don't... she LOVES to chew plastic.. particularly the bottommost pan of her cage. It happens less frequently now but she almost took out an entire corner, which I didn't realize until it was time to clean the cage and I removed their litterbox. I thought the inconvenience of getting behind the litterbox would dissuade them from chewing the fleece liner behind it, but it turned out to have the exact opposite effect.

So I'm eventually going to order a new bottom pan - but I was just wondering, how do you discourage rats from chewing the plastic on their cages?

I'm in the same boat. I've got a couple of girls doing away with my pan. ugh. It's disintegrating more and more each day.

My latest brats have chewed the corner out of their bottom pan. They just push any litter pan out of the way and ignore it. The hole is now their favourite pooping spot so it falls out of the cage. I am leaving the pan for now, and place a litter box under the hole, outside the cage, to catch the mess. There's no point in getting a new pan until they quit chewing so much.

Does CN make metallic pans by any chance? They sure as shoot wouldn't chew those..

They make Bass pans that have a higher side. People who use bedding like them because it stays in the cage better.
I think some people have gotten them from Flowertown Chinchilla in Ontario. I don't know where you are - there may be a distributor closer.

Flowertown Chinchilla sells metal pans - both high and low sided
http://www.chinchilla.ca/product.php?catID=2

I have always had rats that chew their pans

My girls have chewed the corners of their CN pans, but not all the way through. They also chew the edges of their litter pans and the insides of their plastic hide houses (they are recycled plastic shaped like a tree stump).

I have a lot of natural materials in their cage for them to chew, like apple wood twigs, wicker items and timothy twists, so they have a variety of items on which to nibble. I'm not sure if that's why they have not chewed all the way through the pans, though. All the chewables certainly don't stop them from nomming the fleece shelf covers!

DawntheSnipe said:

My girls have chewed the corners of their CN pans, but not all the way through. They also chew the edges of their litter pans and the insides of their plastic hide houses (they are recycled plastic shaped like a tree stump).

I have a lot of natural materials in their cage for them to chew, like apple wood twigs, wicker items and timothy twists, so they have a variety of items on which to nibble. I'm not sure if that's why they have not chewed all the way through the pans, though. All the chewables certainly don't stop them from nomming the fleece shelf covers!

Click to expand...

Yeah it's really just a thing Bubbles does. Momo, Daisy and Pepper never had that problem when all four of them were together, but Bubbles just really loves to chew things she ought not to. I'll try to pick up some of the things you mentioned and see if that helps.

I had a power-chewer girl, too--I used to go through a lot of the twig bundles they market for rabbits with her!

I also save the cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels for them--they like to carry them around and shred them.

DawntheSnipe said:

I had a power-chewer girl, too--I used to go through a lot of the twig bundles they market for rabbits with her!

I also save the cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels for them--they like to carry them around and shred them.

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I've had a cardboard tube in their cage for months and they've never touched it. It's weird.. maybe Bubby only likes plastic stuff.. which is bad cause that's one of the big no-no's as far as chewing goes.

Mine love chewing large Snak Shak Activity Logs

http://www.chinchilla.ca/detail.php..._Shak_Activity_Log_-_Large_(8_in_1_ecotrition)

SQ said:

Mine love chewing large Snak Shak Activity Logs

http://www.chinchilla.ca/detail.php..._Shak_Activity_Log_-_Large_(8_in_1_ecotrition)

Click to expand...

That sounds really promising. And it's a treat on top of a chew block! My girls will absolutely love it.

Mine have just started chewing on their bottom pan.
I have one of those logs in my cage, they love it. But someone loves chewing the pan more. I put some newspaper in the cage and they were going nuts playing with it. I'll have to check and see if that lessened the chewing of the pan.
I'm planning to just get one of the 3/4" height metal pans down the line, as they are about the same price as the plastic.