Bar chewing - possible solution

[KaitRoo]

As I've mentioned in a few posts on here, I'm losing sleep, my mind, my sanity, and my patience with a certain Mr Pablo Picasso and his bloody bar chewing. It's CONSTANT. I refrain from feeding him to shut him up, as he'll only learn that it'll get him what he wants. He has a massive block of wood from the apple tree to chew on, but no, he wants to eat Ferplast paint (revenge for naming him after a painter?)

Today I had a brain wave, vick's vaporub throws their smell off, so I took some and rubbed it all along the bottom bars of the cage...

I've had silence for 4 hours now, even at veggie time he didn't chew them!

 

[Sodapops]

i once used vaseline for two of my serial bar chewers and it worked, up until the point that the vaseline dried and then they started again - although now they only do it when they think it's yum yums time in an attempt to make us go quicker!

 

[KaitRoo]

i once used vaseline for two of my serial bar chewers and it worked, up until the point that the vaseline dried and then they started again - although now they only do it when they think it's yum yums time in an attempt to make us go quicker!

Yum yums time lol that made me chuckle! Thanks for the extra substance tip we're onto 5 and a half hours now ans he's sat as far away from all the bars ss possible =D

 

[Squidge]

are they close to sows? only my most *amorous* boys do this when they're close by sows...or at dinner times

(and by *amorous* I only mean that they rumble around the cage and can be quite dominant with other boars )

 

[KaitRoo]

Fairly close, although there is a thick wooden partition between the cages. It's only Pablo who does it and it's never near the girls' side. His brother Robin barely touches the bars. He's just naughty lol xx

 

[Sodapops]

are they close to sows? only my most *amorous* boys do this when they're close by sows...or at dinner times

(and by *amorous* I only mean that they rumble around the cage and can be quite dominant with other boars )

My two bar chewers are a result of me unfortunately. They started doing it with the excitement of dinner time, but then decided to do it when i opened the back door (and they could smell fresh grass), when a packet/bag was rattled and then moved on to whenever they wanted something, of course i always gave in - and so it became natural for them to do it whenever they wanted something and i always came running.

Its a very hard habbit to break. My one boar did it constantly when he had to be separated from his cage mate, as soon as i opened the cage for him to come out he would stop it - so deffo an attention thing.

Thankfully though a couple of my girls haven't grabbed the concept of 'biting' the bars but instead stand there and lick them

 

[KaitRoo]

Thankfully though a couple of my girls haven't grabbed the concept of 'biting' the bars but instead stand there and lick them

At least the bars stay clean!
I think with Pablo it's an attention thing too, if I keep the vaporub up I'm hoping he'll forget about the bars and learn to chew his wood instead

 

[Squidge]

mine just wheek whenever I stand up (they're in my living room)...and although it can get annoying and quite noisy with 25 of them...it's definitely not as annoying as bar chewing I think my lot are used to me feeding them whenever I'm ready to feed them...rather than when they're ready to be fed!

 

[KaitRoo]

mine just wheek whenever I stand up (they're in my living room)...and although it can get annoying and quite noisy with 25 of them...it's definitely not as annoying as bar chewing I think my lot are used to me feeding them whenever I'm ready to feed them...rather than when they're ready to be fed!

Lol it's funny isn't it, if I leave my room they start wheeking to try and get me to come back. I f
Definitely don't let them dominate over feeding routines either

 

[KaitRoo]

Just to update, I renewed the vaporub on the bars again last night before bed, I think it only lasts 12 hours or so, but I feel so refreshed today after the first decent night's sleep in a while without being woken by the pablovski rascal!