Rodents teeth never stop growing, never ever. From the moment they are born until the moment they die, their teeth continue to constantly grow.
Rodents of course include rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and mice, just to name a few. As rodents teeth never stop growing it poses a few challenges to the animals. While it may seem great at first thought, especially if you have dentures, the never ending growing can cause many problems. Some of the problems include uneven wear, and long teeth, which can cause starvation of the animals. To prevent any major health issues, the teeth are worn down by the animal’s constant gnawing on bark, leaves, and other vegetables.
Continually growing teeth is a common problem for rodents that are kept as pets. The lack of natural food doesn’t wear down their teeth as they normally would in the wild, and one of two things usually happen. Either the rodent develops health problems from the long teeth, or they compensate for the lack of natural teeth grinders. When they compensate it’s usually the owner that suffers. A lot of the time they will use furniture, or even the house to accomplish the wearing down of their teeth.
If this happens to you there are solutions that don’t involve getting rid of the pet. One solution is to place a piece of wood inside their cage. Another option is to include course food into the diet. They will gnaw at this and grind their teeth to a comfortable level.
