A cardboard tube cuts wire-gnawing by 40% in mice, a study shows
Published by Planète Pets · managing editor: Clément Lacaille · how our guides are written
A steady metallic scraping against the cage bars isn’t always just a rodent wearing down its teeth. In laboratory mice, this behaviour has been studied as a stereotypy that signals something missing from the environment, and an accessory as ordinary as a cardboard tube makes a real difference. Our other cage-equipment guidance is gathered in the rodent accessories section.
Contents · 5 sections
A behaviour that signals frustration, not a need to gnaw
Rodents do have a genuine biological need to gnaw to wear down their continuously growing teeth, but the repeated, rhythmic gnawing of cage bars follows a different logic. Researchers classify it among stereotypies: a behaviour repeated identically, with no apparent function, that most often appears when an animal cannot express another motivated behaviour, such as digging, exploring or escaping. A rodent gnawing the bars isn’t necessarily looking for something to chew — it’s looking for an outlet.
The Würbel, Chapman and Rutland study
Published in 1998 in Applied Animal Behaviour Science by Würbel, Chapman and Rutland, the study tested the effect of feed and environmental enrichment on the development of wire-gnawing in male ICR mice raised in standard cages (see the study, doi 10.1016/S0168-1591(98)00150-6). Adding a simple cardboard tube to the cage cut the frequency of wire-gnawing by 40% compared with mice raised without that accessory. The tube did not replace anything already in the cage; it was added on top of the existing setup.
This finding has since been cited in several laboratory protocols as an argument for minimal but systematic enrichment, cheaper than enlarging the cage and easier to generalise than a wheel or a maze.
What this means for a cage at home
In a pet rodent, the same logic carries over even though conditions differ from a laboratory colony: a cardboard tube, replaced regularly once gnawed through or soiled, offers a hideout, a route to explore, and a surface to chew that costs nothing and carries no risk, unlike some plastics. It doesn’t remove the need to check the cage size itself, a criterion covered in our article on recommended cage sizes for hamsters. The choice of exercise-wheel material, another accessory frequently cited in the enrichment literature, is covered in our article on plastic versus metal exercise wheels.
A limit worth keeping in mind
The study covers male mice of a single strain in a standard laboratory cage, a setting poorer than a well-equipped pet cage. Bar-gnawing that persists despite a cardboard tube and a correctly sized cage can point to another gap — social, spatial or sanitary — rather than a simple one-off lack of enrichment.
Frequently asked questions
Does a cardboard tube alone stop bar-gnawing entirely?
No, the study measures a clear reduction, not a total disappearance. It adds to a correctly sized cage and varied enrichment rather than replacing them.
Does the result apply to all rodents, not just mice?
The study specifically covers laboratory mice. The principle of a simple accessory limiting frustration is plausible in other rodents, but hasn’t been measured the same way. Find all our guides on the rodent hub.
An accessory from our shop for this use: Ceramic hideout for hamsters and small rodents (11.5 × 9 × 8.5 cm) (€24.90) · the whole shop
This guide is part of Planète Pets’s Rodents universe. Our advice is general in nature: for any health concern, your veterinarian remains the only reference.