None of my gliders have ever been chewers. All of a sudden, anything plastic is being completely attacked, as if she wants to chew it to death, by Koda. Any ideas on a reason? As a note, this is my glider with cancer, but I'm choosing to post this separate as I'm not convinced its related.

I am not sure if the fact of her having cancer has any bearing on this or not.

I have some gliders that love to chew their toys apart, and others that dont chew at all.

It's really hard to say why the sudden interest in chewing plastic started. If she is not destroying costly items or compromising toy's safety, I don't believe it should be to much of a concern. My first pair (females) had chewed the heck out of their wheel, to point it was unsafe. I replaced their wheel, but also added lots of toys to their cage (they didn't have anything other than a few balls & wheel). After toys were added, they'd "test chew" everything I put in there, but do not destroy anything.

I'm sorry to hear that your Koda has cancer. I would think you're correct in feeling it's unrelated, however not knowing which type or how cancer affects gliders, or even understand cancer, it's hard to say for sure.

I've heard in the past that it can be an indicator of them having pain in their mouth/teeth. Not sure if that's what it is or not, but I've heard stories where it turned out to be that.

Belle has never payed attention to any plastic, ever...ever... Yet I caught her trying to rip off zip ties last night randomly for the first time.. like she was being payed to do it! (they are all cut short with the 'cut' tip melted or sanded smooth). Tonight? Never even look at them. And that one zip tie had been there before she arrived in January so it's not like it was newly placed and just caught her eye sort-of-thing..

Its liver cancer. There is a post on that if you want to know more, I would prefer to keep it separate. http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/...men#Post1369065

Other than this, her bahavior is 100% normal. I have on of those plastic rolling set of drawers in the glider room I keep extra pouches, toys, etc in, and it was when she decided to demolish a corner of one of the drawers I hadn't closed tight that I first noticed how bad the chewing was. She just turned seven, and it seems like thats a little late to pick up a new behaviour when we've had no changes.