Cage Chewing, help

[Jester]

I just bought a baby flyer about a week ago, he's about 8 weeks old now. I was told to keep him in a smaller cage for now until he's a little bit bigger so I'm keeping him in a bird cage that's about 20" x 20" and in it I've got a wheel, some ropes and perches, a couple hanging toys, a chewable log, and some untreated pieces of wood for him to chew on. He was doing fine at first, but as of the past couple days he started chewing on his cage at night. I know rodents need to chew, I've had my share of rabbits and guinea pigs to know that, but I don't think that's why he's doing it. I think he's doing it cause he wants attention. He chews in the same spot each time, and its always on the side facing me. When I rotate his cage away, he then chooses a new spot on the side that's now facing me. I've been keeping him in the bonding pouch every day pretty much from the time I wake up or get home until whenever he wakes up, then I usually let him run around in my room for a couple hours then put him back in his cage, maybe I'm showing him too much attention? I've also been told that if I ignore him he'll stop eventually but the sound of him chewing his cage at night when I'm trying to sleep is unbearable. I've tried using a light spray bottle and I've tried blowing on him, those deterred him slightly but now when he does chew, he does it nonstop until I do eventually stop him. I ordered a bigger cage for him, should be arriving this week but I don't know if that'll fix it. What should I do?

[Marci]

I have the same problem with my Siberian Chipmunk, Buddy. But instead of chewing, he paces back and forth like a madman.

I am curious to hear the responses you receive.

Marci

[Rhapsody]

If he is doing this at night a bigger is not going to stop him as he is nocturnal, therefore, he needs your attention even more so at night "WHEN HE IS AWAKE" and ready to party.
Have you thought about getting another flying squirrel...... a buddy to keep him company - some one to play with when you are not available?

#1 question that should be asked of any one that thinks they want to own a nocturnal animal......... is: Are you able to give to the animal the time they will need (demand) during the night?

[Jester]

I'm usually up till about 3am or 4am though, so I'm semi-nocturnal too.. that's the thing, he does that pretty much from the time he goes in his cage till 7/8am.. once till after 10am when he finally went to sleep

[Rhapsody]

I see - then he is probably just not wanting to be alone at the moment seeing that he is still a baby him self..... a second squirrel may be the answer here, or since he is fairly new to you then waiting it out for a few months (if you can) might help, this way you can see if he is going to calm down in time, or age.

[Jester]

Then on the other hand, when I do take him out (when he's not in the pouch) he pretty much stays away from me and just runs around my room so I'm getting really mixed signals from him.. I'll try just waiting it out I guess, I'd considered getting a second one initially when I got him but they're really hard to come by here and really expensive. My biggest concern was that I didn't want to get in too far over my head by getting 2 when I had no experience with taking care of and raising squirrels to begin with, I know they require alot of attention.. I wanted to make sure I could provide that much attention to him at least. If all goes well though, I might seek out a furry friend for him in the future.