[aqh88]

If you give into them you are only teaching them to chew and then the sticks definitely won't have an effect. It works the same with all animals. If they get a reward or what they wanted for a certain behavior they will repeat it. They don't know that behavior is bad or good until you show them. Since punishing a guinea pig doesn't work just ignoring them is the best course of action. If they are really seriously chewing nonstop or have chipped teeth in the past I'd try attaching some extra coro or cardboard up to the top of the cage temporarily to see if they'll give up the behavior. Under no circumstances do I feed or hold a pig for chewing. I wait until they stop or at least pause. I only had 1 pig that would do it for hours on end and within a few months he gave it up because it got him nothing. Then he'd only chew on rare occasion and soon found the stick to be more interesting than the bars since his original purpose for chewing was gone. Pigs are smart enough to recognize rewards and not so much punishment but just being denied what they want or not getting their way until they try a different behavior.