Chinchillas need to constantly chew on things to keep their teeth healthy. Might as well have fun doing it, wouldn't you say? Here are some of the chew toys we've tried over the years.
Lava Bites
Lava Bites are little triangular stones made out of mineral lava. Each triangle is made with a small hole in the middle so that you can hang or place the triangle on a narrow rod for the chinchillas to chew. In our case, we just placed a triangle in their cage and within 3 days it was completely gone. Our chinchillas just loved it and left nothing but dust as evidence.
Build-n-Bites
Chinchillas need to have ready access to items they can chew on to keep their teeth from growing too long. Various types of wood such as apple are safe for this purpose. If you don't have access to the right kinds of wood, consider buying wood chews from a reputable pet supplier. Our chinchillas seem to enjoy the Build-n-Bites product although we also provide various other types of wood for them to chew on.
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August 14th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
Those Build-n-Bites looks like tons of fun (for my chin of course), but where can I get them? Is there a site I can purchase them from?
August 14th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
We got ours from a Petco store. They have an online store too.
August 17th, 2006 at 1:56 am
Thank you =)
December 11th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I am horribly allergic to hay which is a need to have thing for chinchillas, as my vet has told me. I need to find something to do what hay naturally dose, files teeth. There is only one problem my chinchilla has a very sensitive stomach and can not eat anything unnatural or sweetened and I think that colored wood would stain teeth (it stained my hamster’s teeth) Can you help?
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:05 am
Hi,
My chinchilla has been eating the wood of his house, and I was wondering if the colored wood would hurt him. The paint seems to come off easily in water.
P.S: It's the Superpet Tropical Hideout house.
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:07 am
Brian,
The colored wood from housing made specifically for pets should be OK. The best is to check the packaging to make sure the housing was intended for an animal that chews. For example, I don't believe ferrets chew on wood so materials for ferrets are less likely to be chinchilla safe.