As with all rodents, Chinchillas' teeth grow throughout their lives, including their front teeth and their molars. From a "survival in the wild" perspective, this constant growth is required to ensure that chinchillas' teeth don't get worn down to nothing from all the chewing their food requires. As pets, we need to make sure our chinchillas have many items to chew on plus their food.
Maintaining Tooth Health with Food
Chinchillas innately know that they need to chew on things continually to keep the growth of their teeth in check. The first step is to ensure that they have teeth-appropriate foods. One example is timothy hay which is quite coarse and reportedly popular with chinchillas and their owners. As a backup, we've heard that high quality meadow hay is also good. Check the hay to make sure it doesn't smell musty or dusty.
Chinchillas should be given as much hay as they want. Unlike with treats, chinchillas won't overeat hay so it's safe to keep a constant supply in their cage. It also makes sense to keep the hay in a rack of some sort attached to the side of the cage to keep it from getting soiled. Hay that has been compressed into cubes is also a good way to keep it from being inadvertently used as bedding.
Other Ways to Maintain Tooth Health
In addition to the right food, you'll want to make sure that chinchillas have enough other things to chew on. Of particular importance is supplying them with safe wood. Cardboard boxes are also good and your chinchilla will enjoy being able to hide in them. For those with a little extra money to lavish on their chinchillas, there are various chew toys available, many made out of wood.
Sources:
eRodent
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Hi, I'm after some advice. I have a 6 yr old male chin with a drool/teeth problem. He has stopped eating hay and chewing on his many toys. He drinks normally and eats nuggets normally. He has lost weight though. I have taken him to have his teeth clipped by my vet. Does anyone have any advice re getting him eating and chewing again?
Hi Andy
Does your vet specialize in exotic pets? My Apollo had his teeth done several times - none were "clipped" I can't even imagine the pain if your chin's teeth were treated like heavier rabbit teeth.
Please please get him good oral care. They loose weight so fast and other complications move in.
Alison
ok, so cardboard is ok? is it ok if it like a shoe box and it has like the disine on it? or does it have to be plain card board?
hi i have a chinchilla who has suddenly stopped eating, cant see no obvious things wrong with him he is jumpaing about the cage and drinking ike normal just not eating. can anyone tell me what could be wrong with him and how to sort it?
many thanks
Get your baby to the Vet Claire - the earlier you can find out the cause the better. They are little creatures and fail so very fast. If you love your baby get it there ASAP.
Hi Paul
You need to take her to the vet to get the prescription for the Metacam and also the herbivore liquid diet. It comes in powder form and you add water and feed it to them with a syringe. Apollo would sit up at the edge of his cage while he had dinner or breakfast licking it while I squeezed it thru. I would give him the Metacam in the morning after his breakfast so it didn't upset his tummy. I also switched to alfalfa grass from timothy as it's richer and helped him with keeping weight on also.
Between occasional trips where the vet would grind down the over grown teeth and the Metacam and hand feeding Apollo and I had an additional 2 years together. It was a lot of time and work but truly was a labour of love.
Hi Kelly
Take your baby to the vet - one specializing in chins/exotics. My baby Apollo was about 3.5 yrs old when he started to drool. First trip to vet increase timothy hay but didn't do anything. At 4 I took him back and big drool issue - xrays found he had the tooth growth issue (malocclusion) which could be treated by filing down the teeth but bigger problem he had root issues as well that we couldn't do anything about. For 2 years I hand fed and gave him his pain meds and occasionally we had to get his teeth filled down again. It was expensive but we had 2 good years together before it was all too much for him. He left me in June this year but I wouldn't trade those last 2 years for anything.
My chinchilla unfortunatly has the root issue,she is still eating but im afraid she will stop soon and id like to make the few weeks/months she has as pleasent as possible. I keep reading that people are getting metacam or some other kind of "pain medication" for their chins,im wondering how i would acquire the medication,seems like its not an over the counter pain med.
Of course Paul - You don't get percs over the counter either. It is a prescription medication and needs to be given under the supervision of your vet. They adjust for weight. You will also need the powdered diet supplement twice a day at least so she doesn't starve to death. You don't want that to happen.