One of the surprising things we learned was that not all wood is safe for chinchillas. And since chinchillas constantly chew on wood, it is important that only safe varieties be used in and around their cages.
We've found that apple wood is the easiest to get because of the many apple orchards in our area. We simply take a trip to an orchard, ask the owner if we can pick up wood that has fallen to the ground, and buy a pie on the way out. A good deal all around!
One suggestion that we've yet to actually try is "cooking" the wood for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. The idea is to heat the wood to a temperature that kills micro-organisms, but doesn't actually burn it. Also, we've seen recommendations that the wood be washed in salt water. We're still looking in to what benefit that would have.
The following is a list of safe and unsafe woods. We've used apple, aspen, kiln-dried pine, and pine cones with no ill effects to our chinchillas.
Safe to Use
- Apple (particularly good as chew toys)
- Aspen (shavings good for bedding too)
- Elm
- Hazelnut
- Manzanita
- Pear
- Pecan
- Pine (kiln dried is good, air dried isn't)
- Quince
- Willow
Not Safe to Use
- Almond
- Cedar
- Cherry
- Chestnut
- Fresh pine branches
- Grapefruit
- Lemon
- Orange
- Cherry Mahogany
- Oak (based on it being unsafe for horses)
- Plum
- Redwood
- Sumac
- Tallow
- Walnut
Not Sure if Safe
- Birch (white, grey, broadleaf, silver, and common birch might be OK)
- Ash (seeds produce hydrogen cyanide so why risk it?)
- Juniper (in small amounts might be OK)
Sources:
ChinNet FAQ
Chinchillas 2 Home
Entries (RSS)
July 9th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
I want to make "furniture" for my chinchilla, but I don't know if the dowel rods sold in arts and crafts stores are a safe wood. Can you help?
July 10th, 2006 at 6:38 am
Audrey,
It depends on what the dowel rods are made of. From what I've seen, they can be made of white birch, maple, poplar, oak, ash, hickory, cherry, walnut, mahogany, and ramin.
From that list, poplar is known to be safe. The other wood types are either unsafe or unknown.
August 18th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
We just acquired a new Chinchilla and I was looking at your list of safe and unsafe woods. We gave our chinchilla Bass wood to chew on. Do you know if this is a safe wood?
August 18th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Melody,
Sorry, but we don't know anything about bass wood. The above list is what we've heard specifics about. It's probably best to not give types of wood to your chinchilla unless you sure it is safe.
Welcome to the world of pet chinchillas!
August 18th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Just want to let you know that I was doing some further research on Basswood for chinchillas and I found the following site that talks more about safe and unsafe woods for your pets:
http://www.chinchillas2home.co.uk/safewoods.htm
It says the following about basswood as well:
Limetree - (Tiliaceae) The lime tree is not in any way related to 'Lime' as in citrus trees In the Uk it is called 'Lime tree' but in the States they call it 'Linden' and is also known as Basswood.
See related link here:
http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/lime_tree
Thanks Melody
July 22nd, 2007 at 6:44 am
i am lucky enough to have recieved for my birthday a family of chinchillas, 3 of which are 11 mths old and mama an papa. now mama as jus produced her 2nd litter to which un known to me was pregnant when i recived them, 3 are thriving but 5 came and sadly 2 lost the fight of life,
i had planned to keep the females she produced for company for mama when she has to be separated while in season, but she has only produced boys,
so poor mama as no female company for when the boys are old enough to be independent and are put into there brothers an fathers cage, so would like to know where and to whom i could go to maybe ave a straight swop, male for a female.
so if anyone can help please contact me via e.mail trisharichardson@hotmail.co.uk thank you
August 6th, 2007 at 2:11 am
I would like to remind the people who are finding information online concerning safe methods of caring for your pet(s) to make sure you check your sources and research further before going with anything you read online. You never know who is writing these things and opinions vary over any issue.
Thanks,
Pete
August 7th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Pete,
Your advice is very sound. Getting multiple sources of information makes sense. Even then, what's true for the majority may not be true for your pet so it's also important to observe behavior and adjust accordingly.