What is normal?

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ptamom

Active member
Joined
Mar 3, 2019
Messages
35
I realize that every Chinchilla has different taste (much like us) but I can't afford to keep spending $$$ on toys that Sunshine doesn't even like.

I bought her a toy from Etsy (bug shaped w/ rope sticking out) and she loved it the rope and it disappeared quickly but the balls of wood haven't been touched. Same goes for her wood ledges in the cage.

I seen a post about making your own toys but do not know where to buy the skewers to do so.

So, what is normal/non-normal for a Chinchilla to like?

Also, she gets the hay from the holder but I am not sure if she eats it although she loves her pellets.
 
You can buy the skewers either in the small pet and bird sections at pet stores or on Amazon. The bird ones tend to be longer and cheaper, they also come in more then just straight.

Most chins don't actually care too much about the over processed pine shapes, they tend to prefer the sticks and chunks with bark on them. If I use the pine shapes I mix them on the toys with other things. Some other cheaper toys that tend to be a hit are things like wooden popsicle sticks, bamboo finger traps, and willow vine shapes (I know I've listed suggestions and vendors for you before).

For the hay you can try mixing different kinds of hay to make it more interesting. She should be eating mostly hay and just a couple table spoons of pellets. The hay is the primary food, the pellets are more like supplements, they contain all the nutrients chins need that the hay may be lacking (hay varies from crop to crop). The biggest reasons the hay is so important is the added long strain fiber (they need a very high fiber diet) and pellets don't wear down teeth. They need hay to wear down their molars and chew toys to wear down their incisors, so both need to be available all the time.
 
I was just cleaning my guys cage today and fishing around for new toys in the bins and thought I'd mention one other toy thing that my guys like. These palm leaf shedding toy roll for birds, I cut a chunk off at a time and weave it into the bars of the cage, you can also even add it to homemade toys. My guy have been spending the afternoon trying to pull it out of the bars and chewing on it. I only use maybe a foot or two at a time and the rolls come with 30 feet.
 
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