Wooden Hammock Experience?

Wondered if anyone has any experience making *wooden* hammocks for their chins?

One of my chins occasionally has the urge to nibble specific edges of his double/covered hammock. I’ve tried mending them using an invisible stitch, but maybe once a week he seems to fixate on that one specific area and work a small hole back in there again, which he seems to like to worry into something bigger once in a while. I don’t think he’s eating very much of it (I will sometimes find small bits hanging off which I trim off and then try to mend back again), but I’m thinking that hammock has to go. They've got plenty of toys around them to chew, but occasionally he wants something soft, it seems.

I'm considering using one of those bendy willow stick huts, turning it upside down, and hanging it with wire. I feel bad though because it’s clearly one of their favorite places to snuggle and sleep in the early morning. They’re always there when we come down in the morning. I think they enjoy having a cozy covered place to snooze, so I'm trying to figure out a way of replicating that without fabric. Do you think a seagrass mat would work as a roof? And would it be able to hold the weight of a chin in case one of them decided to jump on the top portion of it?

Did a search on here to try to find some advice, but the majority seems to have chins that don’t bother nibbling fleece… :hair:

I've never heard of a wooden hammock, but I do know some people use wooden bridges or those bendy wood tunnel/bridge things if those are what you are talking about. I would not use sea grass as something you expect to hold weight, chins will eat that and therefore make it not very sturdy. Other options are making tunnels for them to sleep in. I haven't gotten around to making fleece covers yet so my guys just have a plain metal coffee can as a tunnel, attached to the cage. I've also seen metal duct pieces used for tunnels, also depending on if you want it a tunnel or not some people PVC piping, if cut in half it makes a U shape sleeping spot.

Unfortunately some chins do chew fleece, and if they do it's best to just remove it from the cage, even if you don't see any eaten, just chewed, at little bit over time can add up and can cause a problem since it's not digestible. Also if the chin gets too close to the stitching it can swallow thread, which is very dangerous.

Thanks very much for the reply, Amethyst. Yes -I meant the wooden tunnel/bridge things that can be shaped like a U and then hung for the chin to climb into (hammock-like, I suppose?).

We opted to put the seagrass in to cover the bottom to make it ‘softer’ for them but mostly to cover up a rather annoying gap between the thick willow sticks (I was worried about one of them getting their feet/legs stuck). But one chin has decided it’s a good spot for a toilet now. So one of them will occasionally nibble on fleece hammocks, and the other one pees on the wooden one… either just because he wants to, or is he telling us he wants his old fleece hammock back…? Sigh. Back to the drawing board to make them safe and happy.

I think your suggestion of tunnels/tubes is a good one. It’s hard to find coffee cans that large in the UK, but I’m going to see if I can track down metal ducts that would be similar in size. Probably the best bet as they’re easier to clean, but can’t be chewed…

do you have a pic of the fleece hammock and where hes chewing? Im curious the design. I had a hammock that had the loops on the four corners to hang by. My girls would chew at them until it gave out. But when i got riveted ones, they stopped bothering. (Basic square hammock with a little hole inside the corner area. With a metal grommet added.)

It's one of these:


It's hanging in the top center part of the cage and has ledges leading into the front and back entrances. Only one part of the hammock tends to get nibbled on. It's the section where he can sit on a ledge and then just go at it. It's only the bottom part of the honeycomb hammock that gets nibbled/worried at, never the top. I don't think they ever sit inside the hammock and chew for whatever reason.

After mending it (and washing in water/vinegar! I realized the new-thread-smell attracts one of them...) I've rotated the hammock so that the nibbled edge isn't by the ledge any more, and it seems to have worked... so far.

We had to take out the wooden upside-down-bridge/hammock because it needed to be cleaned rather badly and they both *immediately* ran back up to the fleece hammock and took up their usual positions. They clearly missed it. Made me feel so bad taking it out. They were both snuggling in there when I went down this morning. And no more pee-accidents. I do feel like they were trying to tell us they were displeased...

There are 2 other hammocks in there - one just like the one you posted (with grommets) dividing up the upper and lower levels to act as a trapeze net in case of a fall from a ledge, and another corner hammock that they mostly use as a trampoline to jump up onto a hidey-shelf. They don't ever chew on either of those. It's *only* the double hammock that they always sleep in...