The silent spinner is not chin safe at all. Even the giant one is only 12", you need a minimum of 15" diameter (or equivalent when looking at a flying saucer) for a chinchilla, 14" is ok if your chin is small. Chinchillas backs are not designed to bend backwards like other rodents, so using a wheel that is too small will result in back injury over time. Also the silent spinner is plastic, which the chin will eat. Not only is plastic not digestible so it will cause a blockage if swallowed, if the chin chews the center holder the whole wheel could fall off trapping the chin under it and it could suffocate or overheat. Even if those were not an issue and you have a chin that doesn't chew plastic, the axle is spins on is plastic, so you have plastic rubbing plastic, creating plastic dust that the chin is then inhaling. You would also have to attach it to the wall of the cage somehow so it doesn't tip over.
Chin safe wheels include, the
14" silver surfer wheel (once again if your chin is on the smaller side), the
chin spin,
Chin sprint or for the
metal flying saucer the standard size or large are big enough. These
treadmill wheels also look like they might work. If you look online there are several do it yourself style wheels too using cake or oil pans and roller blade bearings, like those found on
Etsy for example, as well as YouTube videos.
The real different between a drum style wheel and a flying saucer is that most chins have no problem figuring out a drum style. Where as the flying saucer can have a learning curve and some chins never figure it out. The flying saucer also takes up a good amount of floor space in the cage.
