Grinding teeth and sticking out tongue?

[bianca]

Hi everyone. Last night while giving my chinchilla hay, i noticed he was grinding his teeth a little bit (i wasnt alarmed when i saw this because he grinds his teeth sometimes just to fall asleep, and just normal things like that) but what i was kind of wondering about was his tongue.
He grinded his teeth, then he stuck his tongue out of one side, then the other side, like, licking his mouth sort of. (quick movements).

im sure its nothing and he may have just been cleaning his mouth or maybe his teeth are bothering him.. but i thought i'd ask if this is common, or if other peoples chinchillas have ever done this before...because a lot of you are a lot more experienced with chinchillas than i am! (because ive only ever had 2 in my life and a ton of people on here have like 5 or more, ha ha)

thanks in advance!

oh, and when i saw him do this i put a pumice block there for him, which he only likes to chew on sometimes.

 

[Godofgods]

it could be because his teeth need something to grind on. Or it could jsut be behavioral. Sometimes my male will grind when i pet him or he becames a little bit excited at what evers going on.

Do you have anything else in their besides the pumic block for him to chew? Mine personaly dont seem to care for the pumic blocks, but they chew their wooden ledges quite a bit

 

[nik8806]

My chinchillas "lick their lips" a lot, especially after treats like raisins. But I have seen them do it while eating their hay and pellets too.
I would watch him and make sure he doesnt show any other signs that he might be in any discomfort. If he seems to be, I would go see a vet to check his teeth. But to me, it just sounds like he was enjoying his hay

If you have apple sticks, most chinchillas go nuts over those. Mine arent big fans of the pumice.

 

[bianca]

yeah he has tons of things to chew on! pumice,sticks, loose hay and hay blocks. thanks !

 

[Chub_Chub]

A couple of my chins lick their lips after drinking. "MMmmMmMmm... water.... nummmy!" It's adorable. They sometimes grind their teeth and look like they are trying to talk. Ziggy did this last night while staring at me. Little weirdo.