Chin's and paint

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SirCumference

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2015
Messages
16
Location
U.S.
I'll probably sound like a terrible owner in the next paragraph or so, I know.

I have two chinchillas and they love to come out for play time, but one of them is starting to concern me with paint. He has started chewing the paint off my shelf and baseboards. I was told by a chinchilla owner at my local pet store that this was completely fine as long as it was nontoxic paint, but I just can't imagine that being true. Wouldn't it get stuck in their intestines and clog it and stuff, just like plastic? I try my best to stop him every time, but I'm still worried this is dangerous for him despite what the people at the petstore said. Do I need to cover my baseboards? I can definitely do that. I'm not sure how to cover my shelves, but I'll find a way if it is actually neccesary. I really have no clue whether it's a real problem or not, which I know I probably should. I just trusted my local pet store owner and didn't cover the baseboards before I got the chinchilla. Please respond ASAP, I wanna know whether I need to cover it as soon as possible. (The paint is definitely nontoxic, by the way, but I really don't know if that actually makes a difference).
 
You do need to cover the baseboards, unless they were painted with food coloring or bird toy paint then they aren't safe. If the paint is nontoxic then it's probably not going to kill the chin, but as you said it's not digestible if swallowed and could cause gut issues. The other issue is if the baseboards or shelves themselves are treated with anything that could be toxic or otherwise bad for the chin.
 
I don't think you sound like a terrible owner! You are fine.

If it were me, I'd do all I could to make sure your little one isn't eating the paint or gnawing on anything else that could be harmful. Sometimes I think the pet stores just don't really pay attention to the fact that OTHER things can happen to create suffering besides death. They are not really vets there, I don't think, so they are doing the best they can with the info they have, which might not be much.
 
My chins were eating the paint right off the walls.

Wall.jpg



This was a first attempt at covering the walls with fleece. to try and stop them.

FleeceLeft.jpg


I had to move after that so i made a set set using poplar wood nailed into the walls to hold the fleece up.
 

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