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[4Leaf_Clover]

New Chin owner here    (Paranoid Chin Owner at that!  )

My question is: What are some good, safe toys for chins?  I read somewhere that bird toys are good but I would be scared that he would chew the plastic and it would harm him??  I have also seen pics with toilet paper rolls, string, etc in the chins cage to play with.  Is that safe for them to chew on??

Right now, all Pikachu has in his cage to play with is his wheel (which he hasnt learned to use yet because we just got it about an hour ago) and some chew blocks.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thank you!! 

P.S. do the chins really get on them chin swings? They look like they would be too narrow for the chin to "swing" on?

[chinclub]

You want bird toys with wood only.  Toilet paper rolls are ok as long as they aren't the ones with rings of glue on them.  String isn't a good idea. 

[4Leaf_Clover]

So its ok for them to chew up the toilet paper rolls then I assume?

Thanks for your help...anybody else?! 

[chinclub]

Yes, but if your chinchilla begins eating and swallowing huge amounts you might want to limit the amount of time it stays in the cage.  Chinchillas can safely eat small bits of paper/cardboard but huge amounts could cause some digestive upset.

[Deeliteful]

I have a chew toy holder you unscrew the bottom which is a bell and can put various things on it . I interchange it out but the constant one on it is always a lava bite . I think super pet makes it.

[Jo Ann]

  Chinchillas are curious creatures and don't need much to make them happy.  Love and attention is their biggest need.  (after food and water)   

The large toilet paper rolls (like you see in commercial bathrooms) are lots of fun for chins.  I have one chin that has learned to walk on it and move it anywhere he wants it.  (His favorite place is over to the "J feeder" for a bite to eat.)  They will also curl up inside one and sleep in it. 

The smaller toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls make cute toys to drag all over the cage.  Sometimes you will even see a pair of siblings playing tug of war over the smaller rolls.

Bird toys are nice IF they do not have plastic on them (plastic is bad for a chin's digestive system) and IF they do not have aluminum on them (aluminum is a soft metal and will be eaten by a chin ... not good on the tummy!).

An empty Kleenex box, with the plastic removed, is often a good place for a chin to hide or sleep.  Chinchillas feel safer in close quarters.   

As Jamie said, make sure they are not ingesting to much of the paper these items are made of.

If you check out Lowe's or Home Depot, in the lumber department ... get an untreated pine board (1" x 2" x 4')  and cut it into pieces (1" or 2" wide) for your chin to use as chews.  If you do not have access to an electric saw, invest in a hand saw ... it will pay for itself in no time!   The fancy wood chews you buy in the store are OK, if you have money to burn.     Your chin does not care how much you spend on the chews or the fact that he needs the chews for his teeth, he just knows he loves to chew on them.   

Always keep a lava stone in the cage also.  A chin's teeth are always growing and they must have the wood, hay and lava stone to keep the teeth worn down to the proper size. 

   Jo Ann

[Jenova]

Willow woven rodent toys, mine love them so much, but they get chewn to bits within a day so not really a good investment. Same for loofah toys. 

[nemue]

Like Joanne, I go to the lumber store and get untreated pine.  It's floor moulding, and we discovered that if we get the odd shorter sizes, they can only charge for a full foot, so we often get lots of footage for free.  I have a saw, but if I'm not in the mood, I can just step on it and snap it in half to fit in the cage, and it seems to be fine for them.  They love these as they like chewing on things they can hold down with their feet, as opposed to smaller things that roll away.

Once every couple months I give them a medium sized box (like the size of a pop can box) to play with.  They go nuts for it and chew it up in a couple days.  ONce they pee on it, I take it out, but they crawl in it, roll in it, sleep in it and jump on it. they don't constantly have one, because if it's in for too long their poops get smaller, so I take it out after two days or so.

The most important thing I've noticed is to give them differnet things all the time.  They even get tired of the pine sticks if I don't rotate them with other chew things, or take them out for a couple weeks so they seem "new".  They need variety and new things all the time, so instead of overwhelming them with lots of toys at once, I give them a new one every week.  this is more exciting for them and keeps them entertained the best. 

To be honest, their favourite toy these days seems to be their bedding 

they have never chewed on a lava stone, but it's important to give it a try.