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[Beardysteve1]

Hi all,

I have a pretty basic Chinchilla and Degu cage and am always rearranging things to keep life interesting for the chin. She loves new things 

Was wondering if anyone has any tips or suggestions for ways to enliven the cage. Homemade things to add etc. The plan is to get a much bigger cage down the line and add another chin. But in the meantime want to make the cage as interesting as I can for the crtter before she gets upgraded.

[GrayRodent]

I wish I could say but my chinchilla kind of has a boring cage. I take him out a lot during the day which makes up for it.
I hang treat-kbobs with lots of wood and pumice chews from the bottom of the shelves. These are store bought metal rods with nuts on the bottom you can unscrew and hang your own toys on them. I have a "fiddle sticks" toy by SuperPet that is like a bunch of big wood dowels (http://tjschinchillasupplies.com/chinchillahouses_ledges.html) wired together so you can make a tunnel-like thing. It's really nice and Kulu chews it but it's lasted for months. I recommend that one. He used to have a lava ledge which is a pumice ledge but those were kind of expensive for something he would destroy quickly. And they made a horrible mess. He also chews on the blue cloud rock which is like a rock made of chinchilla dust soil. He likes to rub his face on it and act like he is dusting sometimes. He also has a 14" wheel although I recommend 15" or larger especially if your chinchilla is over 500g full grown. He uses that at mostly night. I've built a wheel counter and it runs around 3000-5000 rotations by morning. I give him smaller things, pieces of paper, willow sticks, and cardboard tubes on a regular basis. Solid white pine or aspen planks make good shelving. My chinchilla has many shelves and he'll run and jump from them for hours. They are his favorite thing.

[Jasonred79]

chins seem to embrace their rodent instincts if you supply tunnels, mazes, and other similiar things.

Also, be prepared that if you supply your chin with wooden furniture/ furnishings/ houses/ etc, they will eat it/ destroy it.