When answering many of the questions or referring to statements made, I will often speak in general terms ... what
may not be true directly to any one person
MAY pertain to someone else that just reads the thread, so please do not take anything I say personally.
It's four stories and I leave the bottom half of the cage (two floors) pretty empty except for the food and the flying saucer.
Any exercise wheel will cause some vibrations of the cage when the wheel is in use ... keeping their food on the bottom floor is an excellent idea!
Anything not on the bottom floor needs to be anchored in place when there is an exercise wheel in the cage.
They have this bad habit of "flipping" objects over in their home. Their igloo, their heavy wooden stand... I just gave up on making it look neat and just settle to cleaning around them.
Please tell me you do NOT have one of those plastic "igloos" as a home or a hide-a-way for your chins.
Anything plastic (except PVC pipe) for a chinchilla is a big
Plastic is hard, it breaks off in pieces, they eat it, it does not dissolve in the digestive tract and can cut his/her little insides up.
their heavy wooden stand
For the safety of your little one, please, anchor
anything that is heavy or has sharp edges with bolts and screws or screws and washers. I get e-mails every day from people that have problems/accidents/sick chinchillas ... I have heard to many times about chins being injured/cut/broken bones or even killed by having a heavy object or a sharp object fall over on them, or fall from one ledge/floor to another one below.
Anything that weighs 1/2 the weight or more of your chinchilla OR has any sharp edges is a hazard to your little ones.
IF you are a breeder or your chin is pregnant, please keep in mind heavy bowls (even the ceramic bowls with straight sides, that are normally safe for your chin) can be a danger to a new kit ... I found a two-day-old kit under a ceramic dish that had been flipped over on him by accident ... luckily it had just happened, he was not injured and was found in plenty of time before he could suffocate.
Chinchillas will chew almost anything ... even soft metals, such as aluminum, which is often used in or on small animal toys or as a holder for cuttlebones. I have one chin, Cotton, that chewed all the way through a 1/4" aluminum rod and almost half way through it in a second session that same night. Metals are not good for a chins tummy either. 
I also had to replace all the aluminum trays I had special made for them (because aluminum does not rust) ... the top edges of the trays started looking like a knife with a serrated cutting edge. Money wasted? No, just important and expensive lesson learned. 
Mistakes are part of being human ...
Shareing our mistakes may save another chin's life.
Jo Ann
