Author: Amanda Dean
of Fuzzy Chins
Metal Chewing Chinchillas
All chinchilla owners know that our furry friends love to chew; they chew on wood, baseboards, cardboard and pumice stones to help grind down their continuously growing teeth.
However, I have met three chinchillas that have found a new chew toy; it’s very accessible and they prefer it over any wooden toy we can give them. What is this new toy...aluminum! The metal can be in all forms that you might find in or around a chinchilla's cage; ¼” rods, used as an extra 'brace' to strengthen the cage, aluminum drop pans or even a Leo Braun Wheel.
Let me introduce you to these special chins. Their names are Cotton, Joey and Boomerang (Boomer) and they are the best metal chewers you will come across. Oh, did I mention they are related? Cotton is Joey and Boomer’s father.
We did not observe their love for metal instantly. Joey was one of our first chinchillas and he was housed with Roo, who was of no relation. Joey and Roo’s cage had a Leo Braun wheel, which they loved to run on.
Joey never showed any interest in chewing on the wheel until his brother, Boomer, arrived. Boomer and Joey came to be housed together when Roo was paired with his girlfriend, Sydney. Boomer was only 8 weeks old when we picked him up. He was very calm and seemed to be the perfect little boy; just like an angel….that was until we introduced him to the Leo Braun wheel. He enjoyed running on the wheel, but we started to notice that Boomer liked to take “snack breaks” on the edges of the wheel while taking a breather from exercising. Boomer taught his big brother their daddy's bad habit ... It didn’t take long for Joey to discover the pleasure of 'metal decorating' too!
We tried to convince them that wood was better and filled their cage with numerous wooden chew toys. Unfortunately, they were already addicted to the metal.
The first day that I saw a hole through the metal, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe they had chewed right through the metal Leo Braun wheel! We decided this called for desperate measures and so we purchased ‘Fooey’ to coat the outer rim of the wheel. We were eventually able to deter Joey from chewing on the wheel, but I think Boomer liked the Fooey and he kept chewing on his precious metal toy. As you can see from the pictures, the deterioration of the wheel was fairly quick. No matter what I tried, Boomer insisted on denying he was addicted to metal and kept chewing until the entire outside of the wheel had been chewed through.
Destruction of Wheel (Left to Right): Brand new wheel; Slightly chewed wheel and Boomer looking innocent; Two pictures of the holes chewed in the Leo Braun Wheel
During one of our visits with Jo Ann, we heard a commotion coming from Joey and Boomer’s parent’s cage. When I investigated, Cotton was chewing an aluminum rod attached to his cage. He seemed to be really enjoying himself and finally it hit me that metal chewing runs through the boys family (it has managed to skip a few of Cotton’s sons).
Jo Ann was kind enough to take pictures of Cotton’s handiwork…he managed to chew right through the ¼” aluminum rod and during our last visit, Cotton discovered that the drop pan was aluminum, too….Yummy!
Joey now has a flying saucer wheel in his cage. His mouth is not wide enough to fit around the edge to chew through the metal and I think his girlfriend Raven has been keeping him in line.
Boomer will soon have a flying saucer also and we are keeping our fingers crossed, that he will not manage a way to chew through it. I hate to cut Boomer off, cold turkey from his metal addiction, but I think it will be better for him.
So the next time your chin is chewing on your favorite shirt or your baseboards, just think, they could be chewing through their aluminum or plastic drop-in pan to ‘freedom’.
Thank you Jo Ann for letting me share Cotton’s story and for providing the pictures!
P.S. Also, electrical wires are made of metal and rubber or soft plastic and can easily be chewed through by a chinchilla. No crispy critters please!
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