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Author Jamie Huggins of Lowcountry Chinchillas Homemade Chin Toys With a herd of over 50 chinchillas it’s just too expensive to buy store bought toys for everyone but I wanted to give my animals something to play with that would help keep their teeth healthy. I decided I would try to save money and make my own cage toys. I discovered that most home improvement stores and lumber yards sell small pieces of wood that are the perfect size for chew toys. I was able to find untreated pine wood 1"x 2" (8 ft long) for $1 a stick because they had imperfections. I found that by looking for wood that was very warped (curved instead of straight) I could get a very good deal. I've been able to talk stores down to as cheap as .50 cents a stick. I was also able to buy a roll of wire from Lowes for about $2. Once I got the wood home I had my husband cut it into different sized blocks. It’s amazing how many pieces of wood you can get out of an 8 foot long board. While he sawed the wood I used the drill and put a hole through each piece of wood. We made a HUGE box of toy parts for under $3 and less than an hour of work. It took some trial and error to find the best way to string the pieces and attach them to the cage. I knew I wanted the wire to stay put and I wanted to be able to replace the wood easily. I took wire and wrapped one end around the top of each cage again and again. After about 4-5 wraps I cut off the excess wire on top of the cage making sure the point was not where it could injury the chinchillas. After adding a few wood pieces, I bent the end of the wire backwards making sure the loop it created wasn’t a size that could catch a paw, and stuck the end back into the bottom hole of wood. I was able to spread the end away from the main wire so that when I pushed it back into the hole it was a very tight fit and secured the toy nicely. Now I keep a box of spare wood parts in the chin room. Each day as I feed and water I also check the toys to be sure they are secure. As the wood gets chewed away I just have to pull the wire end out of the wood, straighten it to add more pieces, and then tuck it back up. I am able to give my chinchillas a healthy toy and it doesn’t cost much at all. To give them a little variation I sometimes drill holes in hay cubes and add those to the toys. I have found that cutting toilet paper tubes into circles and adding those works well too. If you have homemade toy ideas send them to CCQ@chinclub.net and we will include them in future issues.

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