Why is my chinchilla eating cardboard?

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CocoChins

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2019
Messages
12
So I got my chinchilla 4 or 5 days ago and we brought him home in a carboard box. I put him and his cardboard box and in the cage and decided to use the cardboard box as a hideout and started to realize that he was eating it. I quickly took it out and now his cage is cardboard free. Now im just curious about why he is eating cardboard, is he hungry? Is it a habit?
 
Some chins just eat cardboard, it's not uncommon, most just shred cardboard but some eat it too. They eat bark and wood so maybe in some chin's minds it's all the same. They are smart for a rodent, but only about as smart as a 2 year old human, and they try to eat nonfood things too. It's up to you to keep an eye on the chin and make sure there is nothing unsafe in the cage you can't expect them to know what is and isn't safe to swallow.

So long as you aren't limiting his food, about 2tb of pellets a day and unlimited amount of hay it's unlikely he is doing it because he is hungry.
 
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