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chinchillin2005

chinchillin2005

Shadow's mom
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
199
I went to Petco today because I needed bedding for my chin, there were 2 choices of aspen or petco soft wood made up of fir, spruce, and pine. I got the softwood bedding because there was a pic of a chinchilla on it. I get home, and what do you know, I google safe woods for chinchillas, and FIR AND SPRUCE are TOXIC for chinchillas yet Petco still sells this WITH a picture of a chinchilla on it! That is not ok on any level - i am going to complain to them that they shouldnt sell toxic wood for chins in the first place! This is why I never shop at Petco! This isn't the first time I've had to return products I got for my chin, I would NEVER give my chin unsafe wood or bedding for that matter and seriously how dare they say its safe for chinchillas when it's TOXIC?
 
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You might be able to get away with using it if it doesn't smell like anything remotely "piney", but I'd probably return it and fire off an email to their corporate address. Local stores can only do what they're told (to a degree at least). The district level and up can change policies, and they give a fart in the wind about the animal products health and safety. Remember, they make *more* money if a chin dies of respiratory infections at age 5 and people buy a new one from the store than by telling people how to care for their animals properly in the first place. Individual employees usually care more than the white collar guys, but store level employees can't make the kinds of changes the pet sales and care industries really need. :(
 
Sadly, I wonder if their excuse is that it isn't sold for them to ingest, and that it's safe for bedding and not their fault if the Chinchilla eats it, unless it's toxic to their exposed feet. Same with those other products with plastic. But of course for us, when they say safe for chinchillas, that means we expect it can't harm them, and so obviously chinchilla's chewing habits.

They shouldn't get away with saying they are safe without some kind of warning it's harmful if ingested and or chewed.

This is my first week with my chinchillas, and it's sad you can't have fun buying stuff for them without having to 2nd guess they are safe or not :(
 
How do I get away with using it????? I wouldn't even open it. FIR and SPRUCE are TOXIC and deadly for chinchillas! The beddings made up of fir/spruce/pine. I am pissed at Petco, they are horrible at their products, and I saw a poor chinchilla in there with hardly air conditioning and I wanted to save it so bad. This is unacceptable on any level, I am going to do something about this. I feel bad for pet owners who don't question authority and think everything is safe because some ignorant company says it is, UGH. and that was the only BEDDING that had a pic of a chinchilla on it. I am going to return it for ASPEN bedding, ASPEN is safe right?
 
3CsMommy said:
... they make *more* money if a chin dies of respiratory infections at age 5 and people buy a new one from the store ...(
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Now it makes sense why the life expectancy listed on the chinchilla cage (tank) was so low compared to what I later researched for a health chin. It's almost like they know all the plastic products, toxic wood, treat filled food, sugary treats, etc, are going to shorten your chinchilla's life.
 
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Brian123 said:
Now it makes sense why the life expectancy listed on the chinchilla cage (tank) is so low compared to how long a healthy chin can live from other sources. It's almost like they know all the plastic products, toxic wood, treat filled food, sugary treats, etc, are going to shorten your chinchilla's life.
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Exactly!! Chinchillas at petco always have PLASTIC igloos in it, and it's like halfway chewed, and the treats are all yogurt and harmful sugary crap, and especially the charlie the chinchilla feed which almost gave my chin liver disease for using it for 5 years and all the wood are toxic and unsafe. they dont even label what woods the toys are made up of. They shouldn't even sell toxic woods in the first place, and my chinchilla chews on his bedding quite a lot. I would recommend you buy chinchilla wood, toys, and everything else from chinchilla online sites, never from petco or petsmart. By the way, there's videos on youtube proving the horrific abuse and neglect of the animals at petco and petsmart behind the scenes.
 
A lot of us who have multiple chins use kiln dried pine products without issue. If the bedding you bought doesn't smell of tocophenols and your chin can't chew it, you could chance it. I wouldn't without knowing it is actually kiln dried, but the mere presence of pine products isn't going to send your chin toppling over dead. That bedding you bought could be a mix of fir, spruce, pine, just two of those, or be just one type. Vague labeling is part of how they get away with selling stuff that can harm your pets.

Yes, aspen is safe, and when I only had one, that's what I used. It gets expensive quickly when you go through a lot of it, but it is a hardwood, so it's safe.

And Brian, you're exactly right. The oldest chin on record was almost 28 years old and lived with a breeder in the UK, presumably peeing in kiln dried pine shavings and eating pellets and hay for all that time. No raisins. No plastic toys. No death wheel with the cross piece to whack his feet/ears off. Just pellets, hay, wood chips, and love. My guys are spoiled with a safe wheel and rose hips twice a week, but there are breeders who do the rose hip thing for Vit C too. Chins aren't really complicated to keep if you're willing to do your research. Unfortunately that means a healthy distrust of pet stores is a basic survival skill, not a conspiracy theory. :(
 
I have seen fir and spruce on many "bird safe" lists, which is what the chin safe wood lists are basically based off of. Some will list the specific genus of Abies for fir and Picea for spruce.

http://www.birdsafe.com/woods.htm
http://www.busybeaks.com/wood.htm

Unfortunately in today's world it is "buyer beware" so it is up to us to research products before we buy them. Like it was mentioned earlier, complaining to the store won't get you very far if it is corporately owned. You need to go higher and even then they will want to see evidence and support by credentialed people (i.e. veterinarians) to remove a product.
 
I've used fir with no problems. I've also used igloos with my chins with no problem. If they started to chew the igloo, I took it away. Same thing with plastic shelves. Hedgemom, who you guys won't know but who old timers will, always used igloos in her chin cages.

BTW, I have yet to see bagged bedding that isn't kiln dried. If it wasn't, it would smell strongly and in some cases be moldy. They dry it to remove the phenols, but also to remove the moisture so they can compress it and bag it.
 
I would like to see research that shows for sure these woods or portions of them are toxic to chins. I have and still do use woods on this so called toxic list with no ill effects that I have seen with thousands of chinchillas. Who came up with this list and how much knowledge and experience do they have with chinchillas?
 
What I don't understand is why Petco does this. I feel like they would make more money if they got their animals from hobbyist breeders (or large scale breeders who actually care about their animals; I do not mean BYBs) who KNOW what they are doing. This way, they avoid overcrowding (often seen in the mice displays) as they will put them in store as needed since most breeders won't have enough animals to cause over crowding. Then they are selling genetically healthy animals whose temperaments are known and creating a better name for themselves, which is to be important to businesses. If they then changed their products to actually be safe for the animals that they sell, they would make more money off of that. They would receive business from the people who do their research prior to buying their pet, and the damage to the animals who are bought by those who do not do prior research will not be as bad. In this way, they would have more long-term customers, which has to be better for the company, right?
 
ticklechin said:
There are many MANY people who are responsible breeders who wholesale chinchillas.
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OK, at least that part is going... But why doesn't Petco or Petsmart follow up on the "responsible" part? They'd have longer standing customers which has to be better in the long run, no?
 
Its up to YOU the chin owner to make sure a product is safe, not the store. I mean grocery stores sell things to humans that will kill them, its up to the human to make sure its safe or weigh the risks.
 
Why would they want your pet to live 20 yrs? If your chin dies every 6 or 7 yrs they can sell you 3 chins in the same time span and look at the difference in profit. There is no pay off for them to be responsible for how you care for your pet. All pet stores carry basicly the same products for rodents. You can buy it from them or another store.
 
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