A few questions..

[bianca]

I have two questions so I decided to put it in one thread.
1- do you think that cage liners for easy clean up / cleanliness are safe ? (similar to like cat litter liners?) if not.. Do you have any suggestions if anything for what could be used? ) if it's unsafe I will obviously stay without one.
2- I have one of those balls that my chinni can go in and roll around. However, recently I heard that they are apparently bad or damaging to the chinchillas spine ? Is this true ? :s

Thank you !

 

[Stackie]

1) I wouldn't use the liners bought from say, a pet store. The chin would most likely just chew them up. Many people use fleece liners for their chinchilla's cages. This decreses the wooden shavings mess and cage cleaning time considerably. However, you need to change the liners out every 2-3 days because the chins usually do pee on them. If you don't, they may start to smell. You can buy fleece liners from several suppliers that are on the forum, or I have a tutorial on how to make them yourself.

2) Yes, those balls are horrible for chinchillas. They have little to no ventilation and chinchillas can easily overheat in them. They also do not allow the chin to move around properly because they do not run, they hop.

 

[bianca]

Ok thank you so much. And k. I have not used the ball in a really long time and I won't be any time soon! Thanks again

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

1) it depends on your chinchilla. some like to chew their fleece liners so some owners just dont use them. i agree with what stacie said about no petstore liners. but if your chinchilla like them then that will be great because they are fast to clean. if you chinchilla is potty trained then you can vacuum them every day or so and wash them once a week. you will need 2 sets of the liners though because you will need one for when your other one is in the washer.

2) they are called death balls on here if thats any help
there is little ventilation and they trap heat so your chinchilla can die very quickly from heat stroke.