Chinchilla eats fabric?

[Rivet Kitty]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post and I sincerely apologize for another fleece question, but I can't seem to find an answer to my specific issue. A few months ago I purchased a wire bottomed cage for my female chinchillas (my male still needs to be neutered, long story - Petsmart sold me a pregnant female...). I believe the wire is spaced small enough to where they don't actually *need* it to be covered, but I would really like to put fleece shelf liners in as I had a rat with bumblefoot once and I don't ever want one of my pets to have that experience again.

The issue is that I believe Midna (the mother) and possibly Sookie (her daughter) eats fabric. When I first got her I tried covering her cage with a blanket/sheet because I wanted her to have some quiet time/darkness but the first thing she did was pull all the material in. At first I thought nothing of it, but as I watched I am pretty confident that she was ingesting the material. I, of course, took the blanket away. When I bought Midna and Sookie a hammock (this is before I realized they needed to have fleece, it was one of the ferret ones from Petsmart) they took it down in less than an hour, and I think they started to eat the hanging cords/hammock material too. I have not given them *any* kind of material yet because I am so terrified they will get impacted or something awful, but I really want them to have something cozy to sleep on. (I should also mention that I caught Midna eating a Chube, not just chewing, and as I was pretty sure she shouldn't ingest that either I took it away immediately). The male, Link, I am less worried about. He chews, but I think that's it.

Anyway, my main question is, will using fleece solve the possible ingestion problems? Does it make it difficult for them to actually consume it? If not, do I have any alternatives to getting a solid-bottomed cage?

Also, if I end up buying fleece, what kind should I use? Are they all the same?Does it *have* to be polar? I went to Joanne's today and they said that particular store doesn't even carry the polar variety, only the non-pilling and something that started with a B.

Thank you so much for your help everyone!!!

Dawn

 

[addictedtochins]

That store doesn't even carry the polar variety, only the non-pilling and something that started with a B.

Bi-polar?? :hilarious: Please ignore the mental ilness joke from the crazy lady.
Welcome to Chins-n-Hedgies!
Some chins will eat plastic (whole 'nother subject) and fleece, those animals shouldn't have those things. Other chins leave them alone. The type of fleece doesn't matter, just look at the cut edge and see that it doesn't fray. I would look for a better cage without a wire bottom. You can always check your area for a ferret shelter, they may have one

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

Some of my cages have wire bottoms - just cover with newspapers. As for fabrics, chins will often chew all but fleece and some chew that also

 

[Stackie]

If you have voracious chewers, they may even eat the fleece. The reason we all use fleece is because it does not fray and ravel like other fabrics, so you don't get little threads that could wrap around paws, etc. They can however rip apart small parts off the fleece and eat it. You can try it, but if you notice any aggressive chewing at all, you will need to remove it.

The only two kinds of fleece I use are the Polar and the Blizzard fleece. You don't want anything fuzzy.

 

[Chub_Chub]

Hi Rivet Kitty-
Welcome to the forum.
I have actually on a few occasions found the sheet we cover our cages with pulled inside the bars of the cage by pesky little furbabies. Maybe you are seeing torn fabric from the aggressive pulling action instead of actual ingestion. We have tears in our fabiric (it's just cotton sheets) so we have to move those parts to unreachable areas now, like the top of the cage. Last night I actually WITNESSED the fabric being pulled in by Ziggy. He was agitated that the new chin babies were moved into the bedroom with their cage and was trying to see/get at them. Mean little Zigger. Anyway, is your male seperated into another cage nearby? Maybe your females are trying to see/get at him and the fabric is the only thing blocking the view. Just a thought.

Edited to add.. My new chins also pulled the fabric on their cage inside to cover a cold shelf they were laying on. They no longer do this since I made a fleece shelf liner to lay on.