How much do chinchillas normally chew?

[Grey]

I know the common answer is "a lot".

But, out of curiosity (and concern), I'm wondering what a normal amount is?

Do your chins get bored of old toys? Do they do silly things like ignoring their chew toys in favor of chewing their wooden ledges? My boy has lots of sticks and some toys clipped on around his cage, but he seems more interested in the ledges at the moment. :facepalm:

How long does it take them to destroy, say, an apple stick?

 

[JessieVictoria]

I find that a pencil sized twig will last daisy about a week at first, then she gets tired of it and tosses it. She'll nibble the remaining bits a little bit but she prefers the fresh stuff! I might be crazy but it seems like she puts the tiny twig ends in with her pee-bedding..
I bought a huge set of apple whirlies and she nibbled all the bark off and left them, never touched them again. I'm getting two more chinchillas in a week or so, so I've got some of daisy's unfinished toys in their new baby-cage.

Anyways it's really a chinchillas preference on what they like to chew. Daisy won't touch hard loofah or vine treats 90% of the time but one day ill go to her cage and find a WRECKED vine toy
I give her an option of everything we have and switch things out once in a while. An old toy becomes new if its out of the cage for a few days

 

[Tagna]

Most chins just chew the bark off and that is it. I make apple wood up weekly to keep up with demand here. I would guess it must be 2-3 lbs a week but that includes the rescues. I give out lots of sticks daily.

They destroy the apple twigs right away. I have lots of other toys that last longer. Some chins destroy their ledges and others leave them. All depends on the chins.

 

[ticklechin]

I change toys twice a month, each chin gets 7-10 twigs a day and all are stripped of bark right away.

 

[Maggie:-)]

Mine chews on her ledges and house too.... I thought that was normal?

 

[Gumby and Elmo]

Mine too, mostly they just strip off the bark and make spears out of the rest, I find they do get bored if given the same type of wood to chew on, so I try to rotate between the different kinds.

 

[Pikaia]

There is a member here, staceylwolf, who sells apple sticks and toys. My chins go crazy for both. They get about 5-10 sticks and they demolish them by morning. Her toys generally last about a week or two and they are made out of about eight thick chunks of applewood. My chins are real chewers. Not fans of loofah or pumice though. I try to give them as much applewood as they will chew, but it can be kinda expensive.. lol

 

[kerri101]

this is willow this is just one night of debis lol I think maybe 12 -14 6 inch sticks.....apple /birch have lasted longer but she dont like them....and coins just the bark none of that pile is shavings its all chinchilla chibble bits ...

 

[becky12883]

My boys would chew as much as I could give them. I give them 2-4 pencil sized apple sticks a day. They toss them out the front of the cage when they are done with them. If I gave them each 20 a day they would probably chew that much in a day. They also chew on their house and shelves and hay holder and anything else they can get their teeth on. Sometimes they just strip the bark off, and sometimes they make tiny spears.