Ideas for a picky chin

[megatron_mcd]

Marzipan doesn't have much interest in most of the toys that I've bought her, she never touches her pumice block, she doesn't care for her stick ball with a wooden bead inside. She likes toilet paper rolls as long as there's hay inside. She likes apple sticks. She'll sometimes play with her hanging wooden toy. She doesn't like her wooden "carrot". During playtime she never plays with any toys, I have plenty for her to play with/chew on yet she's constantly trying to chew up the baseboards (which is getting her in trouble with her "grandparents"). Do any of you have picky chins and can you suggest anything she might enjoy?

 

[javachin]

Chins don't always "play" with their toys, but chew them whenever they feel like it. Its quite possible you don't see her chewing on the toys, but it could also be that she doesn't like that particular type of wood. Pumice is also hit and miss; some chins like it, others don't. Try finding some other toys, especially from our vendors. They have a good variety versus anything you can find at pet stores.

 

[EternallyCynical]

My chin is fickle with his toys. Sometimes it seems like he hardly touches them, other days I've come home and he has flung EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE, AND DESTROYED IT ALLLLLLL. I dont know if he just flings little tantrums some days or what, but I have come home certain days to find all of his toys wrecked and chewed and pulled apart and flung everywhere. Some toys he'll take apart but wont chew (he came with a stick ball like the one you've described and he literally just pulled all the pegs holding it together out, dismantling the whole thing but chewing none of it). The pumice block took him a while to figure out...... I dont think he actually realized it was for chewing for a while.... likewise, hanging toys he sometimes really takes to and sometimes just ignores. Chins can be picky/fickle. She'll chew if she wants to, its good to provide her with the opportunity in any case.

 

[Godofgods]

mine are like that as well. When they are out they will will chew everything i don't want them too. One breeder a long time ago suggested a ping-pong ball, but all mine pretty much ignore them as well. Simple fact is they are going to chew everything. its impossible to avoid in a free run. Either try to remove things you don't want them chewing on (which doesn't work with things like a baseboard) or maybe try a chin play pen.

Here is what my chins did to my wall when they were out to play:

owners of this apt just throw coat after coat of paint on. And the chins peeled it off layer by layer. Obviously that's very dangerous, cause they would try to eat it when they did. I ended up doing this:

Was kind of a pain to get that up as a single piece. I used a lot of thumb tack just to get it to stay up while putting it in place. I wouldn't recommend using thumb tacks as a main object holding fleece up, especally near the bottom and middle, because the chins will go after them to. And there's no ending to how that could go wrong.

I would have liked to remove the base boards and then re-attach them over the fleece. That way there is no edge on the fleece for them to get at. Or remove the base boards all together and use long lengths of poplar wood as a baseboard. That way they can chew that without issues. I never was able to do that tho here. But something i still think about.

 

[Godofgods]

on a different note, i always wanted to get some poplar wood and make a maze house for them. A few vendors have made them out of cardboard but mine try to eat the cardboard so that's no good. A large house like object with many rooms that they can crawl from one to another in and explore. Wholes in the roof to pop out of. Poplar so they can chew it as they please. I always thought it would be interesting to do.

But that would cost a good bit in wood. And you need the tools and know-how to make it. You would also need room to store it since its not going to fold up nicely or anything.

And of course there's always the joyous fact that they might just ignore it all-together lol.

 

[Pikaia]

My chins will usually lose interest in a toy within a couple weeks. I leave them in there and add a new one every 2 weeks or so. There will be times when they haven't touched a toy in a month or two and then suddenly they shred it up. I give my chins a handful of apple sticks every night. My girls go through those like a saw. I will find woodchips and sawdust in the morning. LOL. You just have to try different things and find out what they like. Buy a few toys from different vendors and find out his preference. My guess is that he's probably just bored with the toys he has. It's completely normal for chins to try and chew things they shouldn't be... That's just the way they are- little stinkers! You have to block the areas so they can't get there.

 

[Stackie]

Get her some apple twigs. I've never known a chin to turn down an apple stick. There are some vendors on here that sell them already prepared and ready to chew. Apple wood hanging toys are a hot item around here. )

In general when chins are out of their cages, they don't have much interest in toys. They're more interested in exploring and taste testing whatever they can get their teeth on. That's why they need to be in chin-proofed areas. Bathrooms are usually a good place.

 

[jess32247]

mine are like that as well. When they are out they will will chew everything i don't want them too. One breeder a long time ago suggested a ping-pong ball, but all mine pretty much ignore them as well. Simple fact is they are going to chew everything. its impossible to avoid in a free run. Either try to remove things you don't want them chewing on (which doesn't work with things like a baseboard) or maybe try a chin play pen.

I'm curious, why did they suggest a ping-pong ball? To chew or for them to use to push around and such? I haven't heard of that before, so I'm curious what it was used for!

I love how you covered your walls with fleece though, I remember seeing that a while back and making a mental note of it in case the chinny decided to start destroying the walls as well. hehe

 

[ticklechin]

On hardwood floors, my chins thought a golf ball was fun to push around, that and a walnut in a shell-they thought that was also fun to pick up and take off with and try to chew open-I let them have it for a bit then took it away when they made progress getting it open.

 

[Chinmama]

It's just a matter of figuring out what they like and don't like. I can put some things in ZZ's cage that he won't touch and then I move it to Marble's cage and she'll destroy it overnight and vice versa. They can be such picky little critters.

 

[akane]

None of mine will touch a pumice block or overly processed wood like blocks and shapes. They don't even really like purchased branches that have had too much done to them. We have been getting fresh apple branches locally and not over baking them with no boiling. Boiling takes all the nutrients out of the wood and makes them not want to eat it beyond a little bark chewing.

It seems to help if you lift the wood up off the ground. You can get little bars with a bell that screws on the end supposedly for spearing vegetables and feeding them. You can put things like drilled blocks or the coins you can buy from people on here (check the classifieds section). We also use any bird toys that don't have plastic. It usually gets chewed down within a day and then they drag it around and take it apart until I have little pieces everywhere. Some of which I put on the metal stick for more chewing.

 

[Godofgods]

I'm curious, why did they suggest a ping-pong ball? To chew or for them to use to push around and such? I haven't heard of that before, so I'm curious what it was used for!

I love how you covered your walls with fleece though, I remember seeing that a while back and making a mental note of it in case the chinny decided to start destroying the walls as well. hehe

Im not sure how they came up with that idea. I guess because its round and rolls around and its rly hard to get a grip to chew on.