Treat suggestions?

Rainierainbow · Jan 19, 2014

My chinchilla Dexter is a fur chewer, I have read on ways to help him not chew as much. I heard you can give them things to do so they're not bored. I tried giving him more things to chew but it hasn't helped much. I was thinking of trying to train him to do tricks, I have heard of this working in other animals so why not? Problem is I don't know what to use as a reward that will not be too fattening so I can give him more than one a day. Anyone have any suggestions? Also if anyone else has any ways of deterring fur chewing please let me know! Thanks!

* I wasn't sure where to put this so I there's a better place let me know

javachin · Jan 19, 2014

Maybe try different types of wood, pumice blocks, or even Blue Cloud rocks. I don't know if it will work, but it may be worth trying.

akane · Jan 19, 2014

Fresher twigs with bark on are sometimes liked by chins that show no interest in pet store items. Their favorite part is stripping the bark off of wood. The heart wood and processed wood is often ignored except when there is nothing else to chew on.

You can buy a small amount of a different kind of hay or pick out some choice pieces to hand feed. Some will even take their pellets as a treat when handfed.

Oatmeal/rolled oats work well for treats because you can give the tiny pieces one at a time once they learn to take it from your fingers gently rather than chomping down with a big bite. Keck is still working on that one. She smells the oatmeal and just grabs whatever is within reach. The older ones will gently scrape my fingers with their teeth until they settle on the edge of the oatmeal piece and then take it. Don't overdo it with the fat and carbs in grains though.

In dogs we also have a jackpot treat. Something bigger that they only get occasionally when they do something especially well after working on it for several days. This could be a cheerio or a piece of sugar free wheat cereal.

akane · Jan 20, 2014

As an after thought have you tried some in cage enrichment. New ledges of different types, hammocks, plastic free bird toys, if you get one of those supposed veggie feeding hanging metal bars with the screw on bell you can buy drilled coins of various wood and blocks to put on it, I also put the pieces of the bird toys on there after the chins chew through the all natural hemp or jute rope (oyster shell, pegs, blocks, chunks with bark...), and there are puzzle toys. You can usually find the multicolored pegs stuck together in a rough ball with a nut in the middle. They never get to the nut but have fun chewing it and rolling it around so it rattles. There are others for both birds and mammals. There are a variety of hay items like tunnels and odd shaped houses. There are mountable wood tunnels, wood houses on platforms, chiller tile shelves... Lots of things you can try.