Your chin's favourite chew toys

[Jawramik]

What are your chin's favourite things to chew on?

I've been trying out different chew toys and materials with my girl, and while she'll chew on most anything, she definitely has her preferences when she's given many different choices. Apple sticks are a favourite, of course. Though she only seems to like apple wood in stick form. She mostly ignores the slices (she'll nibble them a little when they're on hanging toys, but that's about it). She also goes wild for pumice stone and those little balls made from willow vine (she likes the seagrass ones too). I recently gave her her first bamboo chew stick and she absolutely LOVED it. I have to remember to hold off on giving her bamboo until the end of playtime, because once she has a bamboo stick, playtime is over and all she wants to do is gnaw on that bamboo, haha. Bamboo seems to be her favourite right now.

My chin seems to prefer loose toys to hanging toys, though she'll chew on both and I always try to provide her with a wide variety of both. But she seems to really enjoy being able to hold her chews in her front paws while she gnaws. She often chews pieces of hanging toys off the wire so she can hold onto them better, haha.

What sorts of chew toys do you give your furballs, and what seems to be their favourite? Will they chew anything and everything, or are they more choosey? Is there anything they won't touch at all? Do they prefer hanging toys or loose toys? Share anything else related to your chins and chews!

 

[tunes]

My chins very favorite to chew is pecan wood. It is a really crunchy, thick bark with a slightly softer inside. I haven't bought it in a while, so am not sure where you can get it. Mine love hay cubes, both to chew on and toss around. I've also colored pine blocks with Kool-Aid, the plain out of the pack, no sugar kind. Basically, it colors it and gives it a bit of flavor.

 

[Jawramik]

My chins very favorite to chew is pecan wood. It is a really crunchy, thick bark with a slightly softer inside. I haven't bought it in a while, so am not sure where you can get it. Mine love hay cubes, both to chew on and toss around. I've also colored pine blocks with Kool-Aid, the plain out of the pack, no sugar kind. Basically, it colors it and gives it a bit of flavor.

I'll have to look for pecan wood! That's one we haven't tried.

My chin also loves hay cubes. I think of them more as a food than a chew toy, but I guess they're really both!

The no-sugar Kool-Aid is a great idea! I may try that sometime. My chin enjoys chewing pine wood, so that might be a way to make it a little more fun and different for her.....though I just realised that I have no idea what parts of the colour spectrum chinchillas even see, haha. Not that it really matters. I'm sure it would still make it smell and taste more interesting regardless.

 

[JamaisVu]

My chin goes through obsessions. Currently she's back to apple sticks, will take one with her to her hut at bed time and when she's starting to wake up I can usually hear her chewing on the stick. It's really cute and the sound never fails to make me smile.

I usually get chin toys from Whimsy's Menagerie and they usually are very well-received by my chin.

 

[magma_tuya]

Pear twigs, willow and new bluberry twigd that Farmer Dave pet is now selling. They also love to chew on mazanita perches when I can find safe and affordable ones. I replaced all plastic shelving with white pine, so they chew on that often. And, they love lava blocks and perches. My chinchillas are almost 15-yrs (boy and girl - beige violet and mosaic - Magma and Tuya). They are from breeders with pedigree. I don't breed. I've had them since age 8 weeks. They each have their own 5x3 cage on wheels...with stainless steel flying saucers. They chew hammocks so I can't give them more of those. They never even got in them...just chewed them up. They love cardboard too but I dont trust what may be in the cardboard: even toilet paper rolls have glue. Lol! They get plain old fashioned oats (noooo instant) and plain Cheerios (no sugar or nut flavors, etc) daily. My chins are VERY healthy. ❤

Recent pic of my girl...Tuya. Phone is being a butthead so can't find my boy pictures right now. I have an American rat terrier too. He thinks they're his brother and sister, but I don't let them be together outside of the cage, and Patriot stays in his crate while I work, etc. He only weighs 13 lbs, so goes to grocery, home Depot, most restaurants with me. My chinchilas are very happy. They give me kisses anytime I want...mostly from their cages. They don't want out often. When out...we go to the bathroom whee it's safest. Merry Christmas, all.

 

[Amethyst]

I think Wicket's favorite toys are probably the big willow balls, like 2"+ size ones, he doesn't like the very little ones. For wood, I think he likes apple and pear wood about the same. In terms of hanging vs toss toys, it depends on the material. The apple and pear wood it doesn't matter, both are good, but things like blackberry wood and lava chews, he only likes if it's hanging otherwise he wont touch it. The willow balls he also prefers being toss toys that he can run around with rather then attached to a hanging toy.

 

[Jawramik]

Pear twigs, willow and new bluberry twigd that Farmer Dave pet is now selling. They also love to chew on mazanita perches when I can find safe and affordable ones. I replaced all plastic shelving with white pine, so they chew on that often. And, they love lava blocks and perches. My chinchillas are almost 15-yrs (boy and girl - beige violet and mosaic - Magma and Tuya). They are from breeders with pedigree. I don't breed. I've had them since age 8 weeks. They each have their own 5x3 cage on wheels...with stainless steel flying saucers. They chew hammocks so I can't give them more of those. They never even got in them...just chewed them up. They love cardboard too but I dont trust what may be in the cardboard: even toilet paper rolls have glue. Lol! They get plain old fashioned oats (noooo instant) and plain Cheerios (no sugar or nut flavors, etc) daily. My chins are VERY healthy. ❤

Recent pic of my girl...Tuya. Phone is being a butthead so can't find my boy pictures right now. I have an American rat terrier too. He thinks they're his brother and sister, but I don't let them be together outside of the cage, and Patriot stays in his crate while I work, etc. He only weighs 13 lbs, so goes to grocery, home Depot, most restaurants with me. My chinchilas are very happy. They give me kisses anytime I want...mostly from their cages. They don't want out often. When out...we go to the bathroom whee it's safest. Merry Christmas, all.

I actually just ordered some pear and blueberry twigs from Farmer Dave's! Also got some apple wood perches. I can't wait to see how my girl likes them! She's never had pear or blueberry before.

Tuya is beautiful! I love the mosaic colouring. All my pets, including my chin, are rescues, so I didn't really "pick them out," they just kind of found me. But I think if I ever found myself in a situation where I could choose a chin of any colour, I'd probably choose a mosaic. All chins are beyond adorable, but I've always found the standard greys and mosaics to be exceptionally cute.

 

[Jawramik]

I think Wicket's favorite toys are probably the big willow balls, like 2"+ size ones, he doesn't like the very little ones. For wood, I think he likes apple and pear wood about the same. In terms of hanging vs toss toys, it depends on the material. The apple and pear wood it doesn't matter, both are good, but things like blackberry wood and lava chews, he only likes if it's hanging otherwise he wont touch it. The willow balls he also prefers being toss toys that he can run around with rather then attached to a hanging toy.

Interesting! Margaret seems to prefer pumice chews that are loose rather than hanging. When I hang them, she usually just chews it off the wire anyway, haha.

Margaret also doesn't care for the willow balls when they're hanging. I make jewellery, so I always have some stainless steel wire around, and I'll often use it to hang up some of her toys. The willow balls are really easy to hang like that, since you can just thread the wire through the weave and don't have to drill any holes.....but she'll hardly touch them when they're hanging. She'll chew up and destroy them within a few minutes when they're loose, but the hanging ones usually languish in her cage untouched for a week or more before I take them down and give them to her loose ...at which point she'll immediately shred them, haha.

The only materials she seems to really like/prefer as hanging toys are apple wood slices and pine wood blocks. For some reason she chews those a lot more when they're hanging rather than loose.