Guinea pigs love to chew. Guinea pigs need to chew.
Buying chew toys is rewarding. After all, who doesn’t love seeing our piggies excited about a new toy?
That doesn’t mean you’re limited to buying stuff for all important chewing purposes.
Wood can provide an enriching and FREE way of giving our guinea pigs a chewable that will (or might) last a while.
But it’s only safe if: the type of wood is known to be safe, and if the wood is clean and free of any potential contaminants like fungus and of course chemicals.
So which types of wood or tree branches can you safely cut and give to your guinea pigs to chew away on?
Aspen Wood
Apple Wood
Spruce Wood
Beech Wood
Bamboo Wood
Birch Wood
Fir Wood
Pine Wood
Balsa Wood
Balsa is a very soft wood. It hardly feels like a wood at all.
Oak Wood
Whitewood
Plywood
Plywood isn’t a type of wood. It’s a manufactured board made up of thin layers of wood that are glued together. There are all different types of plywood like melamine plywood and MDF. These processed boards are what low cost bookshelves, desks and other furniture are often made from.
Regardless of what type of plywood you’re looking at, none are safe for guinea pigs. The glue or adhesive used to fuse the layers together, although nowadays generally foregoing the most highly toxic substances of the past, are still a major hazard for guinea pigs. Avoid all plywood or particle board type woods for guinea pigs; they are simply not safe. Stick only to real, natural, unprocessed woods.
