I've read the "facts" that have been posted on this forum, including the ones listed on the other thread. I agree that salt licks and mineral wheels are unnecessary in a small animal's diet, but it's the matter of my opinion, of the majority opinion.
I have yet to find concrete evidence to say that salt licks and mineral wheels are dangerous. I also didn't find any cases of deaths from salt licks and mineral wheels. I'm not saying that the risk isn't there, I'm just saying there isn't proof that it's there.
I quote from the other thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by VoodooJoint  I found nothing that says they are dangerous except in one of the pages listed above that made mention of salt poisoning, but I found may references that say they are not necessary and many that said you can use them but that a good diet makes them unneccesary. |
I've even search a very knowledgeable chin site, in which people debated heavily (and heated topics can turn into arguments), and no one was able to prove that salt licks and mineral wheels are bad/dangerous for chins.
I am very much against salt licks and mineral wheels, and I would love to find "facts" out there that'll prove these items are harmful for small animals. And I've PMed some of the mods on this following forum to take the two items off the safe chinchilla chew list
Chinchilla Chew Toys - Chins & Quills
I do need something solid and concrete that'll seal the debate for that to happen though. Do you guys know of any sources of research that has been done which proves these items are harmful and dangerous?