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16

News / Re: My Store Sold Their Last Chinchilla Today

« on: October 11, 2007, 06:39:33 AM »

Thank goodness they are giving up on that... nuts... o.o. Are they NUTS?!?! You dont feed ANY animal, not even yourself a grand amount of nuts. They are high in fat and protein which is fine but too much of a good thing can be fatal.

17

General Breeder Chat / Re: Can Someone Classify My Mutt? (=

« on: October 11, 2007, 06:37:20 AM »

He's 7-8 months old. He was 6 months old when I got him.

18

General Breeder Chat / Re: Can Someone Classify My Mutt? (=

« on: October 10, 2007, 09:36:15 PM »

I think these might help. Let me know if you need me to get more... for some reason my mom forgot to get the tail in every picture >.>

I will have a fine tooth comb, no less than #2 here shortly in a few days. Its not the professional chinchilla comb but I am probably never going to make it to a show so it will be enough to get the excess hair off of his body.

19

General Breeder Chat / Re: Can Someone Classify My Mutt? (=

« on: October 10, 2007, 09:03:01 PM »

Oh I wont be breeding my chinchin. I am already in the verge of raising a crested gecko to bred with a gargoyle gecko which can take up to 20 years. It can also be very dangerous and it is difficult to think of what can happen via mutation wise to my baby but it is only to bring another beautiful breed easy for reptile owners to take care of. The crested gecko is almost extinct, or was thought to be. They thrive on a little Canadonian(sp) island.


I just thought he was gorgeous suprisingly... for being a pet store baby. I dont think he came from Sunpets as the woman who was caring for him knew a lot about him. She knew he had two owners before as well, the breeder and then a man who had him for a day. Usually you dont get that out of someone.

20

Q & A / Re: (I know I post a lot lol) Am I a good chinchilla mommy?

« on: October 10, 2007, 08:57:46 PM »

It sounds like you are doing great!  Two things, though.  Not a good choice for food.  Tradition is my ultimate choice from first hand use with my large herd of 100 chinchillas.  Second choice would be Mazuri.  Your pet store should be able to get Mazuri.  Tradition can be bought online from www.chinchillas.com  When you feed a good feed like Tradition you don't need extra vitamins.  I do not suggest putting vitamin drops in his water - better to feed a complete diet of pellets instead.
 
Stay away from Chinchilla Sand (which comes in the Dust Bath houses in pet stores.  It can not remove the oils in the fur and can actually damage the fur.  Also stay away from scented dusts. This will RUIN the fur. 

The Kaytee seems to do fine as well, it has all the vitamins. He doesnt touch the zupreem =/. At all. so I am not sure if I will give it to him anymore as it was a waste of money. I have two bags I need to dispose of, not sure if I can give it to someone with a rabbit or not.

21

Q & A / (I know I post a lot lol) Am I a good chinchilla mommy?

« on: October 10, 2007, 07:13:18 PM »

Does it seem I am taking care of my baby well?


Here's how Chico lives:

He has the two tier chinchilla starter cage from petsmart as that is where I bought him.

I give him alfalfa bay hales and a little bit of timothy hay.

I have a pet shop near my house, 2 mins, that special orders Zupreem and Kaytee Plain(no treats) that is tinier and he likes the smaller ones the most.

I have rolled oats from the organic section of kroger to put into his food(with flax).

I use spring water but Im not sure if it has minerals. I will check that soon.

I change the water every 4-5 days.

He has a pvc pipe(checked with JoAnn to see if it is okay) that he absolutely loves to hide in.

He has lava bites and wood sticks and the occasional toilet paper roll to play-chew on.

He has a lava ledge, a wood ledge, two hanging wood toys and the bowl that came with the cage to keep his food in. LUCKILYYYYYYYY he never chews on the plastic. He must not like it so I haven't changed to stainless steel just yet.

A marble tile in the bottom of his cage to keep him cool. Not quite granite but I did that because my house can get really cold (68 is the coldest ever) and I dont want it to get TOO cold as granite is usually 10 degrees cooler than the room.

Plastic Dust bath with the dust brand from petsmart until my shipment comes.

He comes out of the cage itself once a day, not to run around but to be held and checked for health. He comes out to run three times a week as he runs a lot around his cage as is. I don't want to over-exert him as his weight was down at first and now it's back to normal. (= He is talked to every night and scratched under the chin before I leave for work and when I go to bed. My computer is in his room so he gets plenty of baby talk!

What's on my list now:
Multivitamin Drops
Chinchilla Wheel
Grooming Brush $$$ Gotta find a good inexpensive one


Things I have ordered for him:
Hammock - Chinchilla John Deere Fabric  Single Side with Matching Color
One Ounce Sticks (Mixed between mulberry grape etc)
20 Pumice Stones
One Round 3" Bitty Bagel
Sticks & Blocks - to make him toys
2 oz Rose Hips
Seagrass 6x6 Matt
Corner Ledge
4 pounds of Blue Sparkle Chinchilla Dust
Whole Oats
Timothy Cubes
Apple Pellets



I always seem to spoil my animals, even my snake lol.

I will NOT be offended if the comments are via the health of my animal. 

22

Q & A / Re: Paint...

« on: October 10, 2007, 07:08:54 PM »

Oh its a wire cage. I hate the blue they put in it as our entire house is maroon and green. The paint is starting to chip in certain places from where I close the cage with a nickel clip to keep him from plunging out of the cage like he did the other night.... and got lost. I found him in minutes o.o don't know how.

Anyways, I wanted to know if it was okay to paint it at all as he doesnt chew on anything but wood and cardboard and lava stones. I guess I just got lucky with his well behavior. Not saying that can't change so I keep an eye out. The only plastic in his cage is PVC anyways.

So non toxic, gotcha. I figured as much but wanted to double check!

23

General Breeder Chat / Re: Can Someone Classify My Mutt? (=

« on: October 10, 2007, 12:24:33 PM »

Don't beat yourself up over buying Chico from a pet store!  You bought him because you wanted him and it was right for you!

To me Chico looks like he is light to medium.  But of course lighting from camera flashes can make them look one way and natural light another.

He seems reaaaaaaaalllly medium up top and then gets very light on bottom. So yea, he's probably light-medium. Thank you!

(Can pet store chins ever win in a competition?)

24

Q & A / Paint...

« on: October 10, 2007, 12:00:50 PM »

Chinchilla-safe paint that I can repaint his cage bottom and shelves with? Anyone know of any?

25

General Breeder Chat / Can Someone Classify My Mutt? (=

« on: October 10, 2007, 11:46:08 AM »

My Chico is a pet store chin but I feel maybe if I classify him I wont have it hanging over my shoulders that the reason I bought from a pet store was to get the chin OUT of that crappy glass home.  . I love him, he's so full of personality! But, I feel maybe breeders will look at me like I was stupid for buying from a pet store  . He's a standard, below is his picture. My only question really is if he is light, medium, dark. I think, just guessing, that he is a light.

26

General Chat / Re: Hi i am new

« on: October 10, 2007, 10:01:28 AM »

Welcome! Your chins knida look like a beige-white. Thats somewhat different. Well, I dont eed so dont ask me lol.  JoAnn may very well know! (=

27

Q & A / Re: Treat clarification

« on: October 09, 2007, 08:50:24 AM »

I don't know about powdered calcium, but I have heard of owners giving liquid calcium to their chins.  They dose it by weight, so if an adult man gets 2 tablespoons, a chin would get about 1/100 of that (whatever amoutn that is...)
Sorry, I am bad at math 

I think it will work. He wouldn't receive a lot because the stuff is strong. So one stuffed cranberry a week would be fine.

28

Q & A / Re: Treat clarification

« on: October 09, 2007, 06:59:36 AM »

You can give chinchillas Tums on a weekly basis or so to make sure they get enough calcium.  Chins need to have a certain amount of calcium in their bodies or they can have seizures caused by a condition called hypocalcemia ( abig word meaning "not enough calcium").  I am not sure about the exact biological processes that lead to this problem, but I know a hypocalcemic seizure can be fatal, and is certainly dangerous.

As for the nails, I know you can use an emory board to file down their nails, though I have never actually tried it.  I find most of my chins keep their nails relatively short on their own.

He didn't like the tums for some reason. I tried three different flavors. He gnawed for a split second and dropped it. Can I give him a calcium powder stuffed inside a cranberry? (I used to have sugar gliders, used to breed em and the only way they'd eat their calcium was in a cranberry or grape.)

29

Q & A / Re: Chinchilla Wheel?

« on: October 09, 2007, 06:55:07 AM »

I order from Carise all the time! She is wonderful! Her service is A+. I plan on buying from her again!(When I have money) lol!

Okay awesome. I get weary sometimes with that online purchasing (if not from amazon and stuff) so good to hear someone has had good service. I am so impatient when it comes to recieving orders lol. *taps herself on the hand* now calm down hehe

30

Q & A / Re: ..........Dwarf Chinchilla?

« on: October 08, 2007, 02:41:22 PM »

You could probably put two young ones together however I wouldn't recommend trying when they are older.  Dwarfs are considerably smaller and could be hurt very badly in the event of a fight.

Alrighty. I so wish I knew there was a such thing as a dwarf. I have a very small house and Chicos cage takes up lots of space but it's still small for him so I take him out a lot. For an hour at a time. However... now he LOVES his pvc pipe, he doesn't pay attention to anything else in the cage. He loves to come to the end of it for scratching too. If he keeps staying in there he'll wind up a dwarf lol.