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1

Q & A / Re: chin poop too soft

« on: November 02, 2012, 05:44:47 PM »

how much does your vet know specifically about chinns? generally fresh greens are not OK for chins, unless you meant that the wheat was dried, but fresh... a lot of veterinarians only get about a week of schooling on small animals, that's it, and usually only general stuff, chins are different than many small animals, especially when it comes to diet, there little digestive systems are built differently than an average rabbit, hamster, guinepig, etc. most of those will be able to eat many of the same foods, but with chins you have to watch, chins come from a cold, desert environment in the Andes mountains, so most all of there food is dried out, they cant handle the wet vegetation most other small animals can.

a chins diet:
-plenty of clean water is a must for any animal, even if they don't drink much of it,
-dried hay, the greener, the better (as opposed to brown) as much as they will eat
-pellet food, provides vitamins and minerals, make sure to check out the dietary facts often listed on the back, I was very annoyed once to find that "Pro Diet Compleat Formula" was not as complete as the label claimed: about 2 tablespoons is a good amount. if you get one that looks like it has treats in it but is good nutritionally, don't go and pull all of the "treats" out because some tell you about moderation of treats, they do not count as treats. they have vitamins and minerals in them, and they have some way of removing the sugars from dried fruit pieces... ask anyone who has tried sampling a piece of dried fruit out of there chinns food, they taste TERRIBLE (yes, some of us actually tried it)

that's about it for regular diet... raisins and rolled oats (not quick cooking oats) seem to be the safest as far as treats go, although dried apples are also good, and many say rosehips are also a good treat... dried bananas...
*AVOID ANY FRUIT WITH A PIT!!! these include peaches, apricots, avocados, and many varieties of pear, fruits that have a pit are very poisonous to chinchillas

treats one or two a day is usually good, depending on the size, one raisin = one treat  that holds true for most dried fruit, about a raisin sized piece = 1 treat

2

Health / Re: strange behavior

« on: November 02, 2012, 05:08:29 PM »

as for the chewing, probably just boredom, although they do need hard stuff to chew on, id recommend some sort of chew stone if she doesn't have one, Lava brand pumice chews are commen around here, but my chinnie demolishes them in no time mostly i give her a half of one (they come in 3 packs, of these triangles) every week. sometimes I find some cubes of what they call pumice, but its like... compressed or something... pumice usually looks all bubbly, these didn't... anyway, the cubes last a lot longer, but she doesn't like them near as much
personally, I'm of the opinion that wood chews aren't really enough

3

General Chat / Re: Treats

« on: November 02, 2012, 04:55:11 PM »

Dried berries of most variaties seem to be ok, its fresh ones that seem to be the most problematic... where did he order all of that from? My chinn Velvet likes rasins, but we also give her dried apple peels (whenever mom makes a pie, I take all the peels and throw them in the food dehydrator that we have) I think she likes those more than the rasins... I also get dried yogurt dropps, one of the breeders here mentioned feeding their chinnies yogurt for their digestive health, so I tried them and she liked them almost immediatly, the breeder mentioned that not all chons do tho... i dont know from personal experiance about many of those, i've herd much of rolled oats and rosehips so they sre probably ok, but id  be slightly hesitant about the pepermint and wildberry, as well as some of the herbs...

i've never even herd of appleasses, is that a typo? or what is it, what does it look like?

4

Cages / Re: New Chin Mom! Does this cage look Chin safe??

« on: August 30, 2012, 01:08:54 PM »

just a quick question, better to be redundandt and boring than not bother, and somone get hurt. what type of wood did you use for the shelves? it looks like untreated pine (chin safe) but it cant hurt to ask.

5

Cages / Re: Cage cleaning

« on: August 30, 2012, 12:59:36 PM »

when cleaning velvet's cage, i usually use a brush (not that i have problems reaching in there, but the longer brush suggestion would probably work) when I clean (doing this all outside) I blast it down with the hose, scrub it all down with soap and hot water, then blast again with the hose. if you decide to use the hose, as a note, when the high pressure water hits the wire mesh, it tends to splatter in all directions, and will reach up to 3 feet away from the cage (further behind) so i wouldn't recommend doing this next to anything you don't want wet (like lawn furnature perhaps) and i stand back a little ways. if there are spots I missed, or didn't get well enough, I scrub and rinse again. whatever you decide to do, good luck 

6

Q & A / Re: Depressed Male Chinchilla

« on: August 25, 2012, 03:54:32 PM »

You said the sight of her seems to bother him more than anything elce? For temporarily, untill you can find somthing better, would it help perhaps, to put a devider between their cages? (cardboard, a blanket, or somthing) I know he would still be able to smell her and all, but sience thats the only room with a/c, maby that could assist a little, out of sight, out of mind?

7

General Chat / Re: My Chin Update

« on: August 20, 2012, 11:36:10 AM »

It may vary, usually about a year i think... however, i do know that males can mature as early as 3 months, however, I've heard that it is different than females. this is a concern if you are keeping mixed genders in the same cage (judging by their names, I'm guessing that there all boys). Chins often mature before they are full grown, so if you are keeping them in the same cage as the mother, (again i am only speculating what your situation may be) it is high time they got a place of their own (a separate cage)

8

Q & A / Re: Chinchillas and hamsters

« on: August 01, 2012, 10:54:30 PM »

thank you , i was familiar that cedar's nice smell is part of why its popular, however, i didn't know that the oil that causes it could be an irritant to humans... or hamsters, for that matter... I'm curious, do hamsters have much of a sense of smell? i know cats smell very well, and so do chins, i don't know which would have the stronger sniffer tho. dogs I've heard are pretty much the top of the scale (as far as housepets go anyway). but i have no idea where hamsters would fall...

9

Q & A / Re: Weird noises.

« on: July 29, 2012, 04:02:46 PM »

i don't know if this is standard for all chins, but velvet:
-clicks teeth when annoyed or irritated
-makes the same hrff sound of ottis in Beccaleigh05's video when in heat
-makes a sort of growl that i cannot describe with conventional English letters, its kinda throaty, like it involves the uvula (probably misspelled that, the dangly thing in the back of your throat) when really ticked off (she was real unhappy with me for about a week after we had to move her cage) also accompanied by spraying
-doesn't really seam to have a happy sound, just cuddling, playing and popcorning... she really did like that jingle bell tho...

10

Q & A / Re: Chinchillas and hamsters

« on: July 29, 2012, 03:31:13 PM »

i don't know where this information originated, as my mom claimed to have found it somewhere several years ago, but she seamed very convinced while dissuading a friend of mine (a hamster owner) not to get a chin, because of her hamsters. ordinarily, she is prone to getting information from good sources, so i will pass it along, anyone with more experienced knolledge regarding chins and hamsters in the same household, please correct me if it is untrue.

my mom told me that chins and hamsters had some sort of territorial aggression, where one (i do not remember which) would basically attempt to find and kill the other after encountering the mere scent of it. causing stress to both, and possible harm if they did manage to somehow come into contact. i have never herd it verified or tested... Also, she said that the fumes put off from the mixture of ammonia and cedar are toxic to chins, this i would be inclined to believe, since that one of the reasons you don't use cedar with chins. In any event, i would keep their respective dwellings a distance apart, or even in separate rooms, if only to prevent the fumes from reaching the chin.

also, keep in mind, i have never owned a hamster, and only have heard that cedar is one of the most popular beddings.

so basically, take this with a grain of salt, cause i don't personally have the chin+hamster experience to back it up with

11

Health / Re: HELP PLEASE. Smelly chinchilla!!!

« on: June 17, 2012, 01:56:51 PM »

what are you using for bedding?

12

Health / Re: Hay problems

« on: June 07, 2012, 04:35:50 PM »

yeah, I'm back on the plain pellet diet, she is eating again, but even with plain pellets, i still have to switch brands every few months, she once refused to eat for allmost a week, the only reason i let it go that long is because usually, when a spoiled animal gets hungry enough, it WILL eat whats good for it... that was much too long, she got so thin i cant let that happen again... all the brands i get are nutritionally compleat, i allways check that, as well as the freshness. i have had problems with the treat thing before, but that i can manage by switching foods as she gets bored, my main problem is hay, she will eat pellets but not hay,

are there any benefits that loose hay has over brick?

what is, and where can i find APD hay?

13

Health / Re: Herbs

« on: June 04, 2012, 09:29:55 PM »

"I also feed raw cashews and almonds" -Snickerdoodlesmom

NUTS ARE NOT GOOD FOR CHINS! even raw, it has somthing to do with the natural fats/oils in the nut causing a fatty liver because they cant digest it right.

14

Health / Hay problems

« on: June 04, 2012, 09:20:59 PM »

i have had velvet for about 10 years, and have fed her a variety of pellet foods, as well as compressed bricks of hay, she has allways been a picky eater, however, recently she has become increasingly picky, and i have had to switch from a multi-food (looks like it has treats in the with the pellets) and pellet mix back to a plain pellets formula (again), however, she has slowly been backing off her hay for the past few months, she now allmost completely refuses to eat any. her poos have been consistant as ever, for a chin, she has an iron stomach... the only hay i can really get her to eat are a product i buy, called hay cookies, when i read the ingredients list, they are primarily hay, wheat flour, with rolled oat flakes, and a small amount of beet sugar molasses to bind it together. I'm not sure, but i don't think that this is really the best for her, she has been regaining the weight that she lost with the gradual refusal of her previous food (she was eating everything but the pellets, which i didn't notice at first because those she began hiding in her bedding, and refused to eat when presented with only the pellets) i used to switch her food slowly , but she immediately would eat all of the new, and NONE of the old, so switching is now done with minimal change time because ANY food is better than refusing all food. oddly enough , she only has had diarrhea once, when my brother unknowingly fed her WAY too many treats (he left the bag on top of the cage while i was away for the weekend and she chewed a hole in it and gorged) she will often after a few months (3-4, sometimes up to 6) of a food, simply get tired of it, and refuse to eat it, this has been going on for a few years now, and i have been rotating through 3-4 different brands, depending on what i can get, its allways a challenge making sure each change covers all nutritional requirements. it has been slow, but she now consumes allmost no hay but the mentioned cookies, its not a freshness issue, i have allready addressed that, but maybe she will become more interested if it looks different? her current pellets contain ground hay as the first ingredient, but i am unsure if this is enough, she does eat a bit off of her house occasionally (compressed hay bound with a little honey). i am simply at a loss at how to address this, i know its that she's overly picky, but it is to the point that she would rather starve herself than eat something she has gotten tired of i have tried everything i can think of, but she isn't losing weight, actually gaining back (slowly), yet hay is supposed to be the primary component of her diet, what can i do? if she's fine should I just keep on as is? even with little to no straight hay consumed? I may switch to loose hay and see if that helps, even though i would have to make a bin to hold it, as i have never used loose hay before, what else should i do? i know this is long, but maybe, with knowing all of the details, i shall get a usefull responce sooner...

15

General Chat / Re: Other pets?

« on: June 04, 2012, 08:05:40 PM »

are you really sure you want a fennec fox? I haven't herd of ANY type of domestication efforts for that species... sure they look cute, but when i looked into their diet and habitat, it said (and I quote the National Geographic website)
"These foxes dwell in small communities, each inhabited by perhaps ten individuals. Like other canids, male fennecs mark their territory with urine and become aggressive competitors when mating season arrives each year."
it also says that they live in underground burrows, and "Fennec foxes are opportunistic eaters. They forage for plants but also eat rodents, eggs, reptiles, and insects." (you did mention that you have other pets)
they also mentioned
 "These foxes are cream-colored with black-tipped tails. Their adorable appearance makes them favorites of the captive pet trade"
the whole under ground burrow/community dweller desert habitat would in and of itself be a challenge to replicate, the marking sounds like it would be a definite hassle, and the fact that this species is involved at all with captive pet trade... I'm not saying you haven't done your research, but i definitely urge you to do some more if you haven't more than one or two information sources, from what i see, keeping this kind of animal would take a lot more commitment, (not to mention time effort and money) to take care of, a whole nother level in comparison to chinchillas (most people concider chins to be a high maintenance pet) i just wish for ANY (I'm not targeting you here) person considering taking on a new exotic pet (or any pet for that matter) do ample research first, so as to know just what they're getting into... and for its involvement with captive pet trade*, i would also look into the legality of the method you may or may not eventually choose to obtain one or more of these animals, such as where they come from, importation laws, as well as state laws about the keeping of exotics, you may be required to spay/neuter any animals you obtain, as well as possibly regester them with the state

_{*-(someone please correct me if i am wrong, but I believe that this is the term used for when native peoples capture wild animals for sale as pets in other countries, and is often involved with black market retail)}