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181

General Chat / Re: Convincing my parents to getting a chinchilla

« on: March 04, 2014, 12:18:21 PM »

Not pointing fingers about your studies... relatively new to this myself, and I find that my own little fella is a *HUGE* commitment... not as bad as having a human baby though, my friends with infants in the house are run RAGGED.

Chinchilla's aren't anywhere as near as demanding as human babies, but they're pretty high maintainence among the animals... I try to allocate an hour or more every day for my little guy (used to do 2 hours a day without fail, but that's just too much for me... awww...), and you DO feel the daily reduction in free time and leisure activities. (though this is still leisure, it's a different kind)

Having owned both dogs and a chinchilla, I would say that chinchillas do give back joy so it's worth the amount of work you put in, but they have a far lower input/output ratio than a dog:
1. For a dog, you put in a *bit* of effort, and he treats you like his best friend. Spend 5 minutes a day giving him your full attention, and he worships you. "You're going to pet me??? I'm SO HAPPY!!! May I... may I PLEASE cuddle? I'll understand if you don't want to, but it means the world to me... I love you so much, please hug me and love me forever!"
2. For a chinchilla, you have to put in a LOT more effort, just to make them "not uncomfortable with you touching them". ... "Oh, hello... you want to scratch my itchy spots? Ok, I'll give you just 1 minute of my time, *IF* you do a good job! Oh you want to cuddle? I'm not really into cuddling. ... Let's play! And by play, I mean you entertain me when I feel like it, and when I get distracted I'll go do something else."

... BTW, I'm going to post that last bit on a separate thread and on facebook lol.

182

General Chat / Threats are USELESS! :(

« on: March 04, 2014, 11:55:02 AM »

My bedroom is cold, in order to keep my little Popsicle healthy.

Unfortunatly, this has some unwanted side effects. For instance, Popsicle tries to breastfeed from me every now and then. OUCH. (I'm a guy, BTW)

After the latest nibbling, I decided threats were in order.

"POPSICLE! If you do that again, you're going to share the fate of all those farmed Chinchillas! I'm going to turn you into a fur hat!!!"

...

Result:

http://prntscr.com/2xu6tr

Posicle: "SQUEEK! I'm soft and furry, I make a GREAT fur hat!"

Me: You obviously misunderstand me...

Popsicle: I understand everything! I am a rodent GENIUS!!! ... oh, look, there's a pellet on the floor. I wonder if it tastes delicious? ... oh, it tastes like my poo poo... ah, I see! That must mean... it *IS* my poo poo!!! ... I am a rodent GENIUS!!!

Me: ... sigh... you win again, Popsicle...

183

Health / Re: Bad raisin experience!

« on: March 02, 2014, 05:56:08 AM »

I'm always scared my hay will go bad, cause I live on the equator and it's hot and HUMID. Any tips on how to tell if the hay has gone off? So far I'm just going by whether it feels dry and solid in my hands, ie isn't rotting. That might not be enough I guess?

184

Q & A / Re: Picky eaters?

« on: March 02, 2014, 05:46:34 AM »

Oh dear.

One thing a lot of people seem to agree on is that if you give chins the "mixed food" sort of food packs, they WILL become picky and only eat the delicious parts. I bought a pack of Versailles lage chinchilla nature, opened it, took a look inside, and got rid of the whole thing.

The worst part is, they will eat the ones that are bad for them, and leave the ones which are necessary for their health.

If it hasn't been TOO long, I'd try to go cold turkey and give them nothing but hay and the PROPER pellets. Animals have a working survival instinct, like small children. If they're not really hungry, they will be picky about their food, but once the hunger pangs kick in, they eat whatever you put in front of them. ... Not absolutely certain that works for all chinchillas, but very few living creatures are stupid enough to starve to death when perfectly good food is in front of them, and chins are naturally highly intelligent.
...they're also intelligent enough to sulk, and throw tantrums, and go on hunger protests, though. So be wary.

185

General Chat / Re: Today's interesting chinchilla events

« on: March 02, 2014, 05:37:08 AM »

Pieces of wood? Yeah, my chin has plenty of those. He's not very possessive about them though. In fact, he doesn't care at all when I clean his cage and toss those. ... Will try the wooden ball thing.

186

General Chat / Re: Convincing my parents to getting a chinchilla

« on: March 02, 2014, 05:34:49 AM »

Try offering them 95% completion for your classes.

That might be the key factor for your parents... Proving responsibility.

Taking of a chinchilla, fulfilling 35% of your duties is not going to be enough. 55% is going to leave you with a dead chinchilla. 80-90% is "acceptable" but the ideal is 100%.

And, it might surprise you (or it might not), just how much parents can be convinced about something if their child goes from completing 35% of their classes to 90%... I'm guessing almost any parent, if offered a deal " hey, mum, if I go from 40% completion to 90% for 3 months, can I have a pet chinchilla?", that parent would shake hands on the spot...

187

General Chat / Re: Today's interesting chinchilla events

« on: February 28, 2014, 02:02:10 AM »

When squeaking at me every time I picked up a toy did not work she decided to grab my hand.

Adorable! and... what toys do you get your chinchillas? I haven't really found anywhere selling chinchilla toys, other than pieces of wood or such... ... and me, popsicle treats me like his personal plaything. That brat.

188

General Chat / Re: Convincing my parents to getting a chinchilla

« on: February 28, 2014, 01:57:30 AM »

actually, they might be right. A chinchilla can be almost ridiculously demanding. And if you like cleanliness, you might not be so happy about the amount of poop they generate.

Also, you're currently 16? What are your plans for the next 10 years? ... cause, Chinchillas commonly live that long. Are you planning to go to college or leave home at any point? Will you leave the chinchilla at home or bring it with you?

Also, if you already have dogs and cats in the house, theres a fair chance the chin won't be comfortable around them. Or be eaten by them.

189

Health / Re: Bad raisin experience!

« on: February 28, 2014, 01:48:26 AM »

hmm... looked up a very common brand of raisin in my country, "Sun Maid" raisins. (wiki says their nutrient content are not uncommmon)

Out of 100grams of raisins... sugar content, 72g... moisture content, less than 19%... hmm...

...

OK, essentially, giving raisins to your chin is practically giving it pure sugar with 10-19% water poured on it.

...

The only reason that a raisin is a "safe" treat is that they are SMALL PORTIONS. In other words, you are more or less feeding poison to your chin, but the amount is below the safety limit, so it's considered "ok".



NO MORE RAISINS FOR MY CHIN.

...

As for the "chinchilla industry proving it safe to give 1-2 raisins a day"... well, a raisin is a dried grape. No more, no less. Based on the size of a chin, 1-2 grapes a day as a treat sounds equal to giving your son 1-2 candy bars a day. ... The "candy industry" will probably insist that it has been proven safe to give your kids 1-2 candy bars a day too...

As for mold, yeah, I agree, in fact I'd say that hay has a higher chance of spoiling or growing mold than raisins do... sadly, there's not much choice there but to continue giving hay and risk it.
Or is there an alternative to hay?

190

General Chat / Re: My kid loves playing "blanket cave"

« on: February 24, 2014, 07:46:25 AM »

my fellas a freaking acrobat, he leaps up and down 2 foot heights like it's nothing... scares me silly cause I think he's gonna injure himself, but he's confident in himself...
He jumps down regularly from over 3 feet drops, which I try to carry him down myself but he usually doesn't wait for me. The naughty fella.

191

General Chat / My kid loves playing "blanket cave"

« on: February 23, 2014, 11:56:03 AM »

And by kid, I mean kid Chinchilla.

Seriously, I used to LOVE playing blanket cave when I was little... for those who lived deprived childhoods (or those who are entertained by xbox and tv instead of inventing games to entertain themselves), that's a game where you drape a blanket over yourself and pretend it's a cave.

Anyhow, this is a great way to spend bonding time in close contact, without any restraining... I lie down on my bed, drape my blanket over myself, and stick up a knee and prop up my arm to turn it into a cave. My chin's rodent instincts kick in, and he goes "A CAVE! I shall explore this mysterious cavern!" and he can spend a good long while going in and out and exploring it, climbing all over me in the process.

I don't even have to coerce him or anything, I prepare the cave entrance and he will notice it eventually and decide to go exploring.

Those who have had to deal with chinchilla proofing the undersides of sofas and beds and such will know the "magical allure, magnetism, and compulsion" that cavelike things have over chins.... lol...

192

Q & A / Re: Is My Chin Too old to be Pregnant?

« on: February 23, 2014, 11:47:27 AM »

... what... Chins live for 15-20 years, and less than 1 year is too young, and over 2 years is too old? ... Something about that doesn't sound right...

...

I know it's totally inaccurate, but I was tempted to just multiply by 5... (15-20 Chin years = 75-100 human years?) ... but that gives 1 chin year = 5 human years, 2 year old chin = 10 year old human, so that can't be right lol...

Someone told me that Chinchilla's reach their maximum size at 1.5 years old or so... if that's true, then I do see why pregnancies under 1 year old might be bad! Logically, pregnancies DO take a toll on a body, so surely it's only common sense to let them finish puberty/ growth, before letting them get pregnant?

Also, offhand, if an organism can safely give birth up to 8-10 years old, having it's first pregnancy at 4 sounds fine? ... I think your friend has it backwards, and I'd assume that it's optimum to let chin's get pregnant a few months after they have reached maximum growth? In other words, 2 years old is about the optimum EARLIEST time?
Could be wrong there, I'm no biologist, so the whole "let them finish growing before getting pregnant" thing is just a guess on my part... please tell me if I'm wrong!

193

Cages / Re: Tips for a happy Chinchilla!

« on: February 23, 2014, 11:37:19 AM »

Build an ikea chinchilla flying saucer. I live in Asia, and managed to get parts to build it. If it looks too troublesome, I made my own version using only glue, no nails or screws, so it can't be too handyman-demanding.

My chin loves it so much, it's actually harder to get him out of his cage now! (he used to be so eager to run outside...)

194

General Chat / Re: My Chin loves his poop flinging machine. :(

« on: February 17, 2014, 11:17:49 PM »

My wheel doesn't fling it but it does rattle around in it and sometimes the sound gets on my nerves. Then he'll jump off the wheel and let his tail drag on the running surface while the wheel spins down and it kind of works like a broom. I'm amazed it hasn't caused noticeable damage to his tail because that noise is way louder.

My wheel probably weighs 5kg in total, so a 500g chin running on it doesn't cause much rattling lol...

195

Q & A / Re: New chin, causing trouble with older chins

« on: February 16, 2014, 10:33:57 AM »

Check their ages? I heard Chin behaviour can change when they hit puberty. If you've had them 4 months, it might be that time. Maybe. If, and that is *IF* that is the case, Jig is just a coincidence.

Also, someone said something about Chin's being slow to forgive... if Kiwi was bullied, even for a temporary reason, it appears that he will take a long long time to forgive the bully. If he ever does.