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1

Health / Re: Small Chin

« on: May 16, 2012, 02:07:52 AM »

I found out some info on the my chins parents, his father is homo beige( his parents being homo beige & hetro beige) and mother is standard ( her parents both being standard).
My breeder also told my that my chin stems from a long line of small male chins, which is father is small, his father was small and so on but she did tell me that around 1 year was
when they were fully grown and did not grow anymore. My chin was also in a litter of 3, him and two females the breeder told me that he was the smallest at birth and remained
smaller then the girls. This has all been very interesting finding out, she even told me I could supplement his diet to increase his growth but it really doesn't bother me I love my
little chin ill let him grow at his own pace Oh and the chins I seen at the pet store were a ebony male and a standard female.

2

Health / Re: hot weather

« on: May 16, 2012, 01:51:03 AM »

Its pretty hot where I live too (Las Vegas) and I do not run the a/c all day due to electric prices, I will only run it at night an sometimes at the heat of the day if I must. I have found some good ways to keep my chinny cool, first I have moved his cage into my closet and close to the ground due to heat rising and the closet is nice and shaded, I put ice trays on top of his cage in the middle of the day, I put his chin chillers fresh from the freezer in his cage, I remove his wheel and I shut the closet door to keep heat out. I have yet to have a problem, during the day it stays around 75-80 in my home if it goes past 80 however I will turn on the a/c for my chins well being. Since you have no a/c you really need to watch your chins, and do not count on that fan for nothing.. keep them in the coolest place of the house, get some ice trays or even bags of ice on top of the cage during the day. If you get a few chin chillers or even some marble you can cool in the freezer and put it on the top floor of the chin cage then put the ice on top of the cage it will create a nice cool area for the chins.

3

Health / Re: Small Chin

« on: May 12, 2012, 02:12:14 AM »

I've been weighing him hes stayed around 365-370 grams for about a week now, I am quite revealed to see your responses and It made me contact my breeder. She told me that my chins father was quite small as well and was a slow grower, and even his mother isn't a very large chin. Thank you all for your quick responses this website has been so very helpful to this first time chin owner 

4

Health / Small Chin

« on: May 11, 2012, 01:52:36 AM »

I have a male chinchilla who is now 6months old he is my baby, as far as I know I take very good care of him and just recently took him to his first vet check up which turned out just fine. However something has been bothering me, he seems so small... I didn't notice it until I went to a local pet store and seen two other chinchillas one male one female who were both younger than my chin and in size they are much larger. I would have never questioned his size if I hadn't seen those two chins at the store and Ive tried looking up what could cause this, I will be contacting the breeder I got my chin from just to ask if maybe his parents were small as well, but I don't want to sound silly so id like to find out if this is normal first. The only thing I can think of that might had some effect was his hay eating habits, I keep his hay full at all times but he doesn't even seem to notice it and when I try to give it to him he grabs it an throws it down. Perhaps I'm being over cautious and I hope this is normal, any advice would be great thanks!

5

Q & A / Re: first chin,some questions

« on: May 11, 2012, 01:33:21 AM »

He probably just needs to warm up to you and you need to make the effort to bond with him, a good way to bond is playing with him. Make playtime in the bathroom and spend an hour or more with him sitting on the floor bring some treats or toys and just have fun and try to make it an every day thing so he has some sort of routine. When trying to touch him in the cage be gentle don't shove your hand in there an make him thing some handzilla has come to harm him, just put your palm in there let him sniff you and get use to you. As far as petting goes I know my chin dislikes being petted or held for to long, occasionally he will let me scratch behind his ears and for toys, I give him apple sticks, chin safe blocks of wood, little wooden barbells and of course his wheel and all that seems to keep him content.

6

General Chat / New owner advice

« on: February 12, 2012, 04:54:56 AM »

New chinchilla owner here and I'm having a tough time with Lemmy I've only had him a week now but there are a few things I having a hard time understanding so let me explain fully. Before getting Lemmy I knew Id have him a month ahead of time and began looking up everything possible however out of everything I read I don't think I was fully prepared for the little rascal I got (and I say that in the nicest way, I love him to death). Now because of my work schedule I usually don't get home to let Lemmy out until late and it seems like he likes it that way because on my off days he doesn't start getting excited to get out until around 10-11pm, throughout the day my boyfriend will let him out for 15-20Min's to play in the bathroom if he seems like he wants out. When I do let him out I take him to my chinchilla proofed living room and keep a very close eye on him, I watch TV but I know where he is at all times. As I've had him I've gradually increased the time I let him play, the first day he seemed scared so it was about 30Min's and now I will let him play for 2-3hours before I'm tired and want to go to sleep. The first few days were great I'd let him play for a hour or two then put him in his cage and he would eat a little and usually fall asleep before I went to bed, now its a whole different story instead of eating and taking a little nap he goes crazy. Anything on the floors above the first in his cage he will knock to the ground, he jumps on his pellet bowl and makes them splash out until there's hardly any left and then tries moving the bowl he chews on the bars he makes barking noises and If I try to take him out to calm him down he nips me. I really have no idea what I'm doing wrong, is this normal? I try to bond with him as much as possible and hes usually calm before I go into work I check on him an open his cage an he will come to me and let me hold him and pet him but when I return from work its completely different because he doesn't even want me touching him if I pick him up he fights so Ill let him go. Also when I first got him getting him back into his cage after play time was easy because he let me pick him up he never ran or hid or made me chase him everywhere, now catching him takes me at least 15Min's and I need my boyfriends help or it would take longer! I don't know if hes get mad at me for leaving him all day, even though my boyfriend is always home and takes care of him, IDK if I'm doing something wrong so please give me some advice it would be greatly appreciated. Lemmy is 12 weeks also so IDK if it maybe a age thing.

7

Health / Re: Grinding teeth

« on: February 09, 2012, 03:15:08 AM »

Yea its just here and there, he mainly does it when I pick him up but ive watched him in his cage and he doesn't do it so I'm happy its nothing to worry about. I'm just a new chin owner and worrying that I'm doing everything right, so thank you 

8

Health / Grinding teeth

« on: February 06, 2012, 03:51:23 PM »

Today I noticed my male chin grinding his teeth while I was holding him, Ive only had him for 2 days and I want to know what this might be caused by? Ive got him plenty of things to chew on, apple sticks, wood blocks, a few chew rocks but I have noticed him not chewing as much as I thought he would and he barely touches his hay I give him. Any advice would be very helpful I'm afraid something is wrong with his teeth, hes about 11 weeks old.