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2701

General Chat / Re: PLEASE HELP!!!! trust issues..

« on: January 24, 2012, 08:57:28 AM »

I don't think animals really "hold grudges" but they do remember traumatic experiences and do their best to avoid the circumstances that surround them. Unfortunately this can include simply being handled by people. What you have to do is handle them when they are in good circumstances and make them as comfortable as possible. Make sure whatever noises that are bothering them are not present when you do this! Running a fan in the room can mask the noise if it's that quiet (don't blow the fan on them).
I've read on other areas of the forum that you can go in after them, but come from underneath and not above. Hold your pet in your arms for a couple of minutes until it calms down before you release it so it's not associating being handled with that initial flight response each time. Being too hands-off is not a good way to tame animals. Find a balance.
As far as your chin screaming that could be a sign that something could be causing it pain. Watch carefully for changes and causes. It might be a good idea to weigh your chins a couple times a week to help with this. This can be somewhat stressful for them too until they gets used to that so you're kind of in a catch-22.

2702

Health / Re: Male chin less appetite

« on: January 22, 2012, 04:27:51 PM »

JoAnn has posted some information related to chins on antibotics. http://www.chinchillaclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,3476.0.html She says that greenish colored droppings are a sign that the food is not being digested properly and if this is not treated it could lead to a blockage. Loss of appetite may be a symptom of potentially serious problems. You need to find out which animal is having problems and know which is which.

Half-eaten pellets may be a sign of tooth problems. It could be that one animal is eating normally and the other is not. You should consider having this assessed by a veterinarian promptly.

Hope this helps

2703

Health / Re: Chip may have cancer

« on: January 18, 2012, 05:53:06 PM »

Sounds like you still have a way to go for a positive diagnosis. I hope it's one of those things that will just clear up.
I don't think it's unusual to see anomalous shadows on x-rays so I wouldn't worry too much about that until you have confirmation with additional tests.

Maybe someone can comment on spinal issues. I hope that does not turn out to be the cause of the pain.
I'll be praying for you!

2704

Health / Re: Eyesight

« on: January 17, 2012, 02:00:46 PM »

Chinchillas can develop cataracts. How old is your chin?

2705

Health / Re: Chip may have cancer

« on: January 17, 2012, 11:06:19 AM »

That's horrible. What kind of treatment is the vet recommending? Where is the cancer and can it be surgically removed? If it's a tumor then it's important to know what kind it is. Typically the type of cancer will determine the treatment and prognosis as well as how early it is caught.

2706

Web site Reviews / Re: Just opened up our site, please take a look and give us some feedback.

« on: January 14, 2012, 05:12:02 PM »

I don't think I'd be a good candidate for blogging until I get a chinchilla (I don't have a place to keep one yet). Maybe in a few years I'll have some good experience to do that.

2707

Web site Reviews / Re: Just opened up our site, please take a look and give us some feedback.

« on: January 13, 2012, 02:12:12 PM »

I looked at your site and at a glance it is very nicely organized and easy to find information.
Some of the items seem a bit confusing though.

For example you have "Oxbow Critical Care - 141 gm" and are showing three bags of different sizes.
It is the same for the 1lb bag that shows both a bag and some kind of round canister. If it's possible you might want to try to match the photos to the product a bit more closely.

Secondly, if it's 141 grams you should not use "gm" but "g" which is standard.

Looks the image of your chin-spin has been squished. You may want to re-crop it.

I love the fact you have a link to a blog.

God bless,

Chris

2708

Health / Re: Oldest chinchilla is rejecting pellets, eating only hay

« on: January 11, 2012, 11:24:32 AM »

I'm glad that the system is flowing again. It's a shame you can't get someone else to help you hold it. Does the vet use a different technique to hold the animal or does he have an assistant help out?

2709

Health / Re: Oldest chinchilla is rejecting pellets, eating only hay

« on: January 10, 2012, 02:05:10 PM »

You mentioned there was no stool output since the 10th. Is this still true?

2710

Cages / Re: My cage build please answer my many questions

« on: January 04, 2012, 11:11:34 AM »

I would love to have an exercise wheel in my future chin cage.

2711

Q & A / Re: Minimum temperature

« on: January 04, 2012, 11:03:46 AM »

Would it be acceptable to use straw instead of hay? It might not mold as quickly and insulate better because it is thicker than hay.

2712

Cages / Re: My cage build please answer my many questions

« on: January 02, 2012, 03:53:19 PM »

7 feet? That's creepy! I would love see that. Can they jump on your shoulder from the floor?

When building a cage what would you say is the most important detail to consider for making it safe?

2713

Cages / Re: My cage build please answer my many questions

« on: January 02, 2012, 03:39:04 PM »

You might not want to use spacing any more than 1" between bars. I am slightly concerned about the height as chinchillas can fall and injure themselves if they manage to climb to the top. Could you provide a link to the previous post with your questions? I am planning on building a cage myself and I am constantly looking for ways to make it as safe as possible. Generally chinchilla cages are low and wide so the chin can run around. What are the general dimensions?

You mentioned you want to use the doors in the photograph but they look flat to me where the cage is not. Are you planning on building new frames?

2714

Board Requests & questions / Re: Need to accept higher quality pictures

« on: December 29, 2011, 02:56:18 PM »

In order to fix that you'll need to modify your picture and make a new smaller picture from it.
Most users are making theirs 700 x 466, which may be the max here.

Graphics software such as the GIMP (free and open source) http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ allows you to easily scale your images down.

Here is how to do it in GIMP.
Once you've loaded your image into GIMP, From the Image menu, click "Scale Image". You'll need to specify the width and height. To preserve the aspect ratio of your image and prevent squishing your chinchilla (no one should squish their chinchilla), make sure that chain link icon shows linked. This is a little icon between the width and height fields. Click it a couple times and you'll see what I mean. Only then type in your 700 for the width. The height should adjust automatically. Now click the SCALE button at the bottom of the dialog.

Lastly you must save your image. GIMP handles many image formats and we want to use JPG. To do this save it just like you would any file but type the extension ".jpg" that would be dot j p g at the end of the filename you type in. It will say jpeg does not handle transparency but just save it anyway. Make sure your quality slider is all the way up and then save. Your file should be a .jpg image no more than 700px wide and it should now be uploadable. Do this to all your images and you'll be set.

Then you can announce your new album on the Photo Album Announcements board. Have fun!

2715

News / Re: Explaining Board links and Symbols

« on: December 28, 2011, 03:17:35 PM »

If you make your avatar 100px x 100px it should be fine. Save it in .gif format.