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1

Cages / Re: Our chinchilla mansion is complete

« on: May 13, 2013, 02:27:35 PM »

Thanks guys.  My husband has never built anything in his life and is very proud of how it turned out.

There's a chin chiller on each floor, we added hayracks to each floor after this photo was taken as well.  And they just LOVE it.

He wants to build these on the side for extra money but isn't sure how much he could sell them for.  Any ideas?  It cost roughly $350 in materials to make. 

2

Cages / Our chinchilla mansion is complete

« on: May 13, 2013, 10:19:45 AM »

2 levels, tunnels, bridges, etc.  They LOVE it.  Hubby worked for about 2 weeks on it.  Everything is handmade

3

Cages / Re: Odor?

« on: April 30, 2013, 12:01:17 PM »

A friend that raised chinchillas for a long time suggested tile flooring since we have a separate litter box.  What are your thoughts on that?

No more bedding to buy/spill everywhere, poos will sweep nicely off the tile, it stays cool for them...

4

Cages / Re: Odor?

« on: April 30, 2013, 08:19:38 AM »

Thanks Jamie!!

My husband has the frame completed already.  I thought he was just going to get a materials list and price things but he wanted to start building right away.

He got kiln dried pine boards and the new cage will be approx. 5x4x2 1/2. 

Quick question - what's best to use as the flooring?  He said he found some sheet metal but it was only 2' - and I didn't want to use wood flooring since it would soak up the chins pee.

5

Cages / Re: Odor?

« on: April 29, 2013, 02:25:17 PM »

thanks so much!  I copied your message and emailed it to my husband.  he's stopping by Lowe's tonight after work to price supplies and get an idea of what he'll need.

Your post was very helpful and I'm sure he'll refer to it when constructing the new cage.

Oh, and we're aware of the ramp situations.  Our chin babies just jump from shelf to shelf.  We removed the plastic shelves and ramps that came with our chinchilla cage and he replaced the plastic shelves with wood, NO ramps.

6

Cages / Re: Odor?

« on: April 29, 2013, 01:41:32 PM »

Here's the cage after we put wood shelves and other things in it.  The spacing in the wires on the sides are wider than the front and back, so we wrap the entire thing in smaller wire we bought at the hardware store for when we can't watch them so they can't escape.  I also don't want my cat sticking his paws in the cage either.

My husband will use smaller spaced wire when he constructs the new cage.  This one is just being used temporarily till the babies are full grown and we can have the new one built. 

7

Cages / Re: Odor?

« on: April 29, 2013, 01:28:25 PM »

Got ya.  I think the wire grate the cage came with is larger spaced than 1/2"x1/2".  My husband is designing a new cage he'll build himself over the next 6 months or so, that way when the babies are full grown, they'll have a brand new cage! 

Hopefully this one will be a learning experience for us and we'll be able to eliminate any issues with the new one he's going to build.

Any tips?

8

Cages / Re: Odor?

« on: April 29, 2013, 12:05:22 PM »

Thanks.  They are exposed to the bedding, since it lines the bottom of the cage.  It has a pull out drawer, with the option of a slide in wire grate, which would keep things cleaner, obviously, but I don't want their feet exposed to wire really at all.  They have the solid floor with the bedding and wood shelves, plus a hammock and a pvc pipe to crawl through.  Hopps likes to sleep in the hammock, Barely in the PVC, but sometimes they'll also sleep in their wood hidey hut on the floor of the cage. 

My husband said he couldn't smell anything, it was just me.  I don't know if I'm overly sensitive to their pee smells or what, but I'm a very clean housekeeper and figure if I can smell it, something needs to be done about it.

The room is ventilated fine and their cage is in the dining room in between our kitchen and living room.  I keep the thermostat set at 68 so as not to overheat them.  Their cage is wire, so no issues there with ventilation.

I think I'll pick up some kiln dried pine bedding this coming weekend and mix it in with the carefresh and see if that makes a difference. 

Thanks again for your input.  Always appreciated

9

Cages / Odor?

« on: April 29, 2013, 08:22:30 AM »

Ok, so we're heading into week 3 of owning our new babies and I've noticed something puzzling about their cage.  It was recommended to me by their previous owner to use CareFresh bedding so I bought some of that.  Since we have 2 chinchillas, I change the bottom tray that has about 2" of bedding in it every 3 or 4 days.

I changed it out on Saturday since we were re-doing their cage (installing wood shelving, rearranging some things, hanging their food hopper on the outside of the cage and putting in a corner litter box).  Saturday evening they were out playing while we were working on their cage.  I bleached out the bottom tray, dried it and refilled it with carefresh.  Then added the a few pieces of pee-soaked carefresh and some new bedding to their litter box and returned the chins after their 2 hr playtime.

Last night after we returned them to their cage, I smelled a strong pee smell.  Not sure if it was coming from the litter box or the bottom of the cage, but thought that was odd since usually we don't smell anything for a few days.

Any suggestions?  Should I change their bedding to aspen or pine shavings?  What IS the best bedding for odor control? 

10

General Chat / Re: Pics of our new babies :)

« on: April 24, 2013, 11:49:34 AM »

I didn't want to risk running out so I ordered a small bag of their old diet and a small bag of the Mazuri.  I'll start mixing them together gradually so as to not upset their bellies.

11

General Chat / Re: Pics of our new babies :)

« on: April 23, 2013, 02:29:06 PM »

I will be looking for the Mazuri this weekend, but since I'm running so low on their food from their previous owner, I'll have to probably order some of that too and mix them gradually right?

12

Cages / Re: Food hopper to hang on outside of cage

« on: April 22, 2013, 04:26:06 PM »

Ok cool beans.  Thanks again.  I so appreciate these boards!

13

Cages / Re: Food hopper to hang on outside of cage

« on: April 22, 2013, 02:12:57 PM »

Thanks so much for this info! 

They are babies, yes, born Feb 6th of this year.  So we'll wait.  And yes, it's a metal food hopper.

I'll let hubby know he was right again!  LOL 

And really - the height where they have to stand on their hind legs to reach the food?  I understand to keep the food clean it needs to be raised, I just wasn't aware of how high.

Thanks again!

14

Cages / Food hopper to hang on outside of cage

« on: April 22, 2013, 09:45:30 AM »

Hey all,

This may be a stupid question, but when we were shopping for our new chinchilla's cage, we bought a metal food hopper for their pellets as I'd read it was a better method of feeding.  It didn't come with any hanging instructions, just says it can be hung inside or outside the cage.  The way it's shaped, I can't fit the bottom through the cage bars to hang it on the outside though?  My husband seems to think the only way we can hang it outside the cage is if we snip off one of the cage bars and feed the bottom of the hopper through the widened space.

Anyone have any experience with these?  It currently hangs inside their cage, but takes up a fair amount of space.  I'd rather hang it on the outside but not if it means I have to modify the cage bars!

Thanks!

15

General Chat / Re: Pics of our new babies :)

« on: April 22, 2013, 09:19:17 AM »

Thanks!  I'll check for the Mazuri diet this weekend and if the stores don't have it, I'll have to order it online.  I just hate ordering things since our apartment manager isn't on top of things and a lot of shipments get misplaced/lost.