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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 
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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?
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?
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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!
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!
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General Chat / Pics of our new babies :)
« on: April 18, 2013, 09:20:16 AM »
Barley and Hopps, both males, born Feb 6th. We love them!
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Q & A / New owner of 2 beige baby boys - SO fun!
« on: April 15, 2013, 02:57:52 PM »
Hi all,
I found this board today and am so glad to read everyone's posts about their chins! I've never had them before, but used to do animal rescue and have dealt with them in my prior field of veterinary assisting.
We are the proud parents of two 9 week old baby boys. One is very hyper and the other quite calm. We just got them last night from a woman who had rescued their parents and didn't realize the female was pregnant, so once the babies were born wanted to get them into a good home.
We have a large cage with several levels but didn't realize until we put the chins in it last night that the side bars are wider spaced than the front, back and top, so had to get smaller screening to temporarily wrap the sides so they can't wiggle out. We're planning to get them some toys and bedding and some cage accessories after work today.
I'm sure I'll end up with more questions as the days go by. We have a cat and we're working very slowly (and VERY carefully) at introducing him. So far, the only room we have "chin proofed" is our tiny bathroom, and both chins had a blast running around and crawling all over us last night. The cat just watches them running around and if they get too close he hisses but hasn't tried to do anything else (and we're right there holding him so he can't hurt them).
I'd love to get to the point of letting them explore larger areas of our tiny 1 bedroom apartment, but sheesh I can't imagine being able to safely allow that!! We'll never leave them alone with the cat and we roll their cage into our walk in closet at night so he can't stick his paws in the cage.
I don't really have any questions other than how fast do these little guys grow? At 9 weeks, they're palm of your hand sized and can just fit anywhere! I'm wondering how long we'll have to keep the "chicken wire" on the sides of the cage.
Thanks and any suggestions, comments or advice is more than welcome!
I found this board today and am so glad to read everyone's posts about their chins! I've never had them before, but used to do animal rescue and have dealt with them in my prior field of veterinary assisting.
We are the proud parents of two 9 week old baby boys. One is very hyper and the other quite calm. We just got them last night from a woman who had rescued their parents and didn't realize the female was pregnant, so once the babies were born wanted to get them into a good home.
We have a large cage with several levels but didn't realize until we put the chins in it last night that the side bars are wider spaced than the front, back and top, so had to get smaller screening to temporarily wrap the sides so they can't wiggle out. We're planning to get them some toys and bedding and some cage accessories after work today.
I'm sure I'll end up with more questions as the days go by. We have a cat and we're working very slowly (and VERY carefully) at introducing him. So far, the only room we have "chin proofed" is our tiny bathroom, and both chins had a blast running around and crawling all over us last night. The cat just watches them running around and if they get too close he hisses but hasn't tried to do anything else (and we're right there holding him so he can't hurt them).
I'd love to get to the point of letting them explore larger areas of our tiny 1 bedroom apartment, but sheesh I can't imagine being able to safely allow that!! We'll never leave them alone with the cat and we roll their cage into our walk in closet at night so he can't stick his paws in the cage.
I don't really have any questions other than how fast do these little guys grow? At 9 weeks, they're palm of your hand sized and can just fit anywhere! I'm wondering how long we'll have to keep the "chicken wire" on the sides of the cage.
Thanks and any suggestions, comments or advice is more than welcome!
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