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1

Q & A / Re: The pee smell!

« on: January 31, 2011, 01:55:01 PM »

I had 3 rats in the past and now I have 3 chinchilla's (all males). I think my rats were always a little smelly but my Chinchilla's don't have any odor to them but the smell of their hay. I clean cages once a week (the rats also had their cage cleaned once a week also) and I think everyone stays very clean. I also use carefresh in my chin's cage. I think a vet visit to rule out any problems is needed.

Congrats on your new addition BTW!

Ashley

2

Q & A / Re: Play time

« on: January 29, 2011, 12:14:21 AM »

One of my favorite things to do with Max is sit on the bathroom floor while he plays and read. He can not resist climbing into my lap and trying to nibble on my book and then when I catch him I pull the book up and look at him and he will dart off really fast. Then we do it all over again. I think he really enjoys it and it hasn't made him any harder to catch when it's time to go back to his cage. Even if I don't have a book though if I sit on the floor Max will sit in my lap, leap onto my shoulder, climb onto my head and ramp off me. He really seems to enjoy interacting with me and Kin is getting so that he enjoys it more too.

Ashley

3

Q & A / Re: Play time

« on: January 27, 2011, 03:40:54 PM »

My old routine when I had just Max would be allowing him to have 15 to 20 mins every other day. Some weeks that didn't happen but I try to give him at least that. Right now though I have two newer chins so I've been setting aside an hour each day to spend with them. All 3 get 15 mins with just me. Kin and Max also get to spend 15 mins bonding with each other. I'm working on developing a strong relationship with all 3 of them so I have a feeling I will be doing this for awhile but I hope that eventually I can cut it down to just a half hour every day.

Ashley

4

Health / Re: Help with putting a Chinchilla on a diet

« on: January 27, 2011, 03:12:43 PM »

Yay! I got some photos to upload. So here are some pictures of Tug! Just as a side note, yes, his shelves are plastic and I know that plastic shelves are dangerous. I will be switching him to all wood this weekend, I just needed some time off to do it. Anyways! Here are some pics of Tug.








You can see larger pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/chewysnova/TugBoat#5566974682524223282

So what do you guys think about his weight? I will try to see if I can find a way to weigh him. I don't have a scale here but maybe a vet would let me just bring him in quickly to be weighed?


Ashley

5

Health / Re: Help with putting a Chinchilla on a diet

« on: January 27, 2011, 08:06:38 AM »

So I have been giving Tug the food he came with and after three days here I put in just a little bit of the food I feed my Chins (Oxbow pellets) so I could start to switch him over. I've been very slowly increasing how much of my pellets he is getting and the little bugger will pick through his food and only eat the Oxbow pellets! So I guess whatever he was eating before must not taste as yummy and his new food. So he is completely switched to eating only the Oxbow and he is also jumping between his shelves a lot more now then when he first got here. So I'm not going to decrease his food, I'm just going to let him eat what he pleases and just make sure he gets lots of play times to help run off some of his extra weight. I was talking about Tug's weight with my boyfriend and we think the problem is that in his old cage he had ramps to go up his shelves so he never really jumped, he also had no toys in his old cage and he never came out of his cage. So we think he got very little exercise and possibly ate out of boredom. Now maybe Tug is just a big chinchilla but if he could loose just a tiny bit of weight I would feel better. I have never seen him roll over in his dust bath. He will roll on one side, then stand up, roll onto the other side but he never does a complete roll over to get his back. He also doesn't fit in my chinchilla dust bath house so we are using an old dog food bowl for him. I took some pictures last night of him that I will try to post later today to see what you guys think about his weight. I really appreciate all of the advice!

Ashley

6

General Chat / Re: Introducing two chins

« on: January 27, 2011, 07:54:44 AM »

Well last night I let them out and there was no nipping or biting at all! Yay! They still aren't living together because this is the first time it has happened but when I put them back in there separate cages they instantly went to there respective shelves which are right next to each other and laid down. I think these boys will be getting along in no time! I am also waiting on a new cage, a Ferret Nation, which is currently being shipped to me so when they do live together it will be in a completely new cage in a different room then they are currently living in also. I think I will put Max in Kin's cage and Kin in Max's cage tonight for a few hours to let them get used to each other smell, that is a great idea!

Thanks for all the tips everyone!
Ashley

7

Health / Re: Help with putting a Chinchilla on a diet

« on: January 25, 2011, 12:12:38 PM »

Maybe Tug is just a big boy! He is almost double the size of Max though. I'm pretty sure he has never gotten any treats but now that he is here he won't for awhile. His coat is very greasy. I will try to get a picture of him to post. Right now he is still getting enough pellets that he can't eat them all in a day. I have slowly been decreasing it from there and we will see what we get. The first night we brought him home we let him out to run around outside of his cage so we could get a better look at him. He hesitantly came out and then he started hopping around. He crawled into my lap a few times which was so cute and then he would hop away to do other things. After about 20 mins I decided to put him back and you could tell he was so upset! He started racing around his cage like a wild man and knocking everything over. I think he threw a chinchilla tantrum! LOL. He really is cute and just a little shy.

Ashley

8

Guestbook / Re: Hi everyone!

« on: January 25, 2011, 12:04:11 PM »

Hi Debbi!

The weather is great! Last time I was outside it was in the mid 20s which is a wonderful upgrade from the below zero temps we had been enjoying! It snowed here recently too but we only got an inch or two. All three of them are grey. I really want a white mosiac, they are so beautiful but I will stick with my grey boys right now.

Thanks for the welcome!

Ashley

9

General Chat / Re: Introducing two chins

« on: January 25, 2011, 11:59:10 AM »

Thanks for the replies! I knew when I got Kin that the two of them may never get along so Kin is all set up with his own cage just to be on the safe side and if they don't get along that is fine by me, I'm happy either way, I just thought we would give Max a chance to have a friend. I also knew that it would take awhile I just wasn't sure what signs to watch for to tell when they were ready. Even when they are in there cages they sit on the shelves they have and lay next to each other but in separate cages. It's very cute! When we first started doing the playtime's together we did stop play time once because Kin stopped enjoying himself. We gave them a break and the next time Kin came out we gave him a long play time with just us and no Max. Other then that Kin seems to enjoy max and will go over to him on his own and interact with him. Max will also seek Kin out during play times and they will touch noses then move on. I love watching them interact with each other!

Thanks for the good advice!!
Ashley

10

General Chat / Introducing two chins

« on: January 24, 2011, 09:25:31 PM »

I have two chins that I'm trying to get to live together. Max is an adult Chinchilla and Kin is 10 and a half weeks old. We have been letting them out to play with each every day in the bathroom. From day one the only problem we had with them is Max will every now and then grab onto Kin and nip his back. Kin then just runs away and doesn't fight back. What I'm wondering is, how will I know when they are ready to live together? Do I wait for them to groom each other or what? They seem to get along really well, I just want to make sure I don't rush things. Thanks!

Ashley

11

Health / Help with putting a Chinchilla on a diet

« on: January 24, 2011, 09:11:05 PM »

I rescued a Chinchilla that we affectionately call Tug Boat or Tug, right now. We just got him this past Saturday and his hair is in terrible shape. It is very greasy and unlike my other chins his fur doesn't really move. For instance, if I blow on my other chins coat it will part and I can see the skin but with Tug's coat it doesn't even move. He is also so obese he has fat rolls and I'm not sure if it's because he was in a cage that he couldn't jump around in or if it's because he is so large but he can only jump as tall as he is when he stands on his back feet.

So here is my first question. Right now I'm regulating how much pellets he gets but allowing him to have unlimited Hay. Is that okay? If so, how much pellets should he get? He lived in a large cage but it had ramps all through it so he never jumped anywhere, his old home also said he was not social at all so they never let him out of his cage. Since he is overweight we have been letting him out to stretch his legs twice a day for at least 15 mins each time. He loves this time and we seem to be bonding pretty well, he will even come and sit in my  lap after a little while. Is there anything else I should do be doing for him?

My second question is how often can he get a dust bath and is there anything else I can do for his fur? His coat has a lot of tuffs of loose hair hanging out all over his body, can you brush chinchillas? If so what brush do you recommend?

Thanks everyone! Tug appreciates any and all advice!!
Ashley

12

Guestbook / Hi everyone!

« on: January 24, 2011, 08:52:01 PM »

I'm new here and have 3 Chinchillas. Maximilian (Max), Grimalkin (we call him Kin or Kitty) and Tug Boat (Tug). I'm very glad to be here and can't wait to meet everyone and of course all the chins!!