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1

Health / Re: Advice?

« on: May 12, 2013, 12:52:13 PM »

If it is over 75 degrees, you should get an air conditioner, to keep it cool. If it is too hot and they can die of heat stroke. Sometimes genetics has to do with size. There could be many reasons why he isn't as big as the younger one. It could be that he hasn't had another growth spurt yet, it could be that the genes he was passed on, his body structure will be different than the younger one. Maybe he will be leaner and longer bodied than the younger one? Just like people, chinchillas do come in different sizes and shapes.

It could be that he might be a runt in a litter or that he is a dwarf. There is lots of reasons why an older chin may end up smaller than a younger one.

With your two, it could also be that if one is a mutation, some mutations seem to grow slower than say, standards. Standards tend to be full grown in a year, some mutations tend to take up to two years to fully grow.

2

General Chat / Re: Chinchilla acting too aggressive towards people

« on: May 08, 2013, 12:51:41 AM »

Is it at all possible someone could have hurt him in a particular way, and he is reacting whenever someone is doing the same sort of mannerism which might have hurt him? It might not be the same person but could be mannerisms and scents?

I've also heard of chins being jealous of other people sometimes around their owners. I admit, my husband had one chinchilla years ago, that he basically raised from when she was only 2 days old... She didn't like me or anyone else. Wouldn't come to us, didn't like us (my mother and myself) holding her (she'd make grunts and kick with her feet.).

Yet she'd run to him if he tapped his fingers on the floor, or held his hand out for her to hop on. She would sit on his shoulders for hours at a time, watching whatever he was doing. But if I came over, she was not particularly friendly to me or to anyone else. I got the feeling she was jealous of any interaction anyone else had with him.
I love chinchillas more than anything and never laid one finger on her in any sort of mean way, but just seemed to be some sort of weird jealousy or something going on/possessiveness maybe?

I've heard very rarely, but a few times with other pet owners, of chins attacking their spouses legs when their spouse would sit with them, or attacking/spraying others (females generally) that weren't their owners. It's not common but I've heard of it a few times.

3

General Chat / Re: Got sick

« on: May 08, 2013, 12:41:16 AM »

Hope you feel better. I haven't had a stomach virus since that super bug back in 2006... that was quite the knock down deadly one and it came out of nowhere. One minute, you're fine, next minute you're so sick, you have to do like am army crawl to the toilet, because you can barely stand up...

You are making me wonder if my son doesn't have this stomach flu though. He's been really not well today, and stayed home from school. He basically lived in his bedroom or the washroom for the most part of today... He's the only one in our family that is sick right now. We thought it might be some sort of food poisoning from a restaurant we went to the other night, but you are making me wonder now. 

4

Memorials / Re: R.I.P Hopper!

« on: May 03, 2013, 09:11:20 AM »

Sorry you lost your baby. It is possible like GrayRodent mentioned, about birth defects. I had a very cute baby born about seven years ago, who made it to two months of age. Everything outwardly looked fine... but he suddenly went down and was gasping for air out of the blue, during playtime with his brother. He passed away, and I had a necropsy done to find out what was the cause. He had a leaky heart valve, which in turn the fluid built up in his lungs and caused secondary pneumonia.

Outwardly he looked fine, but inside he wasn't. The vet said it was a common birth defect, but was surprised the boy made it to two months of age. He said most babies with a defect with their heart, usually pass on within the first month.

Either way, the best way to find out what happened, is through a necropsy. It is also possible, she could have hurt herself, if she fell or injured herself in the cage too. Babies like to do silly things and don't grasp that they could hurt themselves if they fall or land just the wrong way. It definitely never gets easier when you lose a baby, no matter how long you've raised chinchillas.   

5

General Chat / Re: Baby chins fighting

« on: May 02, 2013, 08:59:09 AM »

You may want to also check that the mother has enough milk for them. Check to see if their bellies are full, and ensure they are getting milk. Sometimes when babies fight, it is also because their mother is not producing enough milk for both. Females can have enough milk when the kits are younger, and for a variety of reasons, they can also stop producing milk or not produce enough, even after a month of nursing.

6

New Births / Re: mam just gave birth help

« on: April 24, 2013, 11:04:59 AM »

Just be careful with neutering as sometimes they can get infections in their sutures after the surgery. It is easier to neuter than to spay though. I had one male who came out of neutering like nothing ever happened. He healed up fast and he did extremely well. His neuter was only performed because he had a hernia in his testicles and we were concerned he was in pain from it. On the other side of it, I've read of pet owners having to deal with infections with the sutures, or their chinchillas not eating after surgery. Requiring hand feeding, which sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. Depending on the problem, some chins did survive because their owners acted quickly, some didn't.

If the baby is nursing and the baby's tummy is full, then the mother has milk. If she doesn't have milk, babies can become a little volatile, attacking mom or chasing her around the cage and nipping at her.
Their tails will curl up at the end if they are nursing fine as well, and when they are not receiving milk, their tails tend to lie down flat, bellies do not feel full. If you see the baby lying under the mother for long lengths of time, more than likely she does have milk though.

7

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

« on: April 23, 2013, 12:31:55 AM »

Tradition changed their formula lately and some breeders are complaining of the seaweed in it, and of issues with their herds. Some people are complaining of stillborn kits being born(half their kits being born are stillborn which is unusual for them.) . With mazuri, whether available in pet stores or not, there is no one complaining of digestive issues or stillborn kits or other problems arising from the mazuri, as Mazuri has kept the same formula for years. 

8

Conformation and Quality / Re: What color would you call this little female?

« on: April 21, 2013, 12:11:00 AM »

I agree with Jamie, the baby should lighten up a bit more as he/she ages. They always do. Sometimes you get some really neat markings.

9

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

« on: April 20, 2013, 01:33:01 AM »

Mazuri is a better quality diet, imo.

10

Conformation and Quality / Re: What color would you call this little female?

« on: April 18, 2013, 04:17:54 PM »

Ebony white. Really dark though. You can call them white ebonies, ebony whites, ebony mosaics, etc... they are all the same mutation (ebony crossed with white).
You can breed to whom you choose to, but if it was me, I'd breed either to a standard, standard/ebony carrier or ebony, to try to keep up quality (if they also are comparable and both would help improve each others weaknesses.).

11

Q & A / Re: Pairing Chinchillas

« on: April 18, 2013, 09:19:57 AM »

There are different introduction methods you could do with the current two you have, to get them along. I've had chins fight, but sometimes it just takes a specific introduction method to work for them. I agree it can be a little difficult, but the reason females can be like that, is they get territorial of their space when they get area.

My favorite introduction method, and it works majority of the time, is to do the neutral territory one. Find a room in the house that the aggressive chinchilla is not used to being in. Snip their whiskers down to an inch in length (they grow back! What this does, is make them not feel as confident/aggressive as usual.), place a dust bath in the room, and then monitor them for about two hours as you introduce. Ensure it is not a room that the female is used to. If you don't have such a room in the home, try a friend or family's home that the aggressive female chinchilla is not used to being in. The key is to make her feel vulnerable so she is more likely to not feel territorial over the other chinchilla. I personally prefer these introductions done in the morning hours, when most of my chins are sleepy. You do need to be able to stay with them to supervise them, for a couple hours.

If there is fur biting, or chasing or attacking, then separate them. If there is none after 2 hours, then proceed to place them in the passive chinchilla's cage (not the aggressor's cage.) and you need to monitor for another two hours. Again - any fur pulling or chasing or biting, and please separate.

Another method that works quite well is to take them on a car ride. If you can snip whiskers for the aggressive chinchilla again, it works best to downplay a possibility of her fighting. Go for a car ride that takes at least an hour. Put the passive chinchilla in the carrier first, and then the aggressive chinchilla in, just before you take off on your trip.

This is another neutral situation for the aggressive chinchilla. Most chins don't fight because they are out of their comfort zone and do not feel as confident as they would be in their own cage. Drive around for a while(about an hour), and they should not fight. If you do see signs of fighting, fur pulling, etc... then separate them.

 In most cases, if done properly, the chins do not fight.  Morning hours are best, and always snip the whiskers on the aggressive chinchilla only (not the passive chinchilla.). If they do get along just fine, please put them in the passive chinchilla's cage, not the aggressive chinchilla's cage. If you wish to put them in the aggressive chins cage, only do so after a few days of them being happy together in the passive chinchilla's cage.

I personally have had good luck with either introduction. As long as it is done in the morning hours, the aggressive chinchilla's whiskers are snipped, and in a neutral situation - I truly haven't had a chinchilla continue to be aggressive. You need to monitor them though, to be on the safe side. It can be done though. I have three girls together, one who is 10 years old, one who is 6 years old and a 4 year old. The 4 year old is really aggressive, but we took a car ride with her and the other two girls, for an hour and forty five minutes, brought them home - and they are the best of buddies and have been the last 5 months. No fighting, no problems. They pile on one another when sleeping and groom one another now.

12

Health / Re: mites

« on: April 17, 2013, 12:43:14 PM »

Chinchillas can get ear mites... but if they are kept in clean conditions and good care, the ear mites do not last long on them. I once rescued a chinchilla with ear mites, and it took about a week to get rid of them from his ears. My vet told me, the ear mites tend to come from another animal that hosts them or unclean conditions (Which the previous home had been pretty neglectful in care.).

13

Health / Re: Abscessed tooth...

« on: April 17, 2013, 12:41:04 PM »

Did your vet ever do a culture on the saliva in the chinchilla's mouth to ensure he didn't have possibly a mouth infection of sorts(there are various strains of bacteria that cause mouth infections.)? The abscessed tooth, the other tooth being dead, all sound like familiar signs of a mouth infection. From past experience, baytril worked well with a chin I had who had a mouth infection many years ago.

 The only issue is, that I was not successful in treating it quick enough, and the mouth infection got into the bone, which caused a bone infection. Unfortunately for my boy, although the baytril would get rid of the problem for the short term, once off the baytril, the mouth infection returned. It was a constant fight for about 6 months. While on baytril, he could eat fine, his teeth grew in fine, etc... once off baytril, he had dead teeth, like you mentioned, abscesses, and teeth growing out of sorts (which mimicked genetic malo.), and was needing handfed around the clock.
It was a continuous cycle, but the first way we found out it was a mouth infection was culturing the saliva in his mouth.

A mouth infection can come from something as simple as a chinchilla cutting the inside of their mouth with a water bottle tip, or poking their mouth with hay, etc... and the bacteria being on that piece of hay can lead to that.

14

Q & A / Re: sources for treats and toys?

« on: April 11, 2013, 06:22:54 PM »

There is also Susan with www.azchins.com in the US for toys and supplies. Very reasonably priced. She always sends extras to fill the box too.
I sell supplies too but I am in Canada - www.chinchillaparkplace.ca/chinstuffstore//

15

Q & A / Re: Aggressive Chins

« on: March 10, 2013, 10:34:17 PM »

I have to agree with Jamie. Usually males only fight, if there is a female in the room that is in heat, or if one of them is a female (and the owner doesn't know it or was misinformed.).