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Topics - Jasonred79

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General Chat / Difference between dogs and chinchillas. Half joking half serious ;)

« on: March 04, 2014, 12:20:13 PM »

Having owned both dogs and a chinchilla, I would say that chinchillas do give back joy so it's worth the amount of work you put in, but they have a far lower input/output ratio than a dog:

1. For a dog, you put in a *bit* of effort, and he treats you like his best friend. Spend 5 minutes a day giving him your full attention, and he worships you. "You're going to pet me??? I'm SO HAPPY!!! May I... may I PLEASE cuddle? I'll understand if you don't want to, but it means the world to me... I love you so much, please hug me and love me forever!"

2. For a chinchilla, you have to put in a LOT more effort, just to make them "not uncomfortable with you touching them". ... "Oh, hello... you want to scratch my itchy spots? Ok, I'll give you just 1 minute of my time, *IF* you do a good job! Oh you want to cuddle? I'm not really into cuddling. ... Let's play! And by play, I mean you entertain me when I feel like it, and when I get distracted I'll go do something else."

lol. But I still loves my little popsicle to bits!

General Chat / Threats are USELESS! :(

« on: March 04, 2014, 11:55:02 AM »

My bedroom is cold, in order to keep my little Popsicle healthy.

Unfortunatly, this has some unwanted side effects. For instance, Popsicle tries to breastfeed from me every now and then. OUCH. (I'm a guy, BTW)

After the latest nibbling, I decided threats were in order.

"POPSICLE! If you do that again, you're going to share the fate of all those farmed Chinchillas! I'm going to turn you into a fur hat!!!"

...

Result:

http://prntscr.com/2xu6tr

Posicle: "SQUEEK! I'm soft and furry, I make a GREAT fur hat!"

Me: You obviously misunderstand me...

Popsicle: I understand everything! I am a rodent GENIUS!!! ... oh, look, there's a pellet on the floor. I wonder if it tastes delicious? ... oh, it tastes like my poo poo... ah, I see! That must mean... it *IS* my poo poo!!! ... I am a rodent GENIUS!!!

Me: ... sigh... you win again, Popsicle...

General Chat / My kid loves playing "blanket cave"

« on: February 23, 2014, 11:56:03 AM »

And by kid, I mean kid Chinchilla.

Seriously, I used to LOVE playing blanket cave when I was little... for those who lived deprived childhoods (or those who are entertained by xbox and tv instead of inventing games to entertain themselves), that's a game where you drape a blanket over yourself and pretend it's a cave.

Anyhow, this is a great way to spend bonding time in close contact, without any restraining... I lie down on my bed, drape my blanket over myself, and stick up a knee and prop up my arm to turn it into a cave. My chin's rodent instincts kick in, and he goes "A CAVE! I shall explore this mysterious cavern!" and he can spend a good long while going in and out and exploring it, climbing all over me in the process.

I don't even have to coerce him or anything, I prepare the cave entrance and he will notice it eventually and decide to go exploring.

Those who have had to deal with chinchilla proofing the undersides of sofas and beds and such will know the "magical allure, magnetism, and compulsion" that cavelike things have over chins.... lol...

General Chat / My Chin loves his poop flinging machine. :(

« on: February 16, 2014, 10:22:06 AM »

My Chinchilla is named Popsicle. This is my conversation with him. (translated to English for those who aren't fluent in squeek squeek).

Popsicle: Thank you for building me this poop flinging machine! I love it very much!

Me: It's not a poop flinging machine, I built you a flying saucer running wheel from Ikea parts!

Popsicle: First, I climb onto it, and poop on wheel!

Me: It's not a poop flinger!

Popsicle: Then I run and the wheel spins and poop gets launched out of the cage!

Me: It's not a poop flinger!!!

Popsicle: Wow, look how much range I got on this thing! I can fling my poop almost to 2 feet away from my cage!

Me: IT'S NOT A POOP FLIN... you know what? Fine. Go enjoy your poop flinger. you win. sigh. (puts a dustpan and brush next to the cage)

. ... and I was worried he wouldn't run on it... that lasted less than 1 day ROFL...

Health / Bad raisin experience!

« on: February 14, 2014, 12:43:16 AM »

Man, chinchillas are sensitive to sugar.

I gave Popsicle 3/4 of a raisin the other day instead of his usual fragment to taste, and he went HYPER for hours, bouncing off the walls at top speed, and he also went off his food for 1 day.

Not doing that again.

Health / Versele-Laga Chinchilla Nature?

« on: February 02, 2014, 09:52:30 AM »

I bought these pellets for my Chin cause I thought the food looked more "appetising" than plain old hay pellets or such... but now I'm reading the ingredients and more informed, I'm a bit more skeptical whether this stuff is safe to feed my Chin!

It contains apples, bananas, carrots, yeast, algae... I didn't find the word "hay" at all on the list of ingredients!

... Is feeding this to my chin a really really bad idea? Should I just chuck the bag and eat the loss, or should I keep the stuff and only use it for treats, or what?
Or is it actually safe to feed my chin?

http://www.versele-laga.com/nutri/nutrition/Pages/Products/index.jsp?lng=3&fam=224&ani=-1&ran=20644&pro=20687#Productvoorstelling

I'm a bit leery since I opened the bag, scooped out a random fistful, and I got 3 slices of banana in the mix, which is a lot to me, since I would only give Popsicle 1/4 slice of banana as a treat a day maximum, so 3 slices of banana a day seems too much!

General Chat / My live in personal trainer

« on: January 06, 2014, 06:51:15 AM »

My chin thinks I'm too fat.

We've graduated from playing hide n seek, to playing tag.

He's trained me well... He runs away to hard to reach spots, waits for me, until I give him a pet or tickle, then he's off to the next location.

If I get tired and rest, he'll come disturb me to tell me playtime is not over yet.

... Turns out even a young chin has more stamina than a fat human...

Q & A / Chin poops in food bowl

« on: January 05, 2014, 07:32:48 AM »

Even when I use a tiny food bowl, I'll find lots of poop in it.

Anyhow, my question is, how often do I need to clean it? He's still growing so I'm not sure how much food to give him, it seems variable. Anyhow, problem is when there's lots of unbeaten pellets mixed in with lots of poop...

So far I just pick out the poop and assume that the remaining pellets are still edible. Is this wrong?

Q & A / How to examine my chin?

« on: January 01, 2014, 08:43:03 AM »

He's ok with being touched, but WILL squirm and struggle if he feels restrained.

This has made it impossible to examine his teeth and paws.

What should I do? Leave his examinations to a vet?

Q & A / Sharing some tips/tricks I learnt!

« on: December 30, 2013, 08:59:57 AM »

2 tricks for new owners!

1. Someone said something about instinct to chew things being natural chinchilla behaviour. While true, I found that it *IS* perfectly possible to teach a chin what NOT to chew... such as electrical wires and paint. A strong solution of peppers will do this. Treat a piece of wood with pepper solution, let your chin have a NIBBLE ONLY, then take it away. It will learn that pepper is BAD, and hate the smell of it from now on.
Then treat the surfaces you want the chin to not chew.
Chins are surprisingly smart, doesn't take long at all to associate the smell with "tastes bad"

2. If your chin is uncomfortable being touched, try this trick!

All chins love playtime, as far as I know.
Let your chin out to play for a week by just opening his cage or something.
Then for a few days, at playtime, only open the cage partway, and stick your arm in so he has to brush past you yo get out. ... Prepare a good book to read while waiting for him to gather courage.
Let him get used to that... Then try arrNging it so the only way out of the cage is by climbing your hand/arm. Again, be prepared to wait. Zzz.
eventually, you can get it so that your chin will hop onto your hands and let you carry him out of the cage for his playtime. Yay!
... From what I gather, patience is the biggest factor here... Chins are like children... If they feel you are trying to force them to do something, they can be stubborn like heck! If you let them think it's their own bright idea though... Lolz...

Q & A / How do I get my chinchilla to cuddle me?

« on: December 30, 2013, 08:43:29 AM »

I've had my chin for almost a month now, he was I think a few months old when I first got him, pet shop said he was used to humans.... I don't know...

I get confused daily by his behaviour, but I'm sort of working stuff out as I go along... Finally figured out that his running and hiding is a game, not being scared of me or avoiding being caged... (He is pretty comfortable with me as a human jungle gym and he goes into his cage on his own when he feels like it...)

I can get him to rub noses with me. Sometimes.

One thing I've managed to train him is playtime. When it's playtime, I stick my hands into his cage. When he climbs on, I take him out for playtime! Trained so well now that he waits for my hands first even when I open both cage doors.

Trouble is... It's been a month, and he's still not fond of cuddling! I can stroke him and scratch him a little, and pick him up, but he's just not into cuddling! This worries me, as I read that you need to bond while they're young or they'll be shy when older...

I try to interact with him as much as possible during playtime, but he spends almost the entire duration playing hide and seek with me, there is hardly any physical contact at all! ... Should I wait until he's exhausted before moving onto cuddle time? What am I doing wrong?