New chin??

Hello!

After nearly three wonderful years of having a chinchilla I am looking into getting her a friend. I have a question though. Would it be harder or not a good idea to get a blind chinchilla a friend? Or, is that not an issue. Also is it better to get a chinchilla the same age or younger, older? I am looking at getting a 3 year old chinchilla like mine right now, but if another age is better pls let me know. :)

Male Goldbar Carrier

Looking for a male standard gray goldbar carrier. I live in Evansville, Indiana, but am willing to travel several hours if needed. Please let me know if you have any or if you have any ideas on who might have some. Thank you all

Goldbar Breeders?

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I wasn't sure where would be better. I'm looking for a male goldbar carrier to breed to my female, but I'm having issues finding breeders. I know East Tennessee breeds goldbars. Does anyone know of any other breeders?

Family wants to hold chin?

Hi!

I have had my chinchilla for nearly 2 weeks. She probably isn't tamed COMPLETELY, but, She lets me pet her, she climbs on top of me, she willingly takes treats from me, I give her scratches, and she always comes running to the front of her bin to greet me. The only thing is she will not let me hold her.

My family are really upset they can't hold her, or play with her,and keep nagging me to take her out of her cage. I take my chin out for playtime every day for at least an hour, and they want her to be an "around the house" pet such as a cat or dog.

No matter how many times I tried to explain to them it just won't work, they still nag and nag. Any ideas on what to do? Any help is appreciated. :)

Chins don't use their house

I have just got two female chinchillas and I've noticed that they don't really sleep or use a wooden box that I got for them. Instead, they sit on top of it and go to sleep. Is this a perfectly normal thing to do or are they trying to tell me they don't like it? I don't know whether I should be trying to change it in some way or just leaving it alone because they've found a spot that they're happy to sit in and keep retuning to.

Any advice would be great :)

Sitting and staring

Okay, so my darling Hermes literally has every type of toy you can offer a chinchilla. Chew toys, hanging toys, toss toys, shredder toys... He even has a chinnie buddie stuffed animal. He has ledges, and a hammock, shelves for jumping.

I lowered his playtime to only 10 minutes today (he is only 4 months old) and he seemed to handle that fine. So tell me why he has been sitting in the same spot in his cage for 2 hours.. Just staring. And I know what he looks like when he is sleeping with his eyes open.. And this is different. The cage is in the dining room which looks into the living room.. So he can always see the television. I thought.. Hmmm maybe he is just really enjoying watching TV tonight. Well it's about midnight and I turned the TV off and came into the bedroom to get ready for bed. 20 or so minutes later, I come out for a glass of water and there he is.. Same spot.. Just sitting and staring. The moment I put my face against the cage he begins interacting, so I know he isn't asleep.

Any thoughts on this?

Fleece liners and litter training

Hello, I've just got my first chins (a pair of two females) and after finding shavings EVERYWHERE, I was thinking about changing to a fleece liner? I have a solid bottom cage with multiple levels, but are there any down sides to using fleece? I'm also based in the UK so if anyone has any good places to buy them from that would be appreciated!

I've also read several threads that mention training your chins to pee in a particular area, as I've only just got my chins, I don't really know where they're peeing at the minute but I would like to know how to train them to do this? They're 8 months old, is this too late or a good age to train them to do it?

Any help anyone can offer would be great! Thank you in advance :)

Hello from sunny (air conditioned) California!

Hello Everyone!

I just got my first Chinchilla from a breeder in Northern California about a month ago. He was 12 weeks when I got him. From the very beginning, he has been extremely friendly and social. I simply adore him!

I am so glad to have found this forum so that I can continue my research on how to give him the best, safest, and longest life possible.

I attached pictures of him and his cage below. Two questions based on what I have read here: 1.) Is the outside of this hammock dangerous for him since he appears to be chewing it? The inside is fleece, but the outside definitely is not. Perhaps I could just remove that outer part from the hammock? I may just remove it altogether.. and he mostly just runs in and out, never relaxing and laying in it to my knowledge. He LOVES all of his ledges, and as soon as he is bigger I will take some of the larger shelves out and replace with ledges galore! 2.) I have a "salt lick" hanging in the back of the cage. Is this no good for him? He doesn't lick it very often (again, to my knowledge), but he does seem to enjoy chewing the rope that it hangs on.

Also, I purchased the large metal flying saucer wheel, which he literally figured out in a day and is OBSESSED with… but I have since removed it until he is 6 months old. I will miss singing "Up in his cage just working on his fitness, Hermilicious!" while he is on it… but 2 more months of a wait is a small price to pay for his overall wellbeing.

Anyways, I am excited to be a part of the forum. Thanks in advance for all the helpful advice! :)

-Sandra

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What to do for soft poo?

Hello again,

My little guy, Oreo, is having some soft poo problems. He'd had diarrhea beginning Dec. 11. We finally found a vet who could see him here, and he was tested for infections and parasites, with nothing found. The diarrhea cleared up for two days at Christmas, but it's soft again, though not full blown diarrhea like before. It's not runny or wet. It's well-formed but shiny and soft enough for him to squish when he steps on it. He's eating and drinking well, still active and weighs about a pound and a half which is over 600 grams I think. When the squashy poo started up again, the vet tested it again yesterday and nothing found.

He's a rescue so we don't know how old he is. We only know he's at least 8 years old. He's on Oxbow Timothy Hay and is currently receiving a mix of Mazuri and Oxbow pellets as I want to switch him to Oxbow. Right now it's mostly Mazuri. He was on this mix when his poo was normal for those 2 days. He drinks filtered water. I've given no treats since this began except for half a piece of Shredded Wheat in the morning and at night.

I'm thinking of pulling the pellets altogether but wondered how long is OK on just hay alone? And can he have more than one Shredded Wheat a day? I thought the fiber might be good for him.

Is there anything else I can try to firm up his poo?

Thanks. ^_^

safe woods

Is Radiata KD pine safe wood for shelves?

Giant Chinchillas

What are some of the largest chinchillas you've seen or owned? I really like hefty chinchillas. Here are a couple of mine to get things started. A pink white female bred here she's not a year old yet and 800g. The second pic is a black velvet v/c bred here as well. She's around 1000g

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chinchillas in 4-H

I grew up studying and practicing animal husbandry by way of 4-H and chinchillas seem like a very practical, economical and progressive 4-H project for children and teenagers to get into.

For those who are not familiar with 4-H it is a program whereby youth raise crops, breed and raise livestock and do educational, artistic, or practical projects usually culminating in a week long event called a county fair where livestock shows, art shows, and various exhibits created by the students are displayed and offered to the public.

Essentially we'd be using chinchillas to teach animal husbandry instead of cows. The reality is many families aren't farming anymore because its not practical, and city kids miss out entirely due to space limits, but chinchillas don't require a bunch of space, and all of the same educational opportunities that exist in breeding and managing horses, cows, pigs and goats exist in breeding and managing chinchillas.

What do you guys think? Has anyone ever done this or heard of it being done? One major concern would be an air-conditioned situation at the fair( exhibit festival) as these are usually held during the summer and fairgrounds generally consist of barns that aren't air conditioned.

Playtime

Hello all! My name is Sandra and I am a first time chinchilla owner! I got Hermes from a breeder here in California. He was 12 weeks when I got him, and I have had him for about a month. He is amazingly social and warmed up to my boyfriend and I within a day or two. I know there is a lot of trust to build, but I feel really positive about the bond we have so far.

My main question is about playtime. I wasn't going to let him have playtime right away, but when I would open the cage to clean it or interact with him he would immediately climb into my hand, up my arm, etc or jump right out into my lap. So, we began doing short spurts of playtime outside around his cage. The area is chin-safe. He was curious at first, just exploring with cute little hops of joy here and there. Now, he has begun running laps around the room and doing amazing wall bounces. He can now make jumps of about 1.5 feet, so he is becoming quite athletic. I just worry if he is too young for so much exercise? Usually around 6pm I take him out for about 15-20 minutes of running and jumping cuteness.. Then he has taken to falling asleep under his cage in the back against the wall. While he naps, I clean his cage, refill food and water, etc. Then he wakes up for another 15-20 minute session before jumping back into his cage for a snack.. Then konking out again. This has become our nightly routine. Is this okay for a chin so young? He typically sleeps until I go to bed, but clearly wakes up sometime in the night because by morning his cage and toys are all in disarray again.

I guess the reason I am asking, is my boyfriend feels that the only time our little chin is happy is when he is out of the cage playing with us. To him, he is always in the cage sleeping or just sitting and staring (unless we come over to talk while perks him right up). I just wonder if the inactivity in the cage is due to him number 1 being a baby who is still growing and needs lots of rest, or number 2 him getting tuckered out from the playtime outside the cage.

Please advise. Thanks!

Help, weird noise.

I had one chinchilla, a male. He would make warning calls, only at night time and not that often. I just got a second chinchilla yesterday, I put him into a new cage. He continuously makes warning calls since the middle of the night last night, and i don't know what to do, or if there is something wrong, because My first one Max never did it in the day time and not nearly as much.

New dust bath product.

I was contacted by Jason Kimberling from Hess Pumice Products about a product similar to Blue Cloud. He sent me some samples and I have been using them on both rescues and show animals for about a month. I can tell you that it works just as good as Blue Cloud in my situation and does not appear to get into the air quite as bad as Blue Cloud does. My son and I researched the product online and found that it does not cause respiratory issues. I also asked Jason about it and he told me it is recommended for use in children's sandboxes.

Jason just sent me a quote for shipping a pallet of 50 pound bags to my home. He is what he sent.

This is pricing if bought in pallet quantity (2,100 lbs) I did the math and it works out to 57 cents a pound.

• Price per 50lb bag = $19 (.38/lb)
• Shipping prices for 1 pallet to Aurora, CO:
  • Shipped to business = $278.45 (doesn't include product price)
  • Shipped to Resident = $402.03 (doesn't include product price)

Shipping of course would be different to other parts of the country, but this will give you a good idea. He is also looking into smaller packaging and I will let you know what he tells me.



I will keep this updated for all of you so keep an eye on this thread.

Handling a chinchilla for inspecting

I worded the title a little weirdly I think.
Either way, this is a question about handling a chinchilla, even though I am confident in picking up and handling my two chins. Both of my chins do freak out a little whenever I reach out for them but once handled they calm down quickly, so it is well. They get more used to it the more I do it.
My main concern however - is the way of handling a chinchilla. My chins are at most safe when I support their hind legs and keeping close to my chest, to prevent them from accidentally attempting to jump out of my hands (although if they close to doing so I always release them near the ground so they are safe).

Recently I have needed to check both of my chin's hind feet, because they are dry (but not infected nor cut, just flaky,dry skin. Does not bother or cause pain at all.), but my issue started when having to apply thin layer of lukewarm/warm water on their affected areas. Obviously when supporting them from below you cannot really apply anything on them. I only managed to do it a few times by slanting myself and lightly holding one foot and supporting the other with one hand (I have a family member who helped apply lightly on their feet), but obviously the chins do not like it when they cannot feel support on all their feet :broken:

Holding the chins by the base of their tails would more than likely scare them even more, and I'm unsure of any other ways. Is there perhaps another way of safely reaching their hind legs while handling?

Thanks again :p

Female in Heat

I'm just curious, but does anyone else have a female that gets kind of mean when she's in heat? My girl Roxy normally is very affectionate and nice to her brother Viper, however when she goes into heat she gets a little more aggressive with her affection I guess. She doesn't bite and draw blood or anything serious, but she does groom the male's fur a lot more causing a few fur slips causing him to bark at her, get mad, and run away from her. She also spends a lot of time following him around while making noises and barking at him. It doesn't seem like fighting, but perhaps she's trying to force him to mate with her?

They've been doing this for 6 years whenever she goes into heat, so I'm not concerned that she is hurting him. Mostly I'm just curious if this is normal behavior.

safe to make shelves with?

I'm looking to make a new shelf in one of my cages. How can you tell if the wood is safe for them? They dont label them "untreated kiln-dried white pine" :(
I found select pine at lowes, but I don't know if it's kiln dried or if its white or radiata. I went to home depot and asked for untreated kiln-dried white pine and the guy gave me "common board" I looked it up and found that common board is typically whatever was available that day and that they don't guarantee the species. Anyone have more knowledge/advice on the subject? Can I use one of these or do you know where and what exactly I should look for?

Thank you!

sitting weird

Talia has been very vocal for days now. She walks around making hm noises(like apuppy cry high pitched hmhmhm). It was making me keep a close eye on her. She has begun running into her hut and rolling over. I'm not sure if she's just being weird (she used to do that behind her ramp years ago). Last night I became very worried. She went into her cage and stood on her hind legs and her tail began wagging. Later that night I found her standing on her hind legs on a cage shelf, but her butt was lifted off the floor, like a squat, but on her hind legs. She did not pee or anything, she was just in a daze for a minute and snapped out of it. She is still eating and drinking. She still runs on her wheel and ran around at play time.
Does this sound like anything to be concerned with or am I just being paranoid?

Pomegranate Wood

I recently cut up some pomegranate wood and was wondering whether or not it is safe for my chinchilla. I want to find out first before I prep it to turn the smaller pieces into chews and the larger pieces into toys. I've tried looking around the web, but I can't seem to find it on the safe or unsafe list for wood anywhere. It seems to follow the general description for safe, but I just want to confirm before giving it to my chinchilla. Any help is appreciated.

Sudden change in behavior, skittish, barking

I've had my female chinnie for a year and a half, I got her from a breeder at a young age, not sure exactly, my guess is two months or so.

Today, suddenly, she's become very skittish. I walked into the room and she ran and hid in her corner, behind a chew hut. Normally I might startle her if I walk into the room quickly, but not every single time, or even when I'm already talking to her as I approach the room. Also, she stayed there. Normally, if I do startle her, she's fine in a minute or so. She did this every single time I came into the room today.

Later, I was in the bathroom (her cage shares a wall with it), and when I stepped towards the bathroom door, she ran for her corner again. She would climb on top of the hideout (Tropical Fiddlesticks one), but wouldn't budge from there.

Then, she started barking. She's not a barker, she does, occasionally, but only at night, when the lights are off, and only two or three sets, then quiet. She barked in sets of three for over fifteen minutes solid. I tried talking to her, she just kept barking, and stayed in her corner.

Poop is normal, pee is normal, drinking is normal, eating is normal, eyes seem clear and bright, fur looks normal (dust bath a few days ago), chew toys thoroughly chewed as normal.

I haven't been home much this last week, making it home late at night in time to say hello to her, check her water/food, and go to bed (holidays, death in the family). Because of that, she was let out of the cage only twice this week, normally it's 4 - 6 times per week (one time was yesterday, I didn't see or notice anything awry during playtime). I live alone, no other animals, no one was at my house while I was out, and I haven't had company for a while.

Other than that, there haven't been any real changes, and just today, she's suddenly like this. It really scares me, especially the barking. It varied, but some of it was higher pitched than her normal bark, when she does bark, and I couldn't help but feel because of the hiding she was scarred.

Any ideas?

Chinchilla got mad after getting second chin wtd

Hey all!

I kinda had this question.. Since I got a second chinchilla my first one started getting mad. I finally had him really social.. Like he came to the door and when I said "Come here" he just hopped on me, but since I got this second chinchilla he acts kinda annoyed when I'm trying to pick him up..

They are in a double unit critter nation cage and the first (male 1year) is in the upper part and the second one (female 2months) is in the lower part.

Can someone please give me a tip or w/e I don't like to see him so grumpyy:wacko:

Loves,

Lilly and the chins Pudding and Poro

Blood...

I woke up this morning and saw blood on one of Tinker&Tainga's shelves. I immediately looked over both girls and found that Tinker's heal was bleeding. The only blood on either of their fur was just a small amount behind Tinker's heal. It just seems like so much blood for a cracked heal! Is it ignorant to believe that? Would you take them to the vet to see that it didn't come from anywhere else?

Tainga has a history of dry cracked feet. It looked like she may have had a small crack as well, but had cleaned herself up by the time i got to her.

I just recently switched back to Aspen bedding because the paper bedding wasn't absorbing enough and the reason i stopped using Aspen, in the past, was because they were getting dry cracked feet =/

Tainga has a recheck appointment tomorrow with the vet. Should i bring Tinker along and mention it to the vet?

Thank you!

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Help with Changing environments

I am going to need to change my chins living space in my home from one area to another. Should I be worried about the stress involved with this. Any suggestions on an easier transition. Thanks.

Brand New Chin Mommy!

Hi there everyone! My name is Gina and I am actually a new chinchilla mommy once again. I used to have chinchillas when I was a child, I had two when I was younger (though not at the same time), but haven't had one in many years. I have been wanting one again for quite awhile and this Christmas my mother in law offered to help me purchase one as a Christmas gift. So now I have my brand new baby Visenya!

We picked her up from Petsmart (as much as I HATE getting animals there). The woman who worked there told me that she had been purchased once and returned because the previous owner's dogs did not get along with her. At any rate, I brought her darling self home and she has been doing splendidly ever since.

Currently she is in a temporary rabbit cage, I am waiting for her three tiered monster of a thing to be delivered next week. I have to say she is probably the most social chinchilla I have ever had. That isn't to say the ones I had when I was younger were not social, but this girl is over the top. If you call her name she scampers to the door of the cage. When you open it she will just hop into your hands and believe it or not... cuddle. I have never had a chin who wanted to jump into my arms or cuddle lol.

I think she is white... but I might be wrong! She could be some other chinchilla color I just don't know about. I had never really seen a white chinchilla in person before. She does have little tiny speckles on her ears that are grey, but they are like little pin prick size speckles or freckles if you will. This is my girly and I think that about sums up my experience so far!



Eating a raisin mommy gifted her.



Hanging out on her ledge.

http://ift.tt/1MyGUFJ

Little video of my social butterfly. :D

Can you say, spoiled?

Over the last couple weeks, I made 2 separate orders of chin stuff. I thought I was done for a while.. but then I got an idea for a cage revamp and needed some extra shelves! I figured "well, if I am going to be paying a good amount of shipping for these shelves, I may as well throw in some other goodies".

Anyways, here is my order list!


I am going to post photos of the cage revamp in about a week orso (after I receive the things) :))
Basically I want to have the shelves run the full length @ mid height around most of his cage. They are just kind of randomly placed atm.

Who else is addicted to online shopping?!
Chins are just too fun.

Need someone to make liners for cage

Help! I do not sew. I need to find someone who will make liners for a three level ferret nation cage. My little man's liners are getting worn out and smelly even after washing. My ex ordered the last set and I do not know from who. You could say I am a new chin owner as my ex was the chin's main caretaker. I love my little guy and want him to have a nice cage. I live in Seattle, WA. However, I do not mind paying for shipping if out of area.
Thanks!

new animals and introductions

This past weekend we got 2 new animals: a young rabbit (Dusty) and a pomeranian (Wolf). How long should I wait before introducing them to my chin, Elsa? Elsa loves trying to play with my dog Maya, but Maya's older and has bad joints so she isn't very playful. Dusty also tries playing with Maya, so I feel that they will do well together once introduced. I just don't want to try too soon and have Elsa get sick.

Stinky poo?

Hey all, my guys can't seem to have any luck with their poo as of late. My little guy now started to have really smelly stool. Other than that, he's bouncing and running around like normal. He hasn't had diarrhea and his poops spear normal looking. I plan to take him to the vet, but was wondering what could it be? I'm assuming a parasite.

Tinsel is chirping/barking??

Hi everyone. Last night, my chinchilla Tinsel was sort of barking?? It was a repeated call of some sort, kind of like a whimper maybe? It woke me and my dad up, and after we checked on her, she was just sitting there, and she stopped. This is the first time it happened, and I got her 4 days ago.

Weight loss and heart murmur

I just dropped my chinchilla, Shadow, off at the vet for an x-ray and blood work. He has lost a lot of weight recently (he's 14 years old). There have been no changes to his diet/environment and he's been eating and drinking normal. During the examination, they said they heard a heart murmur and a little bit of something in one side of his lungs. They think it may be heart disease, possibly cancer. I won't know anything for a few hours, but I'd like some personal opinions/experience from people who have had chinchillas go through this. If it's heart disease, the vet said it can be treated with oral medication. If it's cancer, there's little he can do.

His back feet also had a tiny bit of oozing. What causes this?

Thank you.

Introducing 2 chins-age difference

Hi all!
I just recently put down a deposit on a chinchilla and will be picking him up sometime in January (he will likely be between 6 and 8 weeks when I get him, as per the breeder's standards). Now I got him with the (hopeful) intention of him being a companion for my current chinchilla, who is approximately 2.5 years old (I don't know his exact age as he was purchased from Petco just over 2 years ago-he has not been housed with another chinchilla since he was purchased in October 2013).

I have 2-3 cages depending on the situation. I just upgraded Mojo's-my 2.5 year old-cage to a 2 story ferret nation from a heavily modified Kaytee Chinchilla cage, so I have both the Kaytee cage (which will work fine as a temporary cage, especially for a small/young chinchilla) and can split the Ferret nation into 2 sections/cages if needed, although right now I think I'm going to keep Mojo in the ferret nation and put the new guy in the Kaytee.

I am planning on introducing them very slowly, as I know too speedy of an introduction can end in disaster, and I definitely don't want that to happen. With the cages I am also prepared to house them separately permanently if I absolutely need to, although fingers are crossed for a successful bonding!

My main question, however, is whether or not anyone has experience introducing chins with a large age gap like this, and also how old should this new guy be before I start introducing them. Obviously Mojo is going to be much larger since he's full grown, and it can end badly if I try to introduce them too soon, just because Mojo will immediately have the upper hand with size.

The breeder did provide me with a lot of information about slow introductions and I've looked here and gotten even more info so I feel I'm pretty prepared to go about introducing them, but I did want to make sure the intro process is still much the same for large age gap chins and wanted to double check on when I should start with introductions since the newbie will be small when he arrives!

Nutrena Feed Problem

Has anyone had trouble with the quality of Nutrena Naturewise rabbit pellets? We recently had to buy a bag because the feed store was out of PRCS. I was shocked when we open it. There were pieces of of corn, entire pellets made of corn, jet black pellets that almost looked like plastic and chunks of something that resembled rocks. All in all, I was very disappointed with this bag of feed. I have never heard anything bad about them before and it is a brand I recommend to my customers and on my website. I am considering removing it from both.

Licking fleece

About a week ago, I switched my chin's bedding from shredded pine to a fleece lining. He's adjusted to it pretty well, but I just noticed him licking and chewing it, but in a few select spots. The spots he licked were damp to the touch, so it was more than a quick tasting. Is this something I should worry about?

Possible Unexpected Babies...

So I foster for a small animals rescue, and tomorrow I'm getting a possibly pregnant female chinchilla. :D

She will be my first chinchilla so I've been doing a ton of research and I feel pretty confident on care and play time.

(Her story..)
Cece (female) was adopted as a friend for another recently adopted chinchilla(PJ). The owner was told PJ was a female so naturally they went and bought another female for PJ so she could have a play mate.
Turns out PJ is a boy...
SO now I'm getting Cece as a long term foster in case the time PJ and Cece had together made some babies... (Not exactly sure how long... not very long since they got a vet visit but long enough they were together. Maybe a night? Anyone know how quick chinchillas can breed?)

Now I'm wondering if anyone has any clues they use to determine if she is actually pregnant?

I'm already planning on weighing her once a week, but she is underweight a little bit so I'm not sure how accurate it will be.

I've also heard it's not very obvious until the 3 month mark or kits show up..

And just for fun if anyone is into genetics I was wondering what the kits would look like. Dad is a mosaic and mom I BELIEVE is a standard grey but it's hard to tell from her picture. (I'll let you know tomorrow)

Thanks guys!

Please help :cc

I got a Chinchilla from a 2 days ago from Petsmart. (I know, not the best place to get one) but anyway, my family is very noisy and won't consider that she is scared, and they talk loud, and started this from day 1. They sat and watched her while conversing loudly, and I am so disappointed.

How do I tame her? Please, any info would be highly appreciated. I am worried my chinchilla will never bond with me, and thats the least thing I want. Please help.

It seems she is getting more afraid of me. Any tips?? :cry3:

Drastic Change in Chinchilla Behavior

Ellie is a 2 year old chinchilla and I have had her since she was 2 months old.

She is a very loving chinchilla and has always been well behaved when in her cage. She makes the typical amount of noise and gets into mischievous here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then, at the beginning of December she started acting much differently when in her cage.

These are the new behaviors:

- chewing, digging, burrowing in her fleece
- chewing on her cage bars
- destroying toys and ripping them from their hooks (more aggressively than usual)
- peeing in her food dish and on her ledges
- tipping over food bowl
- chattering teeth for no reason (usually when she is laying down relaxed)

She still gets let out of her cage for at least 45 minutes a day and gets the same amount of love and attention. She always has toys, food, hay, and water. I even bought her new toys, thinking she was bored and that still did not change anything.

Basically, she has turned into a Tasmania devil when she is in her cage and I don't understand what happened. At first I thought she was in heat, but this has been constant behavior for over 20 days.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with their chin(s)? Any ideas on what may be causing this?

Christmas Special at Fuzzies Kingdom: Free Tunnel

Free Tunnel with orders of $59 (before shipping) and up!

I'm running Christmas Special from December 22 to January 1: free Steel Base tunnel with a fleece cover ($22.95 value!) is automatically added to the cart for qualifying orders.

Fleece print can be selected during the checkout, under “Other Information."

***Excludes hay orders

Thank you and Happy Holidays!

What's Everyone and Their Chins Doing for Christmas?

It's nearly on us!!! How are everyone and their chins celebrating Christmas. I'll be up at the crack of dawn as usual to do feeds, then it's chin present time, lots and lots of toys. Out for Christmas dinner, and then home to spend quality time with my boys :).

Bentley's Checkup

Just got back from the vet and Bentley's checkup went very well!

6 months ago I took him in because of severe barbering and the vet said his diet was bad, his poop was too small, and he had a couple little tooth spurs and a sore tongue.

He suggested some changes to his diet which we have followed to a T. Bentley's coat is now beautiful, his teeth spurs are gone and his tongue doesn't have anymore red spots. His weight and poop are both good. I've really seen a difference in how my chin behaves now compared to before when he wasn't feeling good. Diet can make such a huge difference!

I found this forum about the same time as his prior vet visit and want to thank everyone for all the information posted here. It has really helped me to understand my chin better. I believe I still have a lot to learn, but at least now Bentley has much better care than before and is healthier. Thanks everyone!

I'm sooo happy I just wanted to share! :)

Chin very tired after baytril?? Help!

Okay so my girl Amaretti had/has something wrong with one of her nostrils (not liquid discharge but just a tad crusty and turned a very pale yellowish colour) and she was prescribed baytril. I can't find the percentage of the solution but the amount to give is 0.15 mL. This is from a vet I absolutely trust her life with (he did her amputation when her break would not heal). But after reading online about some scary stories with baytril I am nervous.
She weighs 490 grams.

She is normally super energetic, but right now is lying down in her snuggle cube. She wasn't into her play time either and she has not eaten or had much if anything to drink. She also won't take her critical care even with apple juice in it.

As far as I know she doesn't have teeth issues, plus her break was within this year and I got to see the X ray of her skull as well. She also hasn't used her chew toys I gave yesterday. It sounds like teeth issues but this started right after the baytril started. I can't call until tomorrow but I don't know if I should give her the next dose of medicine. This behaviour is completely unlike her. I don't know what to do right now. Is there anything that I can do?
Other than the bit of crustiness on one nostril she looks totally healthy from the outside. Eyes are bright, coat is in good health.

Sorry for such a long post

The Face of Evil!

Well, I'm back with two new chins I don't think I've shared!
The first one is my violet Willow, she's such a sweet/evil girl. She likes to sit on my shoulder and chirp and groom, but as soon as the opportunity comes around BAM she books it across the chinchilla room and plays hard to get. I even caught the stinker helping herself to the treat container when she slipped away from me.

My second girl is Sage-a pink white. She's such a sweetheart. Never does anything naughty and loves to just be talked to and scratched. She's a lot more relaxed than Willow-despite being my youngest.

Both are a year old, Willow being a few months older.

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Best Place to buy Kiln Dried Pine

Hello,
It's been a while since I've posted here but I really need some advice. I'm looking to redo my chin's cages entirely and I'm looking for the best place to buy Kiln Dried Pine lumber.
I used to get it at Menards but last time I took a look they were out.
In my area we have Lowe's,Menards, Fleet Farm, and Home Depot.
Thanks in advance!

Oat grass

I know that oats are a safe treat for chins, but what about fresh oat grass? Or what about wheat or barley grass?

First Rodent?

I know many people, including myself, have started with a different rodent before obtaining a chinchilla. My first rodent was a teddy bear hamster. What about you, did you start out with a chinchilla, or other rodent? :))

Rodents are cute!

Chin sitting advice

Hello can you share for me what you typically do if you have to leave town for a few days. Are their services that will come to your home and help keep the cage clean and check food and water? Do you take your chinchilla with you in a small travel cage?

pyo vs being in heat

Talia was walking around squeaking a lot today, enough to make me worry. I picked her up to look her over and she has some discharge. Other than the squeaking she's acting normally. How do you tell the difference between being in heat and discharge from infection?

P.s The squeaking I'm referring to is like a hmm sound. I've heard it often from my girls. Talia does it everytime she's in trouble and sent back to the cage. I've also heard them make it when they're interested in something. Its just concerning how much she is doing it.
Thank you.

Epileptic seizure

Just wanted to share for anyone wondering the same thing. Acording to what little I've found online it seems my chin has probably had 2 epileptic type seizures. My son witnessed 1 about 2 months ago & he just had another 1 today.

I actually didn't really understand what my son saw till today. I would use the word convulsions or spasms to describe what I saw. It didn't last very long, few seconds and was a bit lethargic a few minutes after.

I did not purchase this chin. I only took it b/c a coworker didn't want it anymore & had it alone in a basement. Unfortunately, I just spent a lot of money on vet bills for my rabbit so I can't bring my chin to the vet. I feel bad but there's nothing I can do for him.

Cozy N Fresh bedding

Does anyone have any input on Tractor Supply Co's Cozy N Fresh Pine Pellets or any pellet type bedding?
They look a lot like their food, so im a bit worried about them eating it. They are not litter trained, so it will be covering their floor.
Any input is welcome, Thank you!

Chinchilla can't chew her food

The last couple times we tried giving our (my family's) chinchilla treats, she couldn't seem to chew any of it. She looked like she was really trying to eat the treat but she couldn't do anything to it. These are the same treats we always give her and she never had any problems eating them before. I'm not sure what the problem could be. I also don't know if she can eat the food that we put in her food bowl. Does anyone know what problem she might be having?

Male chin wanted in St. Louis, mo.

Looking for companion for my 4 year old male, rescue or sale. I'm located in saint louis, Missouri.

Needing Help With Chinchilla Playtime

To whom ever is reading, i was wondering if it is ok to buy a dog playpen that is 48-inches tall to put my chinchilla in to run around when i'm not watching. Before i buy this i was wondering if the bar spacing was to big and my chinchilla would be able to get through. Link to the playpen is below.

http://ift.tt/1QAvqt5

Do chinchillas have a mating season?

My chinchillas are being very aggressive recently. Towards each other and towards me. I have 4 males, kept in pairs. Ages between 7 months and 1.5 years old.

Is it possibly because it's mating season?

Is there anything I can do to help their temperament?

Picking up chinchillas

Hi,
I have two chins that I got about 6 months ago. They are definitely comfortable enough with me-- they hop all over me during playtime and sometimes let me pet them in the cage.
I was wondering the best way to pick them up. I haven't done it much, but now one of my chins has an eye infection and needs eye drops I got from the vet twice a day. I have to pick her up in order to put them in and I have to chase her around the cage to get her which is unpleasant for both of us, I hate scaring her! How do I introduce them to picking them up without chasing them?

Loofah and pumice stone

I want to get my chin some new things to chew on and I found these online. Is there a difference though between the ones on pet sites and the loofah and pumice stone you buy in the chemist (drugstore)? If I just bought a loofah in my local chemist and sliced it up would it be safe to give my chin? And the same with the stone?

PA gal

:hiya2: only recently became a chinnie mom. I picked up my little boy :blueblob: in August and then we got our little girl :cheer: last month. They are both so unique and lovable... I couldn't be happier that we adopted these adorable little fur balls and finding this forum site has certainly been a big help in finding some great resources :read: to spoil the newest babies. So thanks for all the help! :D

Chin sitter in SF Bay Area?

Hi - I am looking for a chin sitter somewhere in the SF bay area from the 25th (or 26th) to sometime in the first week of January. Please send me a pm/email or just post here if you can help. Thanks!

New Chinparent!

I recently bought two male chinchillas from some people online. They had bought them for their children but didn't want them anymore. I'm not for sure if they got everything that they needed nutritionally or emotionally. I'm trying to learn everything and make them as happy as possible. So any information is helpful. They are a father and a son. (That's what I was told) I'm curious about with them both being male if they are okay to be in the same cage. It seems that the baby is always picking on the dad. They have a large cage so I don't think space is the problem but I could be wrong. Also it seems the dad is, for a lack of a better word, molting. It looks like he could possibly be loosing some hair in patches. I have read that they need certain vitamins and minerals. Could that be Why he Is loosing hair? I was also curious on how to tell the sex of them. It looks the baby could be trying to mount the dad. I thought it could possibly be a dominance thing or maybe the dad could be a female since I'm just going off of what the previous owners told me. Any information or point in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! :)

eating carefresh

How bad is it for them to eat carefresh bedding? I needed something more absorbent, so I'm trying carefresh, but they are eating it!

Litter?

What's everyone use for litter? My girls have fleece lined cage with 2 litter pans. I've been using Carefresh Litter Plus but can't seem to find it anymore. I was going to switch to the regular Carefresh (the brownish one since it's not dyed) but I've seen some people say yes & some say no way. So totally confused now! lol

Dandy's X-rays opinions

I wanted to see what some ppl thought of dandys xrays here. I took him in three months ago. I was told he had a previous leg injury and the vet gave him low chance of survival (made no sense to me). But his last owner kept him anyway. She said she did little range of motion with his leg.

When i took him in, i took him to the vet to see what was going on. I had a set of x-rays taken. Then they redid them with him sedated. These were the x-rays while sedated.

Hello from Ireland

Hello everyone. My name is Sophia and I'm from Ireland. I'm happy to be part of the community and I discovered the community while reading up on chinchillas. I have one chinchilla and his name is frizzles. He's male and he will be 7 in June. He's my best pal. He's got a great personality and I love him too bits. :)

Chinchilla won't eat after dental

Hello my name is sophia. I have a chinchilla and his name is frizzles. 2 weeks ago frizzles had dental work done because his teeth were growing over his tongue. The vet said He had early signs of dental disease but it was best to file his teeth down. The reason why I brought him to the vet in the first place was because his paws started to go bald and his eye was running. I also noticed when he was eating he appeared to be gagging a little. He had the dental done and I'm currently giving him critical care 3 times a day because he lost weight. He's still not eating his pellets. He only eats about 3 pellets a day and today I noticed him gagging again when I gave him a treat. I have brought him back to the vet since the surgery and she looked at him and said he was fine and just told me to give him extra critical care.

Has anyone experienced their chinchilla struggling to eat after a dental? I'm just so worried about him. I don't want him to have to go through more surgery. He's 7 in June and has a heart murmur which makes surgery more of a risk so I'm all over the place with worry.

Hello!

Hello everybody!! Glad be part of this community!😄
I have two male Chins (both rescues) the one I had the longest is Taro my 1yr old Mosaic (had him for three months) and my newest addition is a 9 month old Champagne boy named Bon Bon (had him for three days). Just wanted to introduce them to you and say hello! 😊

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Hello from California

Hello everyone! Just wanted to say im happy to be part of this community of Chin parents 😊 I also wanted to introduce my two babies. I have two beautiful Chins, the first ones name is Taro, he is a Mosaic boy 1yr old. My other baby is a Champagne male named Bon Bon he is 10 months old.

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bonding with chins

Hey guys. So ive had my chins for about 7 months now. A friend had given them to me and they were about a year when i got them. I have been trying to bond with them (talk,read to them ect.) ive been noticing they are a bit more friendly (well one of them). I dont think my friend paid very much attention to them.. I just dont want them to be afraid of me and they like to run and hide. Does anyone have any tips on to possibly have them be a bit more friendly? Im feeling a bit discouraged but i know chins take time to warm up..but since they are adults is their behavior permanent?

Handling with Sinus Infection?

Is it safe to handle a chin if I have a sinus infection? I'm very prone to getting those and I'm feeling overdue for one.

Getting A Chin SOON

Hi, everyone!

I am getting a Chin in a couple of weeks, and I just wanted to be sure about a couple of things...

Food consists of Timothy Hay or Oxbow Chinchilla food?

Is a Ferret Nation single Unit 181 ok for one chinchilla??

Is Anti Pili fleece ok for chins?

How often should I clean my chin's cage??

any products you guys recommend??

ANY Advice would be very appreciated. Thanks! :)

Hi Everyone!!!

Hi guys! I am completely new to this forum, and hoping to get a chinchilla for Christmas. I know, "getting a chinchilla for Christmas" sounds like I am a little girl who thought they looked cute, and said, "Mommy, Daddy, I want one!!" But no, I did most of my research. I hope to give this new little chin a nice and pleasurable home. :)

Bacteria in Vulva & bedding

So, two of my girls went to the vet today. The vet says they have a lot of bacteria in their Vulva, but its not backed up (i think is what she said). She put them on .4ml of Baytril 1x a day for 2 weeks, when i have their recheck appointment. They are bottom heavy girls who usually have urine staining. I was wondering if them sitting in their urine could be what is causing the extra bacteria. The vet said its possible. Does anyone have suggestions for bedding? I have issues with their dry feet when i use wood shavings, but paper bedding does a terrible job of absorbing. I currently have a mix of Kaytee Clean & Cozy and Kaytee Aspen shavings. The vet said she's been using this bedding from Tractor Supplies that turns to dust when her chins pee on it. Ive seen bedding like that, but didnt think it was okay to use with Chins. Im also terrified of Baytril, so Im still freaking out a little and just want to stare at them 24/7 to make sure their okay =[ Does anyone know if changing the bedding could prevent them from getting bacteria in their Vulva? Anyone experience something similar? Can anyone suggest a good bedding to use?

Chin in critical condition :-(

I brought home two new girls last weekend. One of them was a bit lethargic, the breeder I bought her from showed me how she wasn't doing too well and would need extra attention. At first she was interested in some hay, but didn't eat many pellets. Showed a little interest in drinking water, but that stopped within a few days.
She deteriorated... her breathing became labored and I saw some whitish discharge from her nose. I rushed her to an exotic specialist vet this morning. They put her on oxygen and said her that when they tried to take her temp, it was too low to even register. I'm fully aware that I might lose her. :-(
None of my other girls are showing any signs of illness, but I'm watching them all pretty closely. First sign of lethargy in any of them and they go get checked out.
I should have taken her last week. I fear I was too late. :-(

Wheel

Hi. I was looking at a chinchilla wheel on craigslist. Does anyone know if this type of wheel is ok?

http://ift.tt/1QjdinH

Thanks

Chinchilla diarrhea emergency!!!!

HELP! HELP! HELP!
I have been having the same issue with Benny for about 2 months now! He has had diarrhea on and off, but it is SEVERE! I have tried absolutely everything and he is losing weight very,VERY quickly. I have had Benny for about 2 years now and he has never had any type of health issues. Back in October, one night he just suddenly had explosive diarrhea, constantly! There was no change in his diet/water/treats (given at minimum to begin with). I was fedding him a Kaytee fiesta mix with Kaytee Timothy hay. Benny has a four story cage, chew toys, a wheel, house, hammock and marble slab. I immediately cleaned his cage, took out his pellets and left him only fresh Timothy hay. His diarrhea had stopped, but then he had stopped pooping altogether. Worried, I took Benny to an exotic vet 2 days after his fist diarrhea episode. Since he was not pooping, the vet had simply given me a probiotic, which had worked in getting him to poop again. While we were there, they ran some testing and there were no signs of a parasitic infection. I had changed Benny's food to the Oxbow pellet food and gave him small amounts of Critical Care. His diarrhea had started back up the next day. I then took him back to the vet, They gave him 3 different types of antibiotics, and Benny seemed to bounce back, but he wasn't eating as much. After nearly $1000 at the vet, Benny showed no signs of improvement in the long run! He was eating only hay and his poop was solid again, but very green and he was still losing weight.
Long story short, Benny is hungry, losing weight, and still has massive diarrhea. It is super watery and has now stained the white on his fur. I try to clean his fur and feet everyday. He drinks adequate amount of water, but he doesn't run on his wheel much anymore. I let him out to play and gets tired quickly. He chews on his wooden toys, but gets bored very quickly. He will not touch his Oxbow pellets, but eats his Kaytee fiesta mix immediately (which makes his diarrhea worse), but he is hungry! The critical care makes his diarrhea worse. Chinchillas do not like to be held, but Benny will cuddle up in my lap for hours. Sometimes he is alert and wants to play, other times he will sleep all day AND all night. He is super sick and I don't know what else to do or who to ask. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!! My little guy won't make it much longer if there is no helpful intervention!!!:cry3:

Chin with diarrhea

Hello.

I've visited this forum many times when I was searching for various topics for my boy Oreo. But this is the first time I've posted. Oreo has been having diarrhea since Friday night. Very wet and squishy. They're better formed tonight but still very squishy. I was just wondering if there was anything else I can do. I've scrubbed his cage clean. I removed his pellets last night and gave him fresh hay from a new bag this morning.

He is still very active, bouncing around and is still begging for treats (which he has not had since Friday). He's drinking plenty of water.

We have only 2 vets in town and neither know anything about chinchillas. Even if they did, Oreo cannot be handled very well. He won't even let me pick him up. We're not sure how old he is. I've had him for 6 years and which would make him at least 8 or 9. We rescued him from being a classroom pet.

He's had diarrhea once before but it cleared up quickly. I've tried the burnt toast but he won't touch it. Is there anything else I can try?

Thank you.

Gummy/mucus on chinchilla poo

Hey - I just joined this site so I'm sorry if this question is in the wrong place! But I've had my little chin, Waffle, for 4 weeks now, he's incredibly tame, sweet natured and friendly and we've had no problems at all. However - this morning I decided to switch out his hay bedding for some fleece liners instead, I thought they'd be gentler on his little feet and I've read great views on fleece bedding. Within MINUTES Waffle's poos started coming out soft, light chocolate brown colour instead of almost black like they usually are, and when I picked them up to bin them they had a weird gummy coating on??

Could this be stress down to the change in scenery of his home? He didn't seem out of sorts at all, still bouncing around and hopping onto my hands as I was repositioning his food bowls etc, and he took a little dried flower thing from his hay mix out of my hands no problem at all.. so he doesn't SEEM ill... could stress from a change around be this instant?? Or should I be more concerned?

If anybody can give me some advice I'd be ever so grateful!

Many thanks xxx

Chinchilla Lost Hair on Back (Near Hind Leg)

I was playing with my chinchilla, Cheech, and I noticed he had a bald spot on his back near the top of his hind leg (as seen in the attached picture).

The skin is warm and healthy. His skin has always been grayer than the average chinchilla, so it may look a little weird in the picture. However, his skin on the bald patch shows no signs of scabbing, redness, or irritation.

I was worried it might be ring worm, but I just check my second chinchilla and he has no signs of baldness anywhere.

He does tend to fur slip when he gets scared, and that's what I think this is, but I wanted a second opinion.

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Corn Husks

Can chinchillas eat dried corn husks? I know they cant have the corn kernels but what about the husks? My rabbit loves them but are they safe for chinchillas?

Hay

Just a quick question about hay. I have a rabbit and a few other animals that eat hay along with the my chinchilla. I sometimes buy Standlee Hay pellets and cubes for the rabbit and other animals. My question is would they be safe for my Chinchilla?
My chinchilla gets fed a mixture of the following: Timothy Hay, Botanical Hay, Meadow Hay, Orchard Grass, Alfalfa Hay, and Oat Hay. Those are all loose hays (Most of which are Oxbow Brand). I do give him Timothy Cubes to eat also. (Yes, he also gets fed regular Oxbow Brand Chinchilla Pellets. Figured Id mention it just so no one thinks he is on a hay only diet.)

I was thinking about purchasing him some Pellets or Cubes of Timothy, Alfalfa, Oat, Bermuda Grass, or a mixture of all all the above. The reason I want to get them for him is I figured the different shapes and textures of hay might be away of keeping things interesting for him.

Any thoughts on this. Also, are there any other types of grasses or hays that are available for chinchillas besides what I had already listed. Since he cant have treats, a variety of grasses/hay might be the next best thing.

Rivendell Chinchillas site

I will be letting my website lapse at the end of this year. I am offering the chance for anyone who would like to use the information on the site to do so as long as it is credited to Rivendell Chinchillas. If there is information or pictures that are not mine, then they will be credited to the original owner and you need to ask permission from them to use that information even if you get it from my site.

There is a good section showing the internal organs of chins, this is not for everyone and photos were taken during necrospies on chins that had passed.

Happy chinning to all of my chinny friends.

Dry food stuck between teeth - how do help him without a vet??

Hello

My chinchilla has a piece of dry food/some seed probably stuck in between his teeth. How can i take it out? I gave him another piece of a different hard treat and hoped that would help. It is irritating him and he is trying to help himself pawing his mouth.

Can someone advise please??

Thanks

Alex

possible URI or esophageal obstruction

My chin, Chloe, has been acting off for the past couple weeks. She's eating less hay and I caught her pawing at her mouth a couple times. Assuming the worst (dental disease) I took some sedated radiographs the next day at work, 12/2. They look normal to me and to the non-specialist doctor. Also doc saw nothing on sedated oral exam. Thinking maybe she is not a fan of her new bag of hay, I stopped freaking out.
Last night, she started making weird noises. Almost like it was painful to swallow. Her neck protrudes forward, eyes squint and ears are back. A strange purring noise follows. Also she sometimes squeaks softly. When I tried looking in her mouth again (to no avail-stupid decision on my part) amidst the squirming she made some congested nasally noise. No discharge. Decreased energy, is sleeping more on the bottom of her cage.
Last night took her to Tufts who told me she was fine. I brought her in to work today and asked the doc to give me injectable enrofloxacin. She is on 6.2mg SC once a day, began today. I calculated her dose to be 10mg/kg which the doc was fine with. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced any of these symptoms in their chin before and what dose worked for them. All images of the rads and the video was too large to attach, I can keep playing and try again. Would appreciate any advice. I can't see a specialist this weekend cause I'll be out of the state until sunday unfortunately, but I can call around for next week. Thank you!!!

Weird noises while on wheel

Ok I adopted a new chin (Harry) at 9 months. It's been just a little over a year. . . So I got Harry a flying saucer wheel. He loves it and runs constantly, but at night he literally pounces on it to start running and then he screams out 3 or 4 times. He never stops running while making the god awful heart wrenching noise either Not the fear call. Close to it but it's like it hurts him to be running on it. He's been checked out and all is good. He's been doing this about 3 months now. It's just so weird cause during the day he doesn't do it. Only at night. Also he's still so skiddish around me. And all noises. He's better around my husband, but still just so scared all of the time. He also watches my other chin like a freaking hawk. They don't like each other at all. Thought after a year he'd have adjusted a bit more. Has anyone had this?. Is he just a weird little guy? Totally fine if he is. He's he to stay just wish it was more pleasant for him.

Drooling but no malo (X-Ray Included)

Hi Everyone

One of my female chinchillas has been constantly drooling for just over a week now and has had two vet visits.

On the first visit she was given Loxicom and I was advised she may have a mouth ulcer but to bring her back in a week for a full dental visit if no improvement.

I booked her back after a few days and she had an X-ray done and so the vet could had a full look in her mouth.

I was extremely surprised to hear the vet saying it isn't a tooth problem and she probably has a virus and to keep hand feeding her and giving her pain relief.

Does anyone know what virus's chinchillas can get? She isn't sneezing or breathing wheezy and I have 3 other chinchillas so are they in any danger and/or shouldn't they have one too?

I feel pretty lost at the moment since she isn't eating on her own but still passing droppings (obviously from the science supreme recovery food).
I've also lost other chinchillas in the past from malo so I feel paranoid the vet may have missed something.

I have attached a copy of her X-ray for anyone who's interested.

Sorry for the long post!

Thank you

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Female kit near Phoenix?

Hello!

I have decided to expand my little chinchilla family. I have Izzie (6) and Fire (1), who are both incredibly sweet (I must post photos!). They love apple wood (duh :) ) and pumice, etc. Poor little Fire was pretty much a rescue from a backyard breeder - pretty friendly little chin but used to eating potato chips for treats and had highly dirty matted hair from sand dust baths. But we got the that little guy all cleaned up and although she definitely lives up to her name - she's a little bounce ball!

Izzie is very very docile and friendly. She loves to cuddle with me, grooms my eyebrows if I let her (one time she left a giant hole in my left eyebrow! I never realized how much eyebrows effect how your face looks. . .), loves kisses and will stick out her nose to kiss me back.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I am looking to expand my chinchilla family, hopefully with a girl that will go with Izzie and Fire (and THAT will be the completion of my chin family for a long long time ::), or if the female kit doesn't, I'm prepared to keep her in a separate cage and possibly get her a friend some time down the road.

I'd really like a mosaic or a black velvet or a wrap. Izzie is a homo ebony - or extra dark, whatever the term is - but she's completgely jmidnight black without a spot of lightening any where, and kind of a blue shimmer after she's dusted and brushed in the light. Fire is a homobeige - those red eyes really come out in the light!

If you got this far in my post - yea :) Hopefully you have a kit for me :)

Unsure of Everything

Hi, I just acquired a chinchilla that was given to me by someone who could no longer afford/had the time to care for it. I'm new to chinchillas never actually owned one of my own until now. I did research online about feeding, cage, chew, and other requirements. I just want to make sure that everything he has is good/safe for him. I also read about having to monitor the droppings, with his I'm a little confused because they are all different shape, sizes, and colors. But here is a run down of what I have purchased for him.
Cage - Is a two story metal ferret style cage with levels.
Food- Use to be Carefresh Complete. (But had corn in it and i read corn, seeds, and fresh food was not good for him.) So i bought him a bag of Oxbow pellets which he doesn't seem to like very much, barely eats them.
Hay- Has every type of hay you can think of. (alfalfa, timothy, orchard grass, oat hay, oxbow botanical hay, and timothy hay cubes) This he has access to 24-7, and eats more of the hay then pellets.
Chews- I purchased many wood chews for him assorted variety in sizes, and wood types. He destroys most of them in a day or two. I also got him wild harvest carrot crunchies (made from compressed timothy hay and carrot). He seems to like them and I've read good reviews about them from other people who give them to there chinchillas. But im still unsure as to how good /safe they are for him.
Water- has 3 water bottles and i give him bottled water due to our tap water having too much calcium, and iron in it.
For bedding (bottom of cage) - I use pine shavings.
He has a dust bath house and i use blue cloud dust.
My question being is there anything I should change from the list provided? (add or remove) How can i get him to eat his pellets? Or is there something else that I am needing and don't have?
As for his droppings- His poop is all different shape, sizes, and color. He is pooping more than he was when i got him, which im assuming is a good thing. However, some are large dark brown sprinkle shaped looking, some are light tan small white rice shaped, others can be and in between color and half the normal size and roundish in shape (almost like rabbit droppings but not perfectly round.) What could be the cause of this? Could the different hays be creating different droppings? Is this something I should be concerned about? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Help! Unexpected babies

So my "male"chinchilla that I've had for almost 2 years has 3 babies today. I came home and went up to let my puppy out of his crate and he kept whining and going over to the one side of his cage I didn't think much of it at the time but then later he would not leave the shelf under the cages alone and I looked to find a baby, found the other one of the floor as well and the last one was still with mommy. I haven't found any more so I'm assuming she had the three.

I moved them to a single critter nation(my poor gerbil had to down grade :( and was wondering if I need to attach anything the inside of the cage to prevent escape or if a critter nation will be enough?

They appear to be drinking from mom I did see 2 of the babies "wrestling"? Do they play with each other this young? Or were they fighting?
I will need to pick up a digital scale tomorrow as the one I have doesn't work very well.
Do I need to attach the water bottle where they can reach it or do they get everything from mom at this time?
Anything special I should be doing fro mom? I have pellets and hay in there
Any tips?
Here is a pic of the setup the box is temporary I just didn't have another hide to use

Baytril (liquid)- how to give it when he hates it and gets so stressed!

Baytril (liquid)- how to give it when my chinchilla hates it and gets so stressed that ones he had seizure due to stress when i was giving it to him with a syringe. It isnt that i was doing it wrong, it is the taste that he hates so much!
He really needs to take it though. Can i mix it with something? I once tried giving him some other medicine on a piece of dried herb that he likes but the taste of that medicine was w way more acceptable.

Please help.

Thank you

Loss of motor control, general disorientation?

Hi everyone,

My little 5 yr. old beige boy Toby was acting strangely this morning. He seemed completely normal the night before, but he wouldn't come to me from his cage, I had to scoop him up for his daily play time (mine get morning and night :-) I thought he was just sleepy. But when I placed him down on the floor, I noticed he was suffering from some kind of loss of balance, couldn't use his hind legs very well at all, to the point of falling over to one side and not being able to right himself. He just seemed generally out of sorts, limp, and not very alert, however took some treats and was pooping fine.

I got an emergency appointment with our regular exotic vet and the three guesses were: stroke, seizure or inner ear infection causing vertigo and imbalance. The only physical "anomaly" she noticed was his right pupil didn't seem normal. We were sent home with some antibiotics and a mild pain killer for discomfort, in the event it was the latter cause.

I was really scared that we were going to lose him this morning, although he seemed a little perkier at the vets. He was moving around better but definitely not normal. I am still so worried about him that I can't concentrate on anything at work, and can't wait to get home to be with him :-(

We have a follow up appt. on Monday, to see if the meds actually helped anything. In the meantime, just thought I would query the forum to see if anyone had experienced anything similar with their chins?

Thank you.

Hello from Volgograd!

Hello, guys.
I'm a 2 chins owner from Russia.
There are no normal forums about chins. Generally, I'm looking for information and pleasant communication. In Russia ppl scold & "yell" at forums.
I just want to be with pleasant people.

Need to find a good home for my chin -Ambler, PA

I have a 3 year old male chin who needs a good home. Unfortunately, my 3 kids have developed an allergy to him. We live outside of Philadelphia in Amble, PA. If any one is interested please let me know.

Looking to rehome two male chinchillas in Southern Maryland

I have two sweet male chinchilla brothers that I am looking to rehome. I believe they are about 6 years old. They would come with their ferret nation cage, fleece liners, dust house, flying saucer wheel, remaining food and dust, a box of chews from Blue's Bird Toys, a small portable vacuum I use to clean their cage (if you want it) and everything else I currently use to care for them.

I'm looking for someone who can really be their forever home and give them the time and attention they deserve. They're both very friendly and social, the standard gray is a bit more timid than the other, but he'll still come up to the cage doors to greet you and such.

I'm located in Calvert County. Please contact me at jessicarequilman@gmail.com if you're interested.

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Blue Cloud Rocks

I still have Blue cloud rocks for sale. Here is a breakdown:
rocks
1 - 5 lbs $6.00
6 - 9 lbs $5.75
10 - 15 lbs $5.50
16 - 20 lbs $5.25
21+ $5.00

is it normal

I am a new chin owner, I've always wanted one and I got my baby, but she rubs her body into my face and body, she runs up to my mouth and nose and nibbles just once and then runs and plays, is that normal

Does my chinchilla have a cold and what should I do??

My chinchilla sometimes makes whistling sound that i feel comes from his nose not throat. You can't hear it all the time. Then first i could notice one of his nosedrils with a little bit of dry stuff on it and in it. He gets rid of it himself. Today there was a tinny, more white or maybe very light yellow snot. Very small. He paws at his nose sometimes to clean it. He also might have some pain or something with his ear on the same side of his head as we sometimes puts it back. Rearly but i can hear him sneeze. He is eating normally, quite a lot, but was today more sleepy i think. Now he came out of his cage and runs about, he is quite fast, and he seems to be all right. He has just had his dust bath and is exploring everything normaly. Just i can hear that whistling sound more when he is out and excercising.

I have to admit it is difficult to keep certain temperature in my room as heating works as it likes. And sometimes there is a lttle bit of draft that i am always trying to protect him from but i am aware it could be a cause.

Do i have to be concerned? As I see everywhere people say that even a little symptom of some respiratory problem should be taken very seriously and chinchilla should go to a vet. Is it possible that keeping him warm (19-20 celsius), draft free and in quiet place is going to be enough for him and he is going to get back to normal/recover, like humans can?

I will appreciate very much your help.

Plus one more question. He has got a wicker tube hanging under the roof of his cage. He sometimes would go inside and roll. Lately he is doing it quite often like 5 times a day. Is he trying to scratch his ear like that or something that i should worry about or is he just enjoying it?

Thank you for any tips!

Alex

My chin keeps hurting his legs.

Hi guys. I don't regularly post here but I do read other topics.
My chinchilla Pudding is 2 years old now and seems to have a recurring issue. He keeps on hurting his back legs - first it was his right, then his right again and now his left. This has happened three times over the course of about a year. Each time I have taken him to the vet who has felt him over and said there are no fractures or breaks and that it is just bruising. He never goes off his food, just becomes a bit resigned and doesn't want to move and limps when he does. Each time it happens in the same way; he tries to jump up onto something, his front legs make it but his back legs don't and he falls back down. Each time the vet tells me to give him Metacam and after doing this for around a week he will be back to normal again, no leg issues.
I guess the reason why I'm asking this is because it is a recurring problem that I just can't figure out how to fix. The things that he is falling from are things that 95% of the time he can get onto just fine. It has happened again tonight and once again he is refusing to move around. He is still eating etc and I have felt the leg (which he doesn't seem to mind) and of course I will be taking him to the vet again. I am just wondering if there is any easy way to tell how serious these injuries are and if there is any reasonable way I can stop them from happening?

Traveling with chinchilla

I'm planning on getting my chin a bigger cage soon, and as I take an hour drive every weekend or every other weekend to my boyfriends house. We were wondering if we brought her old cage there would it be too much stress for her to accompany me on these trips? If not I would like to get her a nice traveling carrier. Any advice would be great, thanks!

Homemade cages

Has anyone built their own cage? If so post pictures please

Strange behavior!

Me and my girlfriend got another chinch last night, and he's been acting kinda strange, at one point we put his cage on the floor and he started making noises that started off loud then gradually get deeper and quieter and it lasts about 15 noises but even when we back away and leave him alone or whatever, he still continues to do it for a little bit so we don't know what the problem is. He also sometimes does these when we're just sitting still somewhat near him, but then we leave the area or whatnot and he still does it for about 5 min. His ears go down sort of, so it seems like he's scared but I wonder why? any ideas?

Hello from the rare New Hampshire

Figured that because nobody around me has, or knows anything about chins, that this would be a good place to talk to people about them, and ask any questions I might have. Thanks in advance

I have returned!

Hello everyone :))

After my laptop died several months ago, I got out of the habit of foruming. I've had my new laptop for a while now, and I finally decided to pop in and check out some of the new posts and such. :)) I missed this place!

Eli is still a spoiled little guy. Zoey and Lilo's Toy Box had an online sale this past weekend! I snagged some stuff on sale and will be getting the shipment soon. Eli already has some goodies in his stocking too! I hope you guys and your chinnies are enjoying the holidays too!

Here are a few recent pictures of my lil' fluff ball!






(don't worry, his left ear is still in tact LOL)

Help, Chin fell out of cage

I took my boy out of the cage for a couple minutes i put him back in and as i was closing the door he jumped out into the door head first then fell on his back from the top level of my critter nation cage. he didnt make any noises he isnt limping or acting really odd. i pet him and felt around and he hasnt acting any different when touching him but as soon as i put him in his cage he started turnign his head to the back shoulder and nipping at his fur over and over then stoped. I also still had his bath in there from couple mins befor and he jumped in his bath and started rolling around then went and layed right back down.. he is usually up jumping around at this time not sleeping any opinion would be great. i dont no if hes hurt or not

Christmas Trees

I just want to put out a little reminder about the dangers of Christmas trees. Please keep all of your furry friends away from them- they hold many dangers, not all of them obvious.

The sap of a live tree is very dangerous for chins as we all know. So I would like to remind us all that it sticks to everything and to check your hands after decorating the tree or watering it.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful night, and please do a double check of your holiday decorations of all sorts to be sure your furbabies are safe!

Limited supply of Blue Cloud dust

Limited supply of Blue Cloud dust: $50.00 for 50# bag. Must be picked up.
For smaller quantities: $1.25 per pound plus shipping.

Startling behavior, what is this!?

Last night my male chin, Bentley, did something strange that I've never had him do before.

We discovered he loves organic rolled oats, it's like a drug to him. He goes bonkers when we give him some and will practically maul us for more.

He was out last night and I fed him a couple small pinches and decided that was enough. He decided he wanted more and grabbed the baggie that held the oats.

I took it away from him and said no. He grabbed my hand tight between his two front feet and also grabbed a bit of skin in a pinch. Then it seemed like he was humping my hand. Or jerking it around or something. He startled me and I got scared because I thought he would bit down harder on my skin though I barely felt his teeth and he didn't even leave a red mark.

I pushed him off my hand and told him, "No". He did it again and I kecked at him. And he let go and ran away. Afterwards he was his nice polite little self again.

Could someone please tell me what happened!? Was that a temper tantrum, an act of dominance? Once chins do that do they begin to bite more?

I have an irrational fear of being bitten. Does this mean he's crossed a boundary and will begin to bite?

Strange Behavior - Switching Cages

Hello All!

I have been a "chinparent" for about 8 years. In mid-October, my ChiChi unfortunately passed away. She was my second chinchilla, and I had her for about 6 years (previous owner had her for about 4). ChiChi was incredibly social, and loved chin rubs and riding around on my shoulder. I knew it would be hard to find a girl as great as she was, and I was devastated at the loss of my companion.

A few weeks later, my siblings surprised me with 6-month old mosaic beauty named Violet. Violet came from a family where she got lots of playtime to run around and explore, but was very rarely held. Violet came with an awesome CritterNation one-story cage and not a lot of fondness for being held or pet. I gave her space and tried all the tips for bonding - keeping the room quiet for her, letting her explore, sitting near the cage and talking to her, and slowly introducing myself. She has never sprayed urine, but she almost always releases an odor (my boyfriend calls them "angry farts") when I reach towards her or need to catch her to return her to her cage after playtime.

AND THEN! One week ago (before Thanksgiving, as I had a week off from school), I took her to my parents house for my school break (I'm a graduate student living on the opposite side of the state). I didn't bring her cage with me, as I already had one set up in my room at home. The Violet I saw during that week was a full 180 - she let me hold her, pet her, she'd run towards me during playtime, and she was happy to be pet inside her cage by me and my family members. She even jumped onto my shoulder for a ride one day! I was so surprised and thought we had had some sort of major breakthrough in our bonding, and I was so excited to get back to school and continue to love on this little lady.

However, now that we're back at school, she's gone back to her old ways. She has similar amounts of ambient noise, same amount of playtime, same room temperature - pretty much everything is the same, except now she is back in her original cage.

I'm wondering if this antisocial behavior is then related to the cage? Is she more on-guard in this cage for some reason? Would a thorough cleaning (like, back to brand new) and a complete overhaul of all cage decorations help bring her around? Is there some sort of scent association or something with that cage?

Wood and Couch questions :)

Hi all....

Just a few random questions....

I know the chins love to chew on wood but do they normally eat the entire thing or just eat the bark off?? Mine seem to eat the bark from their sticks and then are not to interested any longer...

Also, I have found one of my babies to be a Houdini :) I let them out for short play times since they are still young. My smallest will try her hardest to get over the barriers or sneak out of the cage/room and she will run to the living room and dive under the couch...This leaves me sitting in front of the couch waiting for her to come out, fuming, as I dont want to leave her unattended... ERRRRRR...

Any ways to curb that behavior/tips on blocking off couches???

Thanks,
Dani

Male chinchilla behaviour and injury!!!

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and I have 2 questions....

Some background: We have 4 male chinchillas. We've had two of them for about a year now (Lupin and Thor, both about 15 months old) and the other two we got in August (Neville and Archie, both about six months old). We moved house in September.

So, the two pairs are caged separately because they still aren't really getting along. We let them out all together about once a week, but otherwise they come out to play in pairs...

In the past couple of weeks, Lupin and Thor have become very aggresive. They're constantly "dominating" each other, seem rather horny, and Lupin has started to attack my boyfriend and I when they're out of the cage. He'll lunge and bite exposed skin so we've had to start wearing big jumpers and socks to push him off! Both Lupin and Thor are aggressive towards us when they're in the cage and bite the bars, hiss and grunt at us and bite us.

This has all only started in the last couple of weeks. They're usually wonderful. Is it perhaps mating season/puberty?

So my first question:

1) why are they behaving this way, and what can we do about it?


Also. We've noticed that Thor has an injury that I believe may be a bite from Lupin. Just behind his testicles, towards the tail, he has a graze/shallow bite marks on both testes. There appears to be a small amount of pus, and yellow discolouring that may be urine stains(?), but it doesn't seem too terrible... We also noticed potential swelling of his gland in front of his left teste.. I've read that this can enlarge occasionally and it's normal, but could it be to do with the injury?

So question two:

2) should we take him to a vet? is there a way to treat him at home, like with salt water? Will we have to separate Lupin and Thor.

Many thanks! I apologise for the long post!

Mady

Christmas is Coming!!!

My chins have just handed me their Christmas wish list. Lots of toys, delicious healthy treats and nice new fleece cage liners. What presents has everyone else's chins requested?

:1present::MC10:

Rotating Toys

Hello again. I am very excited to get my two chins this Sunday (December 6th). There is still something I haven't stumbled across an answer for. How often should you rotate out/clean toys (pumice stones, blocks, hanging toys, lava bites, etc)? Is this something that should be done daily, two or three times a week, or once per week?

New chin worries!

Hello, I'm new to this forum! I have had my two chinchillas for 3 weeks now, they are 9 months old and brothers. I have an aventura cage, I use fleece bedding. I've noticed they have quite sore looking back feet, one chin more than the other. They look very red and sore, I can't figure out what could be causing it or how to treat it? I have some neutrogena unscented cream but don't want to use it if it's going to do more harm than good. I've also noticed one may have constipation from their poops, I've been feeding them only pellets and timothy hay for the past week and a half but haven't seen any changes. Both are eating and drinking well and are active. One seems to be less active than the other, he tends to be more lively early in the morning than before I go to bed. i'd love any help etc. Thank you! :)

Baby and Momma Question

Hello, four weeks ago today I woke up to a surprise kit! Its doing great! Now i just wanna ask a few things to be sure i don't do anything wrong.

1) Can I put ledges in? If so how many, how high? If not now, when?
2) Can the wheel be put back in? If so any thing i should know or do to be as safe as possible? If not now, when?
3) It is a female. So it's ok that her and momma be housed together from here on out correct?

Anything else I should know about the next few weeks and months?

New Chin Top or Bottom?

Sometime fairly soon-ish I'd love to get my Elsa a chin friend. I've been researching introduction methods and of course I know about the 30-ish day quarantine period. I'm wanting to get another chin from the same person, so hopefully that would cut down the risk of any diseases too.
Unfortunately my room (Elsa's room really) isn't big enough for 2 cages, but soon I'll be upgrading to a triple unit FN. My current plan is to keep the new chin in 1 unit and Elsa in the other 2 since that's about how much space she has now. Also I'd like to get a baby this time, so it being in a single unit shouldn't be an issue on space.

What I'm getting at is would it be better to have Elsa in the top 2 units and the baby in the bottom 1, or baby in the top 1 and Elsa in the bottom 2?

Chin Noises

Does anyone know of a good site with audio to learn about chins vocalizing? Lately my chin, Elsa, has gotten very vocal at night and I'd love to know what her noises mean. Problem is that I haven't been able to find a good site yet, either it doesn't have audio or the audio doesn't work and I have no clue what the sound is. I've found one site with audio, but no explanations and I couldn't find the explanations on other sites, so I'm kind of lost here.

If anyone has some sites to try that would be amazing because I'd really like to understand her better. Also any ideas on why she would randomly start being very vocal? She's typically very quiet. I've had her a few months and nothing has changed in my room. From what I have found on that site it sounds like chattering and a bit of calling. Any ideas on what's causing this to start?

picked up some new tile for Rain today

Hi guys :rolleyes2:

A galfrom one of my local buy sell trade groups touched bases with me to let me know she had boxes and boxes of ceramic tile setting around, as well as a tile saw so she could cut them to whatever I needed. I met with her this afternoon and picked up 4 12"x12" and 4 12"x10.5" tiles that she cut and stoned smooth for me.

The bottom of Rain's cage is 23"x23", so I laid one of each side by side across the bottom. It filled just over the front half of the bottom leaving the back half open since that's where she likes to go potty. I also laid one of each across the second floor which pretty much cover the entire floor.

Fir the top floor I put a 12"x12" tile in the corner where her food dishes are at with a granite cool stone on either side of ut. I have a couple extra tiles left soI can get a little better idea of exactly what I need and get them cut to fill things in a little bit better. Now I can work on shimming things up so they sit square and level.

What do you guys do to anchor the tiles down if need be so they don't slide around ?. Once I get them hemmed up I doubt they will but I thought I would ask. Thanks

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Chin chewing other chin

Okay so I had to separate my chins due to health issues. I finally was able to get them back together and one of the chins is chewing the other ones tail, the other chin doesn't even seem to mind the chewing, and they both seem a lot happier being with each other. Is there any possible way to stop furbiting? I do give them lots of chew toys and hay but he still seems to like the other ones tail.

Limp chin

Hi, so my 3yo chin, Dusty, had an episode tonight.
I took him out to play at 11:20pm cuz he was making noises and hadn't been out that day. I took him out and we were playing in the bathroom when after 5 minutes he started running around in circles then plopped down and went limp. I freaked and brought him into my room and after 15 minutes I was able to get him up and regain control of his limbs. He seems normal now (it's 1:35am I couldn't sleep cuz I'm worried).
Btw it was 68 degrees and we've played in the bathroom before because it's chin proof.

Can anyone explain what happened? Is he sick? Should I be worried? Do I call the vet first thing in the morning?

Safe Treats For Baby Chin?

Hey all! Was wondering if there were any safe treats to give a 4 month old chin? I know he can't have most things since he's too young, but I feel bad leaving him out and not being able to eat anything his brother gets. Thanks!

So cute when he pouts!

My chin, Bentley, MUST have his out of cage time, no matter what else is going on in the world. Last night it was delayed a bit because I was busy with grandkids.

I came into his room to get something and he was so excited, hopping back and forth and stretching up on the sides of his cage. His little eyes so bright and happy. Then I walked out.

Checked back a few minutes later and he was in his house pouting. I talked to him a bit and got dirty looks and the cold shoulder. LOL

Later I coaxed him out to play and he was ecstatic. Wall surfing, jumping all over me, giving kisses and cuddles. His expression and eyes radiated happiness. He even played his game, a modified version of tug of war. I hold a piece of wood and he grabs it away from me, then drops it and waits until I take it back, and he grabs it away again. Too cute!

Can we pass our URI's to chins?

It may be the meds... but I cant remember if they are suseptible to the same bug that causes an upper respitory infection in people? I am sick- very sick, the kind where im coughing up things i didnt know were in the human body....

Tomorrow is cage cleaning day. Assuming I follow all the handwashing practices and avoid actually sneezing on a chin (like i managed to do to the poor dog at dinner).... is it worth doing, or can i run the risk of getting my babies sick?

I know its recommended i avoid the parrot, but not sure about chins.

Wheels

Can somebody please tell me if 14" is large enough for a chin to run without causing any back issues? I want to get my girl a wheel for Christmas if possible but my last chins had saucers so I've never bought an actual wheel to know what to buy:hmm:.

Towel in cage liners

Has anybody had any success with putting a towel loose in the cage tray with a liner over it? By that I mean you'd cut the towel to fit the base, then make the fleece liner so it slides over the tray like a pillowcase, effectively trapping the towel layer inside out of reach. Has anyone tried this? Or does the towel move about or not absorb the same?

Chinchilla missing fur one finger digit

Hello to you all :wave3: . I hope you guys are all doing well.
This isn't exactly a serious issue, as it does not seem to be affecting my chin in any way and is still the same behavior wise- excited to jump and run around, yet she will not miss a moment to snuggle up right beside her sister and rest. This little strange thing where her fur seems to be completely missing on one of the "toes" of one of her hind legs. As far as my memory goes, i'm fairly certain this seemed to be on her ever since i got her. Both my chinnies are turning 6 years in December (unfortunately i never found out the exact date so I celebrate Christmas with them), and I obtained both of them when they were only 6-7 months old. Although i'm not particularly concerned since ive had both of them with no health concerns so far ( apart from the occasional constipation, but it seems to leave quickly every time it happens, which is very few.), I am a bit curious as to how/why this happened, and if it really is a concern. I'll be providing a slightly dark image, with poop for scale :rolleyes:

I also have a slight other concern, although i suppose this belongs more in the behaviors section. My other chin ( the sister) seems to avoid taking a dust bath all the time. Although she does get the urge to roll and rub her face into some dust when she finds some scattered on the ground, she dislikes the little house full of dust ( I cannot leave it open, there is one family member allergic to dust.) After the other chin goes crazy over dust, the sister seems to love rubbing and rolling onto her, which can end up in some angry short barks. They dont fight at all dont worry, they love each other too much. Her fur does not seem to worsen its quality at all, and ironically she has the least occasional slip fur. I suppose she doesn't move around as much to get it caught in anything. Any tips or thoughts on the matter would be appreciated!

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