Chinchilla stopped eating — out of ideas

I have a geriatric chinchilla—19 years young, until about a month ago.

Background: He's had dental problems for about 5 years, but a yearly trim has kept them manageable. Throughout his various dental issues, he has NEVER stopped eating. (His ability to eat well has varied, but his desire to eat never has.) He's had mild drool and a weepy eye for years, but his energy and appetite have been great.

About a month ago, he spontaneously drooled VERY heavily for one day. The next day, his drool was back to its usual (slight) amount. However, he stopped eating. Ever since, I have been making weekly vet visits and feeding him Oxbow Critical Care via syringe. However, we are not seeing improvement.

We have tried:
• trimming his teeth
• meloxicam for pain
• buprenorphine for pain
• X-rays and blood work
• simethicone, just in case

The weird thing is that he doesn't have any real symptoms besides his unwillingness to eat. He's not pawing at his mouth, stretching his belly on the ground, etc. He just sits in a corner and sleeps all day.

The only noticeable symptoms are these:
• not eating (except for a daily raisin, sometimes)
• drinking less and less, to the point that he's barely drinking now
• occasional diarrhea (possibly spurred by the daily raisin, since it seems to have gone away since I stopped offering that)
• increased weepiness in his weepy eye (which has been weepy for years, probably due to tooth root growth)

The only things left for me to try are
• more pain medication
• probiotics (Avipro Plus, Bene-Bac, acidopholous)
• a $500 ultrasound, just in case it turns up anything the X-ray missed

Here's the thing. After 19 years, I'm willing to accept that my little old man is at the end of his life... but I can't bear the thought of putting him down without knowing what's wrong. What if it was something that could have been fixed? I'm determined to try everything I reasonably can, but I'm out of ideas. That's why I'm asking for your input.

Best pain medication?
Best probiotic?
Is an ultrasound worth it?
Is there anything else I should know or try?

Thank you for your time.

Hello!

So we found this website when looking up information on Chinchillas. My name is Ahna and my fiancee and I have an adorable little grey named Draco. He's only just hit a year old so I'm sure we will have plenty of questions as things go forward. We are currently working on a custom habitat for him (converting an old tv over) and are hoping to get him a friend after that.

Not sure what else to say here honestly so if you have any questions, feel free to ask. :)

Concerned on my babys eye.

Before i start i just want to say i did give him a dust bath recently but i did notice some gunk on his eye. I dont see any swelling of any sorts, i also did show my mom because she noticed his hair around the eye looked a little funny. But he lets me touch it without a problem could it be a little irritation? I do remember him having something like this before but its not clear when or how long it lasted, i do remember it being from the dust bath too. I do have pictures attached so you guys can see there not the best since all he wanted was to jump off and run into the dust bath house...

Attached Images

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what do i do when one of my chins passes away?

i recently got a pair of female chinchillas, they sleep cuddled everyday. Which makes me wonder what will happen when either of them pass away first? I know im thinking i little too far into the future but i cant help but feel sad picturing one of them sleeping alone.

Possible URI, need pre-vet appointment advice

Demi (who's age is unknown because she was a rescue)has been sneezing on and off, lethargic, not eating as much, and has conjunctivitis in one of her eyes.
I scheduled an appointment with a vet tomorrow but this is my first time taking a chinchilla to the vet and I've heard some horror stories since most vets don't have much if any experience with them.

From other threads and posts I've seen that sometimes vets will prescribe the incorrect drug/dosage and I'm just wondering if there's anything I need to know about treating URIs/conjunctivitis before going in and just taking the vet's advice without question.

Chinchilla reintroduction?

I saw a post about a similar thing a few down from this one, but it was a different situation than the one I'm currently in, so I figured it'd be worth creating my own! Sorry for any repetitiveness!

I've had my chinchillas, Copernicus and McKinley, for just about a year now. I think they're around 1 year and six months old, because they'd been in the pet store I bought them from for quite a while. They had been caged together at that pet store for that entire time, during which time the owner of the shop and several employees assured me there had been no altercations. The two of them got along fine. I took them home and put them into the same Ferret Nation cage and that peaceful nature continued for about three months, until they hit roughly six months old. At that point they got aggressive, particularly Copernicus, and began mounting and nipping at one another. I was told by some people on this website somewhere on an earlier post (I'm sure looking through my account would find it) that it was just a result of puberty and maturing and to house them apart until such a time as they settled down. It's now about six or eight months later and they're living on separate levels of the same cage, a slab of marble placed over the entry hole to the second floor to keep them separate. McKinley has taken to pawing at the marble from his ledge, while Copernicus, the one on top, sits there and sniffs at the edges. They've both been fairly calm in other senses, so now I'm starting to think that, with the free time summer is allowing, it's a good time to reintroduce them and open the barrier to give them a larger, communal cage. The issue I have is that since they're sharing a cage (there's scatterguards all along the top level to make sure that the top one is never pelting/degrading the bottom on, for the record) that I can't do the typical 'cages nearby' setup, plus they've already had issues in the past and I'm not one hundred percent sure that they're over that.

Any tips and suggestions on how best to reintroduce them, hopefully in a manner that would minimize any damage if the two of them DO still have issues with one another, would be appreciated! Or, after the amount of trouble they've had in the past and the amount of time they've spent apart, do you think it'd be best to just leave them in their current living situations?

Traveling with chin?

I'm going to be going up to college again in the end of August and this will be the first time i'm going up and I have Eli. My school is an 8-9hr drive from my house. Originally I was going to fly up with him and keep him in a cat carrier but according to JetBlue they only allow cats and small dogs to fly (which is weird because so many people have cat allergies, who has a chin allergy?) anyway, if I were to put him in a carrier (most likely a cat carrier) would he be okay for the 8 hours? He would have water of course and I'd stick some of his hay in there too

Playtime??????

Hello,

My chin is 4yrs old and I adopted him from a rescue about 1 1/2 months ago so I'm still getting used to everything. I am wondering what you guys do for playtime for you chins (meaning outside of the cage) right now I taped together a bunch of large cardboard pieces and he plays in there but lately he's been chewing the bottom apart so he can get out or ripping the 2 edges apart that i clip together and he gets out. I can't have him running around my room because he chew on my molding and the corner of my wall and wires, basically anything he can get his mouth on. If I could chin proof my room I would but it just isn't possible for me. I know some people put them in the bathroom, it may work for him but I also have a cat and her bowls and litter box is in the bathroom so I wouldn't want him getting into that. Any other suggestions on what I could use? At home my floors in my room are hardwood, but when I go up to college the floor in my apartment is carpet.

13 week old chin losing weight

My 13 week old chin seems to be losing wight she only weighs 310g but her sister same age weighs 344g. She's still active and gets along well with her sister and mom, I also see her eating with them. Could she be sick? Any suggestions of what I should do? thanks

Chinchilla sneezing

My chin started squeezing his snout between the cage bars (0.5" spacing) and elsewhere today, and sneezing a lot every time he did this. Previously the sneezing would subside when he was taken away from the tight spaces, but now he just continues to sneeze periodically. I don't see any unusual discharges, unhealthy poop or other erratic behaviors. Suggestions?

Here's the little guy: http://ift.tt/2a5qIjF

Fleece liners?

I'm looking for 2/3 fleece liners for a critter nation, no cutout! If anyone is making and selling these please let me know 😊

2 Male Kits Need Home!!! (Los Angeles/Southern CA)

Hey Everyone! I met someone recently who's roommate has two baby boy chins who need a new home. Is there anyone in Southern California able to take them in? They are not in a good situation (their 4 siblings and both parents have since passed away), so I'm hoping I can find them a safe place ASAP! They are about 6 months old now. Please let me know! Thanks!

New Critter Nation for new owner

Hello all, just wanted to say hello and thank you for such a wonderful resource! I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time for a girl at work to need to re-home two chins, a male and female, a little under 2 years old. One of my daughters sadly lost a hedgehog about a year ago, and had always been looking for a replacement - now we have two replacements! The first thing I did when I agreed to take them, was scour the internet and this forum in particular, for information on care, cages, and safety. Obviously I will still have plenty to learn as I go but I'm hoping to make as few mistakes along the way as I can.

Today, our new Critter Nation cage arrived, and with the exception of the doors being slightly out of square (which I have yet to figure out how to fix), it went together very easily, and I'm sure after the first run, I could whip one together in ten minutes now. Amazing how simply they go together.

We're going to try the fleece option for now and see how they take to that, with the Bass metal pans as a backup option. I opted for homemade wooden shelves instead of the included plastic ones, and only used one ramp with it's cover. I ran out of shelf hardware, so I still have another to find room for, and to get a couple proper houses for them. Turns out I didn't have large enough clamps to make one myself, so the "house" is basically a tunnel at this point.

All wood was Select grade Pine from Lowe's near me, as it was the only stuff I could find that I felt comfortable enough with. In hindsight, I might have over-sized them, but it's hard to really say. I opted for 1" thick, and most of the shelves are 8" widths with one longer 6" shelf to run a good width on the top. It almost feels like the 1" (well, 3/4" in practice) thickness is too heavy for the bars, but I wanted to make sure I had enough to take a good bite on the mounting screws. For now though, they'll work. I haven't sanded them down yet, but wanted to get them in place for the little guys to enjoy, and I can pull them out one at a time and take care of the sanding after work.

We also added a couple simple hammocks, a hanging crinkle tube (that they'd rather tight-rope across the top of, instead of going in) and a few chew toys, and a granite resting plate. That's more a formality though, as the cage is located near the Air Conditioner so I'm more concerned with them getting too cold, if anything.

I will say that their demeanor has completely changed in the new cage! We had them kind of cramped in an older guinea pig cage we had, and I felt horrible but there was just no way to get the CN any faster than it was coming. I was just hoping they would forgive us for the tight quarters, and I sure believe they have. As soon as we open the doors now, they're right to our hands, and crawling on our arms, and curious as can be! The extra space has certainly livened their spirits, and it makes us feel better too knowing they've got so much more room to play.

I still need to get a few better food dishes, some hay boxes, and a wheel setup (I'm putting a homemade one together based on some designs I've seen online, just a few bolts left to buy and should be able to get that in there). I'd love the treadmill wheel, but after the outlay for the cage and what we've got so far, that might have to wait a check or two.

Melvin and Kokomo are happy as can be though, and it's a large part in thanks to the wonderful advice found here!

Chin is bored of hay, how can I get her to eat it?

There's nothing wrong with her, she's active, happy, bright eyed and bushy tailed and chews all her wooden chew sticks and toys. But she seems to have got bored with hay and doesn't appear to be eating much of it. I've been giving her alfalfa king Timothy hay and the oat barley one in the purple bag for the past three months, alternating them every other day, and to begin with she was eating a lot, but in the past week or so she seems completetly bored of it. She's still eating some but nowhere near as much.

I bought a bag of Readigrass two days ago for a change but she's not eating much of that either:banghead: . I've cut down a lot on pellets thinking it'll force her to eat the hay, but I'm worried she'll just not eat anything if there's no pellets and starve. Is it ok to remove the pellets like this?

I even bought a pack of floral type mix to appetise it up, she's not bothered in the leaves/grasses all she wants is the pea flakes and dried carrot pieces in it! How do I get her to eat the hay again?

Going on Vacation... Help!

Hello everybody, I'm going on vacation for one week and I am not sure what to do with my Chin. I have a couple options but I am not sure which is the safest. The first option would be to give my chin to a friend who also owns a chinchilla. I would give her the chin and she would put it in the cage with hers. I'm not sure this is a good idea because they could possibly hurt each other because they have never met. The next option would be to have a kid come to my house everyday and refill water, food, hay, etc. This sounds like the best option but the only problem is he would not clean the cage. Would it get way to dirty? :hmm:

Please give me feedback. And also your own suggestions.
Thanks, Sam

Chin not active tonight

I got Zoey out just like normal. She came out, jumped around like normal, jumped up on my shoulder and I fed her a oat like normal. She then went into her cage and stayed in the corner for a good 30 minutes. She let me pet her, which she normally doesn't. She did jump around and back but isn't as active as normal. Something is up. I'm feeding her Timothy hay and oxbow food, nothing changed. She did drink water last night. Should I just monitor her over night, if she's not changed by in the morning then take to vet?

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Gray chin for sale

I have a sweet male chinchilla for sale had him for about 4 months me and my boyfriend are having to move and he can't go with us saddly he needs a new safe home to go too he has a cage dust bath some hay and pellits included he does get scared if you try to pick him up so he will stand up and pee not much but enough to make you jump back.... my mistake the first time i did it but he is really adorable and likes too be rubbed under his chin we have two month's too move i'm not sure if i can put my email on here but i guess i'll try my email for contact if interested is jenniferrichard12347@gmail.com and price will be givin if interested thank you in advance.

New chinchillas

Hi, today I brought home my two new chinchillas who are a boy and girl from the same litter and are at 12 weeks old. I was always planning on getting the male castrated but not straight away as I have heard it is risky and he is still quite young, however he is already starting to try and mate. Should I be worried about this for the time being?
Thank you

New chinchillas help

Hi, today I brought home my two new chinchillas who are a boy and girl from the same litter and are at 12 weeks old. I was always planning on getting the male castrated but not straight away as I have heard it is risky and he is still quite young, however he is already starting to try and mate. Should I be worried about this for the time being?
Thank you

my chin's penis won't retract. It looks bad :(

Please help,
my chin's penis won't retract. He's 9 and never had any issue like hair ring, so I didn't realize immediately how serious this might be. I just washed it lightly with water and put some lube, but if anyone has suggestions I would really appreciate it.
He seems fine and hungry as usual..

is there anything else I can do before taking him to the vet tomorrow?

Attached Images

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New chinchillas

Hi, today I brought home my two new chinchillas who are a boy and girl from the same litter and are at 12 weeks old. I was always planning on getting the male castrated but not straight away as I have heard it is risky and he is still quite young, however he is already starting to try and mate. Should I be worried about this for the time being?
Thank you

2 Babies Need Help ASAP (Los Angeles area)

Hi all. Hoping someone can help. I met someone who has a roommate who's chin had 6 babies. My best guess is that they are around 6 weeks old now. Since they were born, the mom and dad are gone (not sure but i believe they died after their cage was moved outside). He just informed me that they need to get rid of the babies... And that 4 of the babies have now died. :( Unfortunately, I don't know many details. From what I've heard so far though, it's not a good situation and they have no idea how to care for chins. It breaks my heart, of course, but I am not currently able to take the last 2 babies in myself. They are willing to give them to me and I'm happy to transport them to someone in the Southern California area. Please let me know if you or someone you know can take in two sweet babies who deserve a good home!

Chin with heart disease

Hi my name is Nancy and I have a chinnie that has congestive heart disease, He is currently on Lasik, enapril, metcam, probac and a mixture of COQ10, radish, celery and asparagus. He is in with oxygen and a diffuser with mint. He also has had steroid shots which had helped. He has always been a very small chin and underweight. He has always been sickly and is only 6 years old. I also know he was inbreed, but still wanted to try to help him. His breathing is worse and eats very little and is losing weight, so very worried as he is already underweight, I am going to try to syringe feed him, I did not want to stress him, but I have no choice. His vet has run out of options, so hoping someone might be able to offer some suggestions.

Thank you
Nancy

[Help] Dark zit like bump in ear?

[PICTURE HERE]
(Posting it in the post made it huge for some reason)

I tried my best to google and see if I could find a case of a chinchilla with a similar condition but I couldn't find any?

He's never had dark spots in his ears of any kind. When I found the bump it was very dark and pressed up like a zit with a raw, open circle in the middle that you can kind of see here. I pressed on it a bit and a clear liquid came out that had no foul smell.

He's an 8 year old standard grey who has had very little if any healthy problems throughout his life.

Is this just some kind of zit? Or could this be caused by some kind of parasite or injury? Should I put antibiotics on it? What antibiotics can you use on Chinchillas safely?

Babies and exercise

Could you advise me please on when I should/could start letting my kits out of their cage? The boy escapes every time I let mum out and the girl is showing signs of being interested.
I've seen conflicting advice but the majority seems to be wait for a year. I have read that mum shouldn't come out while nursing but she was desperate for a change of scene and enjoys her little kit-free moments, before going back in to nurse them and is much happier for it.
TIA

New to second chinchilla!

I've had Pip for a little over 5 months now and he's such a sweet little guy. I just felt that it was time to get him a friend, so we adopted another little guy yesterday who has been named Kylo. It would appear Kylo is younger than Pip, he's definitely smaller. Now, I've read and researched A LOT about introducing two chinchillas. Yes, they are in two separate cages, and are a good 6 inches apart. Pip seems really interested in Kylo. I got both of them from a shop (I know, should have gone to a really good breeder). When I got Pip, I know that he was housed with two baby chins. They just got adopted before he did, and upon hearing that I couldn't leave him in there any longer, so I decided to adopt him. Well, Kylo, when we got him there was another chin in there with him, same age and size and they seemed to love each other! Cuddled up close with one another. Kylo has been in that pet shop for about 2 months, and the other one was newer.

Anyhow, Pip and Kylo show absolutely NO aggression towards each other. I haven't put them together because it's too soon. But really, they're not barking at each other, they're not biting at the bars on their cages, they both sort of just try and look at each other for a few seconds and then go about their way. Would it be bad to let them in the others cage to sniff around, or would that cause distress? My boyfriend held Pip next to Kylo's cage, which I told him not to do anymore so it doesn't risk either of them biting each other. But they didn't bite at the bars, didn't use their hands for anything, just touched noses from sniffing each other.

Are these two likely to form a great bond if they're already docile about being near each other? I want to wait for at least a week before I try and have them out for play time together. Anything I've read says that chins tend to go crazy about a new chin coming into the home and they do all sorts of things and to not introduce them until they don't seem to care about another chinchilla being near them. I mean, I have separate cages so it's not like I'd have to get rid of one of them if they didn't get along. Like I said though, they haven't spat, tried to urinate, bitten or anything like that at each other.

Thanks for any insight! :)

Chinchilla does not know how to use water bottle?

Hello!

We've had our chinchilla for a little over a week now, and after a few days of settling in he's been enjoying his new home. However, I have noticed a very strange behavior of his that kind of has me worried.

When we first got him, he straight up refused to drink any water at all. He still ate dry food and a bit of hay, but no water. We thought something might be wrong with the bottle, so we got him a second water bottle, but he wouldn't use it either.

Eventually, he figured out how to use the exercise wheel in his cage, and when he did he started showing this really odd behavior. He would run really fast for a few seconds on the wheel, stop, and then start again. I figured out that this was causing his cage to vibrate, and made the water bottles shake and release a spray of water. After a few runs on the wheel like this, he would drink the water off of the ground.

Both of the bottles do work, and he has at least attempted to drink from one one time, but after that this is the only way he drinks. Is there anything wrong with this, and can he be taught how to use a bottle?

Prevue cages

I tried to search through threads for reviews of Prevue brand cages after being in search of a cage that my chin can't chew any part of (we're on our second Kaytee ferret cage and I'm not going to be buying one every other year for 20 years or watch him eventually get sick because he loves to chew!), but I didn't find much.

Does anyone know if the Jumbo Ferret Cage (475) (http://ift.tt/29Ch6wJ) is actually safe for chins and if it holds up well? Steel seems like a great choice, but I don't want to pay all that money unless it's going to last. Any reviews would be greatly appreciated before I order it (online).

Thank you!

Toy suggestions?

Hi everyone,

Not sure if this should have gone in here or in the behavior area, so I apologize if it's in the wrong place!

I've been getting my chin's toys, chews, and treats from Petco as long as I've had him (almost 3 years). Their variety has been lacking for a while now, so I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations of stores (preferably online) I could mix it up with for a reasonable price (I'm too nervous to find random things on my own in case they're not actually chin-safe!) and maybe even just switch to all together. He loves loofah toys and that crunchy corn husky stuff the most. And of course branch balls. I haven't seen the corn husk toy in a a very long time, so I'd love to find something similar.

Please and thank you as always!

How do I keep my chinchilla cool???

I just got two chinchilla a few days ago from a rescue and I am wondering the safest way to keep them cool. I have a fan in the room to circulate the air, and I am wondering if this is enough for him. Will an ice pack be good for them? Please put your personal methods below.

Thank you! :)

Possible new chin owner

Hi everyone.

My name is Trish, and I am contemplating getting a chin. I have wanted one for eons, but since I used to live in a condo that got too warm, it wasn't really an option for me. I am in house now, and was thinking about rescuing a local chin who is about 5 years old. They *think* it's a male. (I take that to mean it's never been vetted or they would know for sure.)

I would have to keep the chinchilla in the basement, at least in the summer months. It has a finished room that he would be in. Being that it's summer, and a hot one at that, the basement is really the only option. I keep the temp in the house at 73, but the back bedroom where I had planned on putting him gets up to 78 degrees, so I know that is out. Anyway, I put a thermometer in the basement, and the highest it has gotten is 69 degrees with 59% humidity. I think the humidity is a bit high. What do you think?

Also, I'm a little concerned that he would be all alone most of every day, with play time of hopefully about an hour each evening. (I have a very long work day, so I may not get to do more than a half hour.) I just feel bad that he would be so isolated for 23 hours a day - that would really be 4 days a week, when I'm commuting to work. The other 3 days I could spend more time with him.

Should I take the plunge, or pass on him? I know it is a huge responsibility, so I want to do the right thing.

Thanks for your advice! Much appreciated :)

Trish

Help what's wrong with my chinchilla!

So this morning I got up early and found my chinchilla at the bottom of his cage sitting in his bedding which is rather abnormal because he is usually always on the top most part of his cage of his cage I left him alone for a little bit and he is now at the top of his cage again but he is still acting strangely it seems like he is having trouble eating possibly I gave him two of his favorite kinds of trees that he normally devours within a few seconds and he left the one and the other he tried for a few minutes but then gave up I'm uploading a video of him trying to eat the second one which will be up in a couple of minutes and I'll edit this post. We haven't had any issues with him eating before he would have plenty of his dry food and we have hay available for him as well he has plenty for him to chew in his cage this morning when he was trying to eat his dry food the pellets he would call at his mouth with one hand and kind of chew the food with his other. Any help would be great as to what I can do we have never had any issues with him in the past he has been rather healthy and agile and active

Chinchilla trying to escape??

Everyday, I will sit down in front of my chinchilla's cage and open the cage door and place it on my lap, allowing her to walk around and interact with me. Recently, though, she has been crawling over my arms, trying to jump over them, and also tryinh to run off of my lap. i think she's trying to escape, probably? And today she tried to get passed my arm and I kept raising my arm to prevent her from getting away, and she did a digging type motion into my arm and left a bunch of scratch marks. I'm sure she wasn't trying to hurt me on purpose. We let her out a couple times a week for at least 40 minutes. Do you think she needs more time outside of her cage??

What noise is my chinchilla making?!

I recently got an 11 week old chinchilla and I'd say probably 3 days after I got him he started to make this noise. I had no idea that chinchillas made noises so I decided to look it up. After find out that it's completely normal for them to make noises I tried to narrow down what type of noise he is making. I couldn't figure it out.
Basically what he will do, is he'll run out of his cage, run around for a bit (maybe 5 to 10 seconds) and then he'll bolt back to his cage and start to make this noise.
Over the past couple of days he's been starting to do it a lot more and it's concerning me. I'm a first time chinchilla owner and I just want to make sure that he is as happy as can be! I have a video of the noise but it won't let me upload it so I'll work on getting a voice recording of it. Any information you all can give me would be helpful, thanks!

What causes a chin to die from runny nose?

I have a chin that had a runny nose last night and when i checked him this am he had died. There is no draft by his cage and kept around 70.

Chinchilla mutation???

Hi guys! I haven't been on in years but I got on agin because something weird happened to me today. I saw a cool looking pet shop and had some time to kill so I stoped by and they had chinchillas. I ushally never buy from pet shops but I saw a very pretty chin and wanted to get a better look at him. I asked the workers if it was a boy or girl and not one could tell me. I thought nothing of it untell they said the breed chins!!!! They breed chins but have no idea the gender of there animals??? Anyway he turns out to be a boy (I checked) and he has a very odd color to him. At first glance I thought he was a beige but at a closer look he has brown patches on his back? Apparently they got him from another breeder and had no idea of his genetics. I know it is pretty impossible to tell what mutation he is by pics but I thought why not try? You can't see the brown very well but it's there! I was thinking manny he's some odd tan?

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New Chin owner from NY and new to here

Hey everyone,

I got my chinchilla about a month and a half ago from a rescue. I don't know too much about them yet, but i'm doing my best to learn as much as I can. I really just know the basics like dust baths, food, toys, snacks, outside play time, etc. I'm wondering if anyone knows any good reusable cage liners I could use to line his cage. I have the Prevue Hendryx 485 cage (with 2 layers) and at first I tried using the fleece but I hate seeing the poop and when I would vacuum it with the hand vacuum the fleece would lift up too so I would constantly have to pull it down when I was vacuuming it. Then I tried using the foam pads that are for kids in their play room, but he chews on it, as far as I can tell he doesn't eat it since the pieces are all over but I don't want to risk him getting sick so I took it out. If you know of any cage liners (preferably solid) that I could use I would really appreciate it. I was thinking of something like a tile material but lighter, but i'm worried about when he pees, is it bad for him to be stepping in his pee? I'm a college student so i'm not in my apartment all day. I am in the house every few hours, and all night of course but i can't clean his pee immediately.

Thank you in advance.

Cage: http://ift.tt/29iWtf7

example of foam pads i use to line cage: http://ift.tt/29iX2W1

Chin bonding fail?

Hello.

I got a new chinchilla a while ago named Rose , in February. I wanted to bond her with my other chinchilla named Chia.

I only started bonding recently because Rose had a tough life. She was abused and abandoned prior to my care. Her fur was horrible and she was scared of humans.

After months and months of trying to have a bond with her. She finally warmed up and lets me pet her and she hops on me a lot. :)

I didn't want to bond her before I was bonded to her first. I started bonding the chins by bringing there cages beside one another. Also, letting one play while the other watches from their cage.

The new chin, Rose seems very calm and doesn't mind my other chin. I'm confused though, I am not sure if Chia is being aggressive... or playful? When Rose is playing outside she starts jumping around in her cage like crazy. She popcorn's in her cage and tries to dig out of her cage too.

She seems to be making chin chit chat as well. That low chirping sound, sometimes. Another thing she does is bite the bars once in a while when Rose is out. Is she mad? Or happy? I don't want to move on in the bonding process until I know if she is being bad or good. haha :P

Extra information: Chia is 3 year old female and I had her since she was 4 months old. Chia is the more energetic chinchilla, she jumps around a lot. Even before I decided to get her a friend she would talk to herself. She does it now as well.
Rose is a 2 year old Female. She isn't as crazy as Chia at all. She doesn't seem to talk much either. She seems to want to be friends with Chia.

Hope I make sense. Please give me advice! Also, some bonding tips would be awesome! :)

Temp home for Chins while deployed

I am looking for an experienced chin owner in the Fort Riley, KS area that can take care of my babies from July 2016 till May-June 2017. I will be deployed to Korea. I will order all supplies and have them delivered. Can anyone help?

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Chinchilla losing hair around face

Hi all,
My chinchilla has been losing hair around his face for 4 weeks now. We took him to the vet two weeks ago and they ruled out ringworm. They gave us a medicine to apply to his bald spots every day. It just seems to be getting worse and not better.

I believe the problem could be his teeth but they would need to put him under to verify that. We have been looking for any other explanation but can't anything. Does anyone have any other idea what could be the issue? His hair is never really wet around his mouth. There are hard stiff spots and balying spots.

If the problem is his teeth, is there a chance for him to recover from that? Most of what I've researched online has said there's no cure and to put a chin down so they are not living in pain. Any information would be helpful.

Paranoid owner- introducing chinchillas?

I've had my boy Buddy for about 8 months now, he's a little over a year old. He's always been very curious, if he's in his play pen and one of my friendly cats come near the pen, he always runs over to the cat (he's held back by the pen of course) and acts like he just wants to play.

So, we recently got him a brother (Meeko) who is 10 weeks old. We've slowly been getting the two to smell each other, doing things such as swapping their blankets, letting buddy sniff Meeko's cage, etc. Meeko has always reacted by making tiny happy squeaks, though I haven't heard Buddy make a sound yet.

So earlier today while buddy was having his play time, I let him go up to Meeko's cage to sniff him. They both went up to the wire on the cage and started sniffing at each other's noses. It seemed like Buddy was either biting the wire, or nipping at Meeko. Meeko never squeaked like he was in pain, didn't draw blood, and didn't even run away from Buddy, he would just jump then go back to sniffing his nose.

Is this okay behavior? I don't want Buddy to be hurting Meeko, and buddy had repeatedly done this every time I tried to get them to meet. Can someone help me out?? Maybe have a better way to get them to meet??

Housing kits

I discovered yesterday that my 2 week old kits can escape through bars that 1/2 inch wide! I've got them in an old Guinea pig run for now because the bars are too narrow for them to escape through. It takes up all the floor space and is not as practical as a cage.
Am wondering at what age they are able to go into an adult cage with levels and shelves?
Thanks

Very worried :(

Hello everyone! I've been very worried about my chinchilla :( At Monday's night he fell from the stairs in 2nd floor right to 1st floor. We couldn't take him to vet that night because none of then work at night. I stayed up with him all night and I noticed that he was pretty calm and kept touching his nose with his paw. He sneezed quite a bit too. When morning came we took him to the vet right away. The vet said he looks fine, but he prolly hit his nose a little bit, that's why he keeps sneezing. She gave him an injection that would clear up his nose. He stopped sneezing and touching his nose, but he's still pretty calm and that's why I'm very worried :( Nothing else is wrong, really. He eats his food, treats, hay, he drinks, he bathes in his dust, he reacts to us. He walks and hops around just like he used to, just slowly. Vet said it's probably from the stress because like I said everything else is fine. I'm just very worried and I wanted to ask what do you think ? Should I be worried about him and take him to vet again, or does he just need to rest for few more days? :(

Newbie from ND!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Kristi, and I live up in the frozen tundra of North Dakota :breath: I've lived here my whole life, and we always complain about the cold/heat haha! I have a 7 year old daughter, Abby, and she's growing up to be just like her mom <3 Animal lover!!! Currently we have....

Marius the Sugar Glider
Aurora & Maleficent our Bearded Dragons
Shadow the Aussie Mix
Loki the Ragdoll/Maine Coon mixed with backwoods barn cat :hilarious:

I used to breed sugar gliders and at one time had 7 cages at the most between a rescued pair, breeding pairs, and pet only! Totaling 16 sugar gliders without joeys that were still with their parents at the time! Since then we went pet only and downsized, lost a couple to old age and have our lone guy left.

Recently, I decided our household needed another pet :hmm: Abby and I go to Petco often for crickets and other animal needs.. She ALWAYS has to stop and see the ferrets and other small critters. We toyed with the idea of ferrets again, but I've always wanted chins! A friend of mine rescued a couple and found them a wonderful home, DAYS before I was supposed to visit :broken: Since then I've always had them on my mind, and days ago I decided we were going to start research.. So here we are! Ready to make my binder! Seriously, I make binders each time I get new not so common pets..

Not looking for any chins until we are 100% sure and ready we are going to do this! When the time comes and we are ready, I've already contacted a breeder from Wisconsin that's ready to answer some questions and keep in touch. I also need to find some and make sure I'm not allergic, I had an allergy to a Standard Rex rabbit we had and unfortunately we had to rehome him :( Otherwise, I have no other known allergies..

Hope y'all enjoy my book! I look forward to getting to know people on here and doing all the research I can!

My baby chin sleeping and biteing

We have a just got our chin he is only about 3 to 4 months old I found out after I got him he was shipped in from Europe and has been on a big journey to get here witch if I had of known I would of went to a breeder than a pet shop! But enyway he was very very nervous when we got him and also had a upper respiratory tract infection and is currently on antibiotics getting better we have only had him 2weeks you see recently tho he has started sleeping on me and by me when he is out of the cage he won't do this with my partner also he only bites me not but not a nibble I don't work and my partner dose so I spend more time with him and I clean and feed him he won't let no one stroke him either he will climb on us and sleep on me but if I try to pet him or enyone he runs away or am guessing it's a bark at you for trying if enyone with more chin experiance could help me build a relationship with him he is my first chin.