Chinchilla ate paper with sharpie on it....

I let my chinchilla out to play earlier and she some how got a hold of a piece of paper with sharpie written on it. She did manage to take a piece of it with sharpie on it, and I'm pretty positive she ate it. What should I do? Is it going to hurt her? I should have been keeping a closer eye on her...

Chinchillas Fighting or Playing?

I adopted 2 chinchillas from the SPCA about two weeks ago. Both males, one is 3 and the other is 4 years old. They had to be adopted together because they were bonded and the previous owner said they got along very well for the 3 years she had them. They seem to get along well during the day, even sleeping under the same dome, during playtime they mostly ignore one another, never showing any signs of aggression. However, at night I hear them loudly running around their cage as if they are chasing one another and making strange noises that I can best describe as quacking. In the morning I have found hair in the cage. One chinchilla has had spots of hair loss since I adopted them and the vet thinks the other may be chewing his fur because of stress. Are my chinchillas fighting or playing? I am not sure if I should separate them because they have lived together for 3 years. Is this just stress from the transition that will eventually go away or should I look into more permanent separation?

Chin sitter twin cities

My chin sitter fell through at the last minute for my weekend trip! Does anyone know any sitters in the twin cities area. I live in Burnsville mn and would need someone to pop in on Sunday just to make sure my chin is doing okay. Just a quick pop in I would be willing to pay for the time spent.

We are leaving tomorrow at 2:00 so if anyone knows of anyone that would be great!!

Are these poos normal?

We have 2 three month old female chins housed together. One is bigger than the other, so I am thinking smaller animal, smaller poos, but I just want to be certain.

They are only getting their regular food that the breeder had them on, timothy hay (different varieties and brands), small amounts of alfalfa hay, and no treats at all.

They go through their water and it is not tap water. Now, I have not witnessed them drinking, but it definitely goes down and the bottle does not leak.

Maybe I am just being a worry wart, but any help is greatly appreciated!

Having a hard time getting my picture to upload. Tells me it's already loaded and it's not... I will try again...

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Could use your opinion on X-Rays

Ideally I'd be able to get a 2nd Doctor's opinion but time isn't on my side, dental appointments are hard to come by, and his dental appointment is this Friday.

I'll be the first to admit I don't know what I'm looking at when it comes to X-Rays, so I ask for your help since I know there is a wealth of knowledge and, unfortunately, a bit of experience with dental issues here.

The vet thinks a dental is the best course of action. That's great news but the reasoning behind it didn't sit well with me. Buddy, my chinchilla is about 15 years old, I've had him for 9 years. The vet said, because of his age it's more likely he's just in need of a dental and less likely it's a death sentence (severe malo).

Obviously I want him to live a long(er) and healthy life but I opposed to him living in pain for the rest of his life.

So I ask for any expertise you may have. Thank you.

Attached Images

	buddy-l.jpg (157 Bytes)
	buddy-r.jpg (157 Bytes)

Hi There

Hi there! My name is Brandon. I had a couple of chinchillas about 16 years ago and recently decided that I wanted to get one again.

So after researching and getting supplies together for about a month I finally found a white mosaic chinchilla to adopt from a family who now has toddlers and didn't her to get hurt from the kids. They had named her Delilah, but I didn't really like that name.

After getting her and having her for a few says I decided to name her Tamu Fluffball. Tamu is Swahili for sweet.

She is the sweetest chinchilla!

Keeping pellets in the food bowl

Every morning when I get up, there are a lot of pellets on the cage floor near the bowl. It almost looks like they are digging them out, because the pellets remaining in the bowl are always sloped. Are they trying to get to better pellets? I put their food bowl in another bowl, so that does contain some of the mess. Do they not like their bowl and I should look for something else?

Also, a few weeks ago, they MOVED the pellet bowl into the hidey house doorway! Does that mean they want their food in the hidey house?

Thanks!

Not an actual emergency, but could have been

I didn't know where to post this so I ended up here. On Christmas Day we could have had a tragedy. Perhaps I am not meant to be a chin mom considering my lack of brain cells! I will have to put a note on the back door to remind me to check the cage whenever I leave the house!

That's right, on Christmas Day, being gone for 12 hours (not by choice), I did not latch one of the cage doors!!!!!! OMG OMG. I just about had a heart attack when I walked in the room and saw the wide open door, and neither chin in sight. The 'good' thing is that I think they were too frightened to do anything. They could have destroyed the room, but they were under the shelf of the cage. There was plenty of stuff they could have gotten into; they chewed nothing in the room, not even apple sticks. They were definitely traumatized. I was able to catch Daphne quicker than JoJo. She was trying to climb up between the back of the cage and the wall, and I finally got her. JoJo was more of a challenge, and I chased her for quite a while. They hadn't gotten on the bed, nor did they go under it. I tried tempting her with a dust bath. When I was chasing her around the room, she would change direction whenever she got to the dust ruffle. So they don't know that it's empty space under there, thankfully.

The only thing I can think of that could have made me do that is that I went to the kitchen to cut them some loofah for them. I closed the door but didn't latch it. Obviously I got distracted by something else, because I never got to the loofah. Perhaps I just looked at the clock, because I was late.

Neither one of them would eat the rest of the night, and Daphne barked for quite a while. They seem to somewhat have gotten back to normal, but it will take some more time. I'm sure they won't want to come out of the cage now! And I had just gotten the 11-panel playpen a couple days earlier. I threw my back out a week and a half ago and just hadn't been able to carry it back to the bedroom yet. Yes, all this chasing was done in extreme pain but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

With 3 Advil in me today, the room is now chin-proofed. I just want to smack myself. Sometimes I don't know how I've made it through almost 60 years.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!

Trish

New Chin--Ripley

Hi,
Just wanted to let you all know that I had to put Idgie down a couple months ago. But we adopted a new chin last week. I had wanted to get another rescue, but we ended up falling in love with a baby. Her name is Ripley and she is a little over 4 months old. She is a mosaic. (My avatar is her photo)
Lorri

Change in behavior

I recently took Diablo (my chinchilla) to the vet due to a swollen face from a spider bite. All is well in that area now, he is back to normal except now he won't let me near him. No petting, I can't even scoop him up for out of cage time and he stays in his igloo or on a perch when I feed him. I am thinking it may be that he had never seen a vet before now and is holding the visit against me...my husband thinks it is because I am reaching my 3rd trimester for 1st baby and that my hormone changes may be off putting. Some animals are sensitive like that, I guess. Any thoughts as to what may have caused this change and/or what I can do to fix our bond?

New Chinchilla Own

Hi all

My Chinchillas name is Zoe and she is very friendly. Does not like to be picked up but she runs all over me if I lay down on the floor in her cage play penand nibbles my ear. :)

Zoe and I know each other from my pet store She was friendly on the spot when she came in. The company they are not the best place to find chinchilla supplies even though the sell chins. I have giving my special vet a stool samples to test. since I question the pet supplier we currently use.

I searched the web for information on chinchillas and found this forum and I have read many posts before joining. I purchased The chinchilla
handbook by Sharon Vanderlip DVM. It was helpful in some ways not all my questions were answered.


What was not covered in the chinchilla handbook is my questions I need to ask.

-nuts can chins have these my vet said sunflower seeds but I want to only give her what is good for her.

-wood there is some contradictions to what type is safe in my searched but all I can find is poplar here anyway. I needed this for her cage door since it was wire I covered it in poplar so she could have a ramp to the cage.

-I need to find twigs for her to chew she like chins only chews off the bark and I think she is eating it that okay something smaller would be harder to chew the bark off suggestions?

Thanks

D

Phasing young chins into longer playtimes/wheel

In a couple weeks, both our chins will be 6 months. We've been giving them 10 minute play times a couple times a week, as people here suggest not overdoing it when they're young. We are going to start giving them longer play times, my question is, should we go in phases, to get them used to it? As in, should we do 15 minutes one playtime, then 20 the next, then 25, etc? Do you ease them in, or is it safe at this point to just let them have a long playtime?

We will also be putting in a chin spin. Will we need to monitor this, as they're still pretty young, or can we assume they'll likely be safe since they've reached 6 months?

Thank you!

Fleece lining at bottom of Quality Cage

Hello- I have a Quality Cages Chinchilla Mansion for my two guys, and was wondering whether it would be ok to place a fleece lining of the appropriate dimemsions at the bottom without fastening it. I can't think of a great way to fasten it while keeping it easy to slide out. Has anyone had any luck with having a fleece liner with no fastening? I guess my concern would be the chins goin underneath it (and maybe not getting enough ventilation as a result?) Thanks for any advice.

Changed behaviour and bathroom habits

On the 19th, I came home to find my chinchilla very frightened and unwilling to come near me.
She was barking as a chinchilla would and hiding in small spaces.
I found tuffs of her fur on my bed and realized that another household member had gotten drunk and had some kind of interaction with her.
It took her a little over a day to normalize, and now she's almost the same.
She's running on her wheel, cuddling with me, coming out in my room willingly, taking dust baths, sleeping, chewing on her toys, biting on her wired cage to come out.
She's a bit more timid right now, but trusting of me as I am her primary care giver.
She sleeps on her sides every now and then but since the occurence she's been sleeping normally/fully on her right side, but will only lay her head down on the left side while her back/behind are simply sitting.
She's interested in her hay most days, although as of right now, she doesn't seem to be eating as much or drinking as much.
She's still pooping, but not as much due to loss of appetite I guess, and she doesn't seem to be urinating as much as she used to. Neither her food bowl or water dish seem to be decreasing at the steady rate they used to.
Might this just be stress over the interaction? Or should I take her in immediately for an internal examination?
It's been 4 days and all else seems to be normal except those few things.
Any insights or recommendations are very much appreciated and thank you in advance.

Moving With Chinchilla Question

Hey Everyone! I am getting ready to move about 20 minutes away in February, so it's not a long distance move. My question is what would make this the least stressful for my chinchilla. I currently have her in a three level Critter Nation cage, so it's 9ft tall and won't be easy to move. She will be in a little cat carrier for the trip.

I have a few options for what to do once we are at the new house.

Option 1: I have a single level critter nation that is much easier to move I can put up in the new place, so she won't be in the cat carrier for a really long time while we move and setup the big cage. Which might not happen the first night since we are doing all the moving ourselves.

Option 2: I can put the chinchilla into the single level now and have the big cage disassembled and ready to be put in to the new house, so she can go straight into the big cage at the new place.

Option 3: Is a last resort to move both her and the big cage at the same time, so she would be in the tiny carrier a lot longer.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I just want the transition to be as stress free as possible for her. I'd love to hear suggestions.

Here is a picture of Ender.

Hiccup/cough and barking?

Hey everyone! My chinchilla starting doing something odd today- he was sitting on the bottom of his cage (not abnormal) and then would give a quiet hiccup/cough like noise, followed by a series of barks. He does just one of those strange noises at a time, about 30 seconds or so apart. I'll try to get a video of it if I can. My questions are- do chinchills get the hiccups? If so, what do they sound like? And what do coughs sound like? He doesn't have a runny nose or watery eyes, but I'm on the lookout for any symptoms of a URI just in case. Thanks in advance for your help!

Seen vet...is this normal?

I took Diablo to the vet last Wednesday. His poor face was all swollen, like he had a rabbit nose and chipmunk cheeks. He was thankfully still eating/drinking/poo normal/active. The vet sent me home with anti-inflammatory meds (7-10days) and by the weekend the swelling was gone. We think he got bit by a spider/bug. I was also told I could give him .2ml of childrens Benadryl 2x daily as needed because he developed itching. My concern now is that he is lethargic/skittish. Still drinking/poo normal, eating but not like he used to and 75% active when out of his cage (which is a big cage, used to house 4 chins). He was checked for hair ring at the vet and all was good there. I have given him Critical care to assist with the food intake concern. I have spoken with the vet off/on about progress but I don't want to be the owner that calls daily. Does this sound like normal recovery behavior and I'm just overly worried or should I have him seen again?
P.S. sorry for the lengthy post.

Greetings

Hello there. I have stumbled across CnH afew times now, looking up chin advice and such. I have had 2 chins so far. My first was Faust (2009-2015), handsome black cuddlebug. My most recent is Diablo, angsty black with grey highlights. I believe that he is 6-7 years old. I got him from a friend last August who got him from someone that was unable to care for him. He can be devilish at times but I love him.

Looking for female chinchilla

Hi! I'm really in need of a female chinchilla. I've looked everywhere, all the pet stores and online. But I can't get a female chinchilla. I would prefer a tan or white chin, not a standard grey. I live in Oregon, so if you live around the Oregon coast Portland, Eugene areas I can totally come pick her up!! Also if you're down with air shipping that'd be awesome. Please let me know if you have a female for adoption or know of someone with a female for sale!!! Thank you.

Really Need Suggestions for Heat Source/Thermostat

Hey there. So I'm completely new to hedgehogs and I'll be bringing one home next month. The biggest thing I'm stumped on is getting a reliable heating source. I'm heavily leaning towards a ceramic heat emitter but there's so many on the market, along with porcelain lamp holders, and thermostats.

What brands do you recommend for this?

Lost chinchilla. Help!

Help! My chinchilla has been lots for 2 hours, she was lost in my bedroom,everything was closed and no holes. It's the biggest mystery ever,we have turned the room upside down, only had her for a day and we also have another one in her cage.what should we do, there is no way for her to get out yet we have searched under,on top of and threw everything. If anyone has advice please let me know, how should I make sure she is ok ?

Food and treats

I know it’s a little late to be asking about these questions two months into being a chin parent, but I just want to be sure I’m doing the right thing for my girls. The questions are about frequency of treat items.

I free feed Timothy hay and alfalfa pellets, and I give them several chew sticks each day. They have some wood toys in the cage to chew on, and of course, the wood ledges and lava ledges. They don’t seem to be too much into hanging toys; they seem to prefer to get them up off the floor.

I also give them each a whole (or several pieces of crushed) rose hip daily.

They each get half of a bite-size shredded wheat about twice a week.

Vine rings and bamboo fingers – how often?

They love loofah – is it ok to give that to them daily? (I have not been.) Or should that be limited?

Dried flowers – frequency of those? I have purple rosebuds (is it ok to give them AND rose hips in a day?) purple globes, peonies, tiger lilies, and
honeysuckle. I also have carnations, but they don't seem to like them.


Edited to add cholla - can they have that daily? They do love it!

Thanks!
Trish

Bonding

First, let me admit that I’m not a very patient person to begin with. With that said, I sometimes feel like I am not going to become part of Daphne and JoJo’s herd. I have had them now for 2 months, and I do know it can take a lot longer than that. Last week, at the 8-week mark, I decided that I was going to take Daphne out and hold her since she SOMETIMES lets me rub her belly for a minute before she starts barking at me. (I am not allowed to touch JoJo, but she came out onto my shoulder and she touches my face to get at my glasses or eyelashes when glasses aren’t on.)

Anyway, I took Daphne out to hold her. She was extremely squirmy, but she did settle down and let me pet her for a minute. When she started barking I put her back in the cage. I haven’t attempted that again, and feel like it should be a long time before I attempt again.

Every evening I sit on the floor in front of the cage and leave all doors open (FN double cage). They do get curious enough that they look like they may want to get out, but then I lean in and they go back in the cage. I have not gotten a pet fence to block off the bed yet, figuring it’s a little premature (plus having spent a small fortune so far on setup). I thought I had read that you shouldn't let them out until you've formed the bond or you'll never get them back in. Is that wrong?

What can I do to help the bonding process along? Am I doing something wrong? I’m thinking it may have been a bad idea to have taken Daphne out. Should I at least continue to try to rub her belly?

Also, on another subject, since they do not respond to their names yet, would it be ok to change a name? Or since they’ve been hearing their names for 2 months already, is that a no? I say their names to them MANY times every day. I’m rethinking JoJo, even though that was the name I chose first.

Any advice is appreciated!!!!

Thanks!
Trish

Hind bumps--male chin

Hi, would anyone be able to help me with this? My male chinchilla has these bumps on his backside that I have not seen before. I've attached a photo...hoping to post a second photo

Attached Images

image.jpg (157 Bytes)

Chin collapsing and convulsing - HELP!

I've just joined the forum as I really need some advice!
Our girl Flo (c.4 year old standard grey) has been collapsing/seizing regularly during play time in the last 2 weeks.
I took her to the vet on Monday and they diagnosed a heart murmur, and said she needs to lose a bit of weight (she was 770g). Advice was to avoid long periods of exercise and increase hay consumption by reducing pellet feed.
Now, I might be wrong but I'm just not convinced that the heart murmur is the culprit here.
The episodes happen pretty quickly after she gets out to exercise (before she's really exerted herself).
She will suddenly start to move differently to normal (lower to the ground, almost like a soldier's crawl?!) and then just flop on her front. She goes limp and doesn't object at all when I pick her up (normally she would complain and wriggle!). During the episode she will shuffle about the room a bit but is clearly disorientated and uncoordinated (like she's drunk). Her eyes mostly look normal, maybe a bit dozy. But she is not totally unconscious and does react (mutedly) to noises, etc.
Last night was the worst though - after she flopped I laid her in my lap and then she started convulsing (her head would visibly pull upwards and back in a spasm) and she made what I call her 'squeaky toy' noise (warning call). She did this about 3 times and then just sat around looking dazed.
During previous episodes she has trembled a bit and occasionally juddered (like she had hiccups?!) but never a properly jerky movement like this, and never any vocalising!
The episodes generally last a couple of minutes at a time but they seem to be getting longer (last night she was out of it for at least 5 minutes). However, it does pass and then she seems totally fine - alert, bright eyed, eating and pooping normally.
Does this sound like it could be a heart murmur? I'm wondering if it could be hypoglycemia (although would it be weird to happen so quickly after I let her out, and stop without any sugary treat?). Or possibly a thiamine deficiency? Pretty sure its not calcium as her teeth are a healthy dark orange color. No big changes to her feeding patterns or routine recently so I don't think its environmental.
I'm wondering if I should stop letting her out of her cage for a week or two as it doesn't seem to happen until she's out and about!
I plan to take her back to the vet unless things improve but I don't really think any of the ones near me are super-experienced with chins, so if I can go armed with suggestions I'd be happier.
All thoughts gratefully received!
Thanks,
Jenny

Bonding with my Chin

Hi everyone,

So I've had my Chin for a little over a month, and I think she is getting more comfortable with me. She does still run towards the corner of the cage when I get close but them will come up to the door when I sit there long enough. I have chin proofed my room, so I now let her run around. She still is very jumping when I move around the room, she'll run and hide under the bed or cage. But if I sit on the floor for long periods of time, she will jump/climb all over me.

Any advise on bonding with her or getting her to trust me more. Or how long before your chins bonded with you.

Thanks for the help!

Found in Pool of Blood- Bladder Stone

Hello all,

I have been a member for a long time, but this is my first post. I own two chinchillas, Charlie and Clarence, respectively They are each three years old, though Clarence is approximately two weeks older than Charlie. Clarence is beige and Charlie is charcoal grey. I also own two degus, an animal nicknamed 'Bush-tailed Rat', named Delilah and Tulip. Delilah is eighteen months old and Tulip is six months old.

Well, two nights ago, December 13th, 2016, I went into my chinchillas' room for treat time and to sit in there while they use me as a gym; they love to cuddle with me. I called them for their treats, and because they are so familiar with my various routines, they are always readily available at my lap (I sit on the floor) as soon as I call their names. That night, when I went in there to give them treats, only Charlie came, something I knew meant serious trouble for Clarence. I decided to seek out Clarence, an action of which resulted in me locating Clarence inside of one of his gym enclosures surrounded by blood. I immediately panicked, but maintained my composure enough to load he and his brother Charlie into their travel cage for a trip to the animal hospital. The reasoning for bringing them each to the vet is to prevent extreme nervousness exhibited by Clarence when he is alone in my vehicle(s).

Upon arriving to the animal hospital, they immediately took him into the back and I awaited in the waiting room for twenty minutes. When they called me to one of the procedure rooms, I was informed that this was likely a urinary tract infection (UTI), something I knew was entirely incorrect, as Clarence had visited the animal hospital five times in a six week period. I requested that the doctor perform some sort of imaging (X-ray) and she agreed to do so. Clarence was very unhappy about the stranger handling him, but sat patiently whilst the vet completed her procedures. The X-ray showed a mass in his bladder, which was a bladder stone.

The following morning I contacted my chinchillas' vet, an exotic animal specialist and surgeon. We made an appointment for the following morning, December 15th, 2016, to follow thru with Clarence's surgery. Upon that morning, this morning, I nervously carried Clarence into the surgery center. I then patiently waited for two hours to be informed that the surgery was a success, and it was entirely uncomplicated.

I now have Clarence home, and have created a new living quarters in another spare room within my home. The aforementioned statement is due to his and Charlie's room being filled with dust, gyms, and dangerous, for a post-op chinchilla, living conditions- toys, gyms, and multilevel cages. He is doing fine at the moment, and even eating small amounts of Timothy hay, but will not drink his water. I have removed all alfalfa containing products from the diets of each of my animals, in an attempt to prevent this sort of ailment from once again occurring.

If anybody else has had their chinchilla undergo this sort of procedure, would you please provide your input? What was the healing time? When did your baby begin to consume water? Is there anything I should be aware of?

Thank you for your time.

Best Regards,

Sleeis

Hello :)

Been reading and trying advice iv read from this forum for a long time, always find it so helpful and i finally decided to join. Chinchillas have been in my life for many years since i was a child, my mom raised them and i got "my" first chinny when i was 9, even though id been around them in our home for many years before that, nothing compares to that first little ball of fur lol. Few years later my mom had decided to raise hedgies and got out of breeding chins and only had a few retired females and males that stayed. I got the first hedgie born and again, fell in love lol. Years later when i was no longer living at home i was breeding chins for a bit too, had ferrets, many fresh and saltwater fish and 2 sugar gliders that i also bred but i started getting sick and was unable in my opinion to be able to spend as much time with them as i personally felt i should be, lucky for me, over so many years of dealing with other chin lovers i was able to find homes for all my chinnies and my 3 ferrets but kept my suggies. My mom a few years later had decided to retire breeding altogether and kept a few of her older females, with starting to feel i was having a handle on my disabilities and with a supporting partner who loves animals as much as i do and really missing my first hedgie after he passed not long before, i had taken on one of them, Amphy, she was with us until about 3 years ago, id love to one day have another but it was a very hard loss and still not ready to bond with another hedgie yet. With the last 5 years having a better understanding of my limitations and a partner who is so devoted to animals and helping me we are able to give a great home to our fur babies and our ones with scales too. We only have 1 chin named Sabbath, hes full of spunk and loves to snuggle and im in the process of a new cage design for him and in hopes within the next year possibly get a second and hope to one day have them as cage mates but that is neither here nor there yet but for now, Sabbath has his current cage to himself and soon with the new cage on its way, a ferret nation to himself. Im a huge animal lover, always have been, even though i have support from my partner, its just not the same as that feeling u get from a loving pet companion. My limitations often leave me feeling helpless and not needed and even though it seems like a simple task to feed, snuggle and just spend time with a pet to the average person, those little things help me feel needed :)

Manna Pro SmallWorld Chinchilla Food

Has anyone tried this?
SmallWorld is a sub-brand of Manna Pro I suppose. I didn't realize Manna Pro was into making chinchilla food at all.

http://ift.tt/2hOEueT

Crude Protein Min 20.00%
Crude Fat Min 3.00%
Crude Fiber Max 18.00%
Calcium Min 0.75%
Calcium Max 1.25%
Phosphorus Min 0.50%
Sodium Min 0.01%
Sodium Max 0.50%
Vitamin A Min 15,000 IU/lb
Vitamin E Min 100 IU

Dehydrated alfalfa meal, wheat middlings, soybean meal, soybean hulls, feeding oatmeal, cane molasses, vegetable oil, dried whey, yeast culture, calcium carbonate, monocalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, salt, dl-methionine, ferrous carbonate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, manganese sulfate, zinc oxide, zinc sulfate, cobalt carbonate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, niacin supplement, choline chloride, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, propionic acid (a preservative), active dry yeast, dried aspergillus oryzae fermentation solubles, dried bacillus licheniformis fermentation solubles, dried bacillus subtilis fermentation solubles, dried bacillus amyloliquefaciens fermentation solubles, dried trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation solubles, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried lactobacillus

Lethargic, small feces and apetite lost - Help!

Hello guys,

Since Saturday night my Chin is acting a bit strange. He is lethargic and with very small droppings. He lost his apetite and does not eat anything I show him.

I've read some familiar posts but none of them said what happened afterwards.

The breeder said I should give him a antitoxic and a medicine for gases. It seems to work ok, now she is less lethargic and walks a bit more (not 100% still).


He will go to the vet in the morning. Any tips? Someone here went through something familiar?

Thank you very much,

Worried Chin Mama

I have a girl chinchilla thats about 1 1/2 years old and recently she's been wedging herself in the back corner of her cage and almost getting stuck, barking a lot more and recently I found something that looks just like blood in her cage. Her feet are fine and she still eats, drinks, plays with toys etc, but I'm worried about this sudden behavior. Could something be wrong?

Thanks!

Water bottle

Hello all, back again with another question! Today I went out and purchased an 8 oz. glass lixit bottle, is this large enough for a single chinchilla? Or should I go out and purchase a 16 oz.? (Sorry if this is in the wrong topic area, I wasn't sure where else to post it)

New hedgehog owner help

So I just got my hedgie today from this woman in Craig's list.i.named her snow she's a full white with red eyes only problem is snow is scared and quills up when I pick her up.im picking her up like you would all hedgies by scooping her up from under by her belly.she seems happy but not when i try to pick her put and interact with her.she seems to be 2 months or so the lady had no idea how old snow is but she looks half grown not too big so id say 2 months.

Smelly chinchillas

Hello,

My friends cousin has to get rid of her 2 chinchillas. They are super cute, ages 4 and 2 and they're father and son. She brought them to my house today to introduce us and they smelled so bad! She said sorry they're dirty I need to bathe them. Well, dust baths to my knowledge are not for scent they are for removal of dirt and oils. They smelled like poo. So badly that the smell of poo stuck to my hands and shirt after holding them and they also had some clumps of hair come off on my shirt. She didn't bring their cage but told me she uses fleece lined cage so I was wondering if that could be the cause? She also said she feeds them table food which made me even more so nervous. I want some chinchillas but how can I remove the smell from them? And should I be worried they are sick or is it most likely lack of cleaning cage? Any advice would help. I have not taken them yet so I don't know if it would be better to go buy my own at a young age, then again I feel bad if these chins aren't properly cared for!

Christmas Chinnies 2016

Feel free to post your Christmas-y photos here too!

Eli says; Don't forget to leave cookies out for Santa! ;)

New here

New here to the boards but not a new chin owner. I took two in a little over a year ago from an owner who could no longer keep them. Oh my did I miss having chins! Previously, I had been owned by one when I was in college and into my late 20's. When he passed I was too broken hearted to get a new one until these two little guys. I found this site really because I plan to be relocating in a few months and I believe I will be needing a lot of advice when it comes to moving these two guys. Oh these two are FAR FAR more sensitive then my other little guy ever was. They even hold a grudge when I clean their cage! The one, Gizmo, gets so upset with me! So this move his going to be rough! I'll be looking to find the easiest way for them to make the transistion and how to handle transporation. I wish I could give them valium! ;-) I know I will be needing it worrying about them!

Glad to have found this place! So much has changed since I had my first chin baby so many years ago!

Hay & cage biting

Hi my chin Yoshi won't eat eat his hay I've tried all kinds. And now he has starting to bite his cage bars at night what can I do to help him or what's wrong with him?

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Improper care of chinchillas!!

My fifteen-year-old daughter is in 9th grade and has animal science. A family donated a cage with two chinchillas to the science class. My daughter has showed me pictures and the cage I personally wouldn't even house one chinchilla in its small, has a wire bottom and there's no running wheel. The poor chinchillas are so stressed that they are chewing their fur and missing patches of fur. I recently upgraded to a double stack ferret Nation and offered to donate my old cage which is like 3-4 times bigger then the tiny cage their in! Apparently the teacher rolled her eyes at my daughter when she showed the teacher a picture of my set up and my offer of donating a larger cage. I work for a pet supply store so I have donated different items to the class like Apple sticks, and chew toys. Which the teacher has apparently refused to give the animals. So the poor little guy have nothing in there cage to chew. The kids just reach in and grab them they stick them in balls to run around in. I guess at least there getting some exercises but from what I understand the balls are bad for the chinchillas. I'm sorry I'm venting but I'm very bothered by this and not sure what or if there's anything I can do. Thanks for listening.

Chinchilla unexpectedly passed away?

I have 3 chins. One three year old who is in a cage alone (smokey), and two four year olds in a cage together (whitey and diesel). I got smokey from a friend and I got whitey and diesel on Craigslist. The owners did not take good care of them. When I got whitey and diesel, they told me they almost died over the summer because they didn't know they had to be kept at a certain temperature and they also informed me they were only ever taken out of the cage for dust. However I took excellent care of my chinchillas, and I woke up to diesel not moving.. He passed away sometime between 5am-11am. He was fine last night, active as usual. They had food and water. The room was the right temperature. He didn't show any signs of illness, and whitey seems perfectly fine just a little distressed over the loss of his buddy. He is still active and eating and drinking. I just want to know what could have possibly happened to diesel? He is only 4. And if he is dead, why isn't whitey? If he had an illness surely whitey would have caught it as well. Please any information will help, I am devastated and want to make sure my other babies are safe. There was no plastic in the cage either. Thank you

Introducing 3 chinchillas

I have 3 female chinchillas who are not related. They have been living next to one another for almost a year. There has not been any fighting at all through the bars of the cages. Could all 3 live togeather in the biggest cage, which is 4 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep? If so, how would I go about introducing them? Should I do it 1 at a time or all at once?

Thank you for any help:)

Chin with Conjunctivitis, Won't Eat

Until recently, I had two chins, 9.5 year old Smudge and his 4.5 year old son, Mr. Kerfluffle. My husband and daughters moved to Japan in August. When I had to go to Japan for 6 weeks I left the chins with the vets assistant. Out of the blue Smudge got rectal prolapse (like 5 inches) and had to be euthanized, just days before my return. She didn't notice any change in behavior prior, and indeed the vet had seen him just a few days before and thought he was in excellent health.

I have been back caring for Mr. Kerfluffle for 6 weeks. In the first couple of weeks I was home I noticed things such as he didn't make a complete mess out of his hay like what used to happen when he shared a cage with Smudge, so I had no way to gage if he was eating more hay or less hay than normal (so much waste before). He seemed to prefer pellets. He didn't seem to do any activity in his cage other than chew his wood toys and again I thought it was because he was alone.

Then 10 days ago I noticed discharge in his eyes and that they were not fully open, with his left being far worse than the right. I brought him to the vet and he started Tobramycin eye drops, and probiotic. Within a couple of days he stopped eating and the eye got worse to the point it was crusted closed every morning. There is no drool, no mouth smell, no pawing at anywhere on his body, no sneezing, etc. But I brought him back to the vet for x-rays. The vet said the x-rays show a lot of gas/colic but he didn't think there was any malo or root elongation. No abscesses or spurs. He prescribed baytril, along with the eye drops, and added in meloxdyl once per day. He also got intravenous fluids.

In the last 48 hours, neither the pain meds or antibiotics have helped his appetite. He won't eat or drink on his own. At first he lost a bit of weight, but since then I have been able to maintain it by hand feeding critical care 4 times per day a total of 1.5 Tbsps dry mix which is about 4.5 tbsp prepared. At first I could get him to take it from the syringe without having to burrito him, but now I have to wrap him. I get the meds and eye drops in easily and he likes the probiotic. When I have him out, he will hop all over my bed and act seemingly normal, not fatigued. But he doesn't want to come out of the cage, all he wants to do is sit in his house. He seems to poop in spurts that seems to go along with how I feed him in spurts. The poops have gotten to a better size since I started critical care.

I bought simethicone drops yesterday, and today I asked his dr to prescribe the cherry flavored sulfa medication everyone recommends on here, which I started this evening.

I think the x-ray maybe shows root elongation. I will attach them here. None of the chins I've had over the years have had root elongation or malo. Definitely not Smudge, his dad.

What is the best food???

We are getting 2 new chin babies on Saturday and I want the best for them. I am not an inexperienced owner, but not a pro yet either. I will take all the advice I can get and welcome it!

I have read and researched and seen so many different opinions on what they should have and shouldn't have that I think that I am more confused than when I got my first chin...

If I read no dried fruits and nuts or whatever then I see my friend is feeding hers just that and he's doing great... Makes no sense!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Attached Images

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Sources of Vitamin B / Thiamine

I was wondering if people had any advice about good safe sources of vitamin B (thiamine) for chinchillas who need a bit more.

I’ve been told wheat germ is a good one. But more recently it was suggested to me that a dried flat pea might also be a good source, or a pinch of dried carrot and bell pepper.

After all the reading I had done here, I was surprised that someone was suggesting any type of dried veggie for a chin. Do you think it would be safe in extreme moderation to get a bit more thiamine into the diet, or is wheat germ a safer source provided it is carefully monitored so that it does not go off? Does anyone have any experience supplementing sources of thiamine?

new chinchilla owner

Hello,
Does anyone know if dried baby's breath is bad for chinchilla's? My chin managed to jump on top of the desk and ingested some...
Also, she will climb/jump on me but she won't tolerate me touching or picking her up. She will squirm, cry, and clean that area when I pet her. The breeder allowed her kids to play with her and she was pretty accustom to human hands. Therefore, I am very confused why she won't allow me to do that.

Sick Chinchilla Acting Strange After Vet Trip

My chinchilla had the sniffles the other day, which is a sign of an upper respiratory infection, so I took him to the vet. The vet gave him an antibiotic (Convenia) and a steroid shot. The vet said he should be feeling better in a few days.

Today his sniffles have gotten better and is eating again and is much more lively. But, he has been sleeping on his side and there are a lot of times where he goes to stand up but he sort of stretches or sprawls out first, and then stands up. It seems almost like he is putting pressure on the area where they gave him a shot to alleviate the pain.

He normally does not sleep on his side, but ever since he got those shots yesterday he has been sleeping on his sides. I put a little fan near his cage that I have been turning on and off throughout the day to try and keep him cool in case the antibiotics are making him a little warm, but he still continues to sleep on his side.

Eating habits seem fine, he's drinking water, and he has been pretty active.

Any suggestions or ideas of why this may be? I am a worried chin mom!

Trying and failing to bond. Please help!

I've had my standard grey (Nibbler) since he was 3 months old. He is now 8 months old. I thought he seemed lonely so I bought my mosaic (Squishy) who is almost a year. They have separate cages that I have placed next to each other. They aren't aggressive through the bars but when I bring them out to play (in a neutral area) Nibbler gets aggresive. Squishy seems to want to bond. He will walk up to Nibbler in a friendly curious way and Nibbler will relentlessly chase Squishy and Squishy now is scared of him. He will chase him and nip at his fur. There have been fur slips but no blood drawn. I'm starting to fear my boys will never be together. It's breaking my heart. Is there any hope?

General Chinchilla questions

Hello all, I am new to this forum and chinchillas and I have a few basic questions for the more experienced chin owners out there. I have been doing as much research as possible for the past few months now and after all that, I have a few oddly specific questions. My first question is how much do you recommend feeding a chinchilla on a daily basis? Some sites I've read have said 1 or 2 tablespoons a day, but others have said free feeding is best. I'm just curious which you would recommend. My second question for now is how long can you reuse the dust in a dust bath? A few days? A week? Thank you in advance! I will be getting my first chinchilla in two months or so and want to learn all I can to offer the best possible care to him/her!

new hedgie, never sits still - bonding trouble

So I adopted a 1.5-yr-old little girl about two weeks ago. She's very healthy, very active, everything seems great - except I'm starting to feel awful about handling her. She hisses/spikes if I move near her cage. She constantly hisses, pops and balls/spikes when I pick her up. She'll uncurl pretty quickly once I set her down on my lap or bed, but then she immediately starts to run away. If I move even the slightest bit, she hisses/pops/spikes again. She never voluntarily comes near me or shows interest in sniffing me, just tries to get as far away as possible.

I've tried covering her with a blanket - she burrows around in it til she finds her way out and is off again. I let her dig around in my quilt but again, she doesn't just look for a spot to settle down, she just keeps on the move. I've tried putting her in a snuggle sack, but that just upsets her and when she uncurls, she just roots around to find the opening so she can run away again.

I really want to bond with her and help her trust me, but it seems impossible when she won't tolerate being around me. I don't find a lot of online resources for taming/bonding with hedgies helpful because they all seem to assume she'll just curl up in a blanket and sleep. She won't sit still or just curl up in a safe warm spot, so it's always a struggle. And I've started feeling bad because she's SO upset by every interaction, I feel like I'm torturing her by handling her.

Any suggestions?
She also doesn't seem to like ANY treats (I've tried chicken, eggs, veggies...).

Is rat food a no-no?

I got my first chin a week and a half ago. He seems happy with the food I'm giving him (it's specifically designed for chins), but I have a question. Before I owned Bentley I had two rats. The rats died of old age and I still have some of their food left over in an airtight bag. Would it be safe to give this rat food to Bentley, or should I toss it out and let the squirrels have it? Any help y'all give me will be greatly appreciated; I love Bentley and I don't want to make him sick with the wrong food, but I also want to give him a little variety so he won't be bored with what he's got.

Free - Purina Rabbit Chow Show & Timothy Hay - So Cal

I bought 50lbs of Purina Rabbit Chow Show & a flake of timothy, which is a little much for 1 chin so I just figured I'd offer some of it up locally. Free, just pick it up.

I'm in Glendale. I travel to La Verne every couple weeks so if you're between the two, we can probably figure something out.

Or if anyone knows of a chin rescue in the area, I'll happily deliver it to them.

Introducing two chins- is this aggressive or normal??

Hi everyone,
I've owned chinchillas for a year and a half now. I originally adopted a pair, but I unfortunately had to have one put down due to malocclusion in June. About 2 months ago, I adopted a new chin from someone who had to rehome her. They are both females.
Rory, the chin I had originally, is 3 years old. Boo, the chin I adopted recently, is 4-5. They have been living next to each other in separate cages since I got Boo. I tried one introduction by opening both cages, but Rory went right for Boo and grabbed a chunk of her fur, trying to bite her. I immediately separated them and they have been just neighbors ever since.
Now, when I let Rory out for playtime, she'll run over to Boo's cage and try to bite her nose whenever she sniffs her. I want to introduce them in their play area, "neutral territory", but I'm nervous Rory will go right after Boo again. They're so fast, I don't want Boo to get hurt! Is Rory being normally territorial, or is she just plain aggressive?? Opinions and advice is appreciated. I would be ok with them being just neighbors,but it is a big pain to have two separate out of cage playtimes for them.

Protein Powder?

My chin, Chloe was diagnosed with dental disease about 3+ months ago. She went in for her 3rd filing today. I've been trying really hard to get her to eat more hay to grind her teeth down and I do limit her pellets because she eats more hay that way. The vet said she has muscle wasting and needs a protein supplement. I'm guessing it's from the decrease in pellets as that's really her main source of protein. If that's the case then she may be deficient or in danger of being deficient in some other nutrients that she mainly gets from pellets. I will bump up her pellets (maybe mix in some mazuri or something), though I hope it doesn't decrease her hay consumption. Her weight is unchanged from the past year essentially.
My question is, does anyone have any experience with protein powder supplements? I don't know if I've heard of a chin on protein supplements. My gut says to just up her pellets and call it a day but obviously I am no expert and she is my first and only chin so I have no experience to compare it to.
Thanks!

Minneapolis MN 3 chins need new home

Hi, I have 3 male chinchillas each with their own cage. I am new to the area and am not able to have my chinchillas at my apartment. I do not want to part with them. I didn't know if there was anyone who can board them and if not then I would like someone to adopt, they don't have to stay together. Thanks

Did oxbow change thier pellets?

I've read that they changed packaging, but my chin seems really fussy about this last bag. I don't know if I'm imagining it, but the pellets seem smaller.

I've fed him Oxbow for years and I don't recall him ever exhibiting this behavior.

Very new and looking for advice.

Hello! I'm beruset and my wife and I just adopted two chinchillas that were in a University behavior study. I think they're about 3 years old, and they spent those first three years individually housed in small wire cages. Since we've adopted them less than a week ago, a lot has changed for them. They're currently still housed separately in larger cages than they're used to, but still not quite as big as they need. We're doing research daily to make sure we're handling this properly, but of course info from other owners would be very helpful, especially if any of you have experience with rehoming research animals.
My main concern is that they are both hiding all the time, and not eating much. Our dog is curious and goes up to their cages a lot, which I'm sure isn't helping. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for reading! I love that communities like this exist :)

Pet Carrier Training

I wondered if anyone has any tips on training chins to go into their pet carriers on their own accord.

I realize chins generally only do what they want to, when they want to, and training them like one would a dog is very unlikely. But I wondered if there were some techniques that people have tried that have worked?

We've invested in 2 carrier cages from John Hopewell (really great travel cages for those of you in the UK - much better than anything you can find in pet stores...). We've been working with the chins, holding the pet carrier up to the cage, encouraging them to explore, rewarding them when they go in, and then gradually closing the door, having them stay in for a few minutes or so at a stretch to get them acclimated, and rewarding them upon 'going home'. We've also been leaving the carriers out and open at playtime so that they get used to hopping in and out when they feel like it. So they've definitely gotten more used to them and don't seem to think of them as a bad thing, although one is definitely calmer than the other about being in a more confined space.

However, the problem is really when we need them to go into the carriers during the day when they'd rather being dozing. They're generally willing to come explore in the evening/night, but during the day, there was really no budging them.

Any tips on encouraging them?