Chinchilla bumblefoot??

Ive just adopted this chinchilla from someone who didn't really seem to care for him. Although he had a large cage it was empty other than a shelf, water bottle and food dish. The base of his cage had blue fluff (some sort of absorbent material) sprinkled sparingly throughout. You could still see much of the black plastic base. I've already gone and added a bunch more shelves, toys, hammocks/beds, covered everything in fleece and switched out that blue fluff for fleece on the base. Today I was able to look at his feet and they seemed awful! Is this possibly bumblefoot?? It seems really bad. Should this be brought to an emergency vet or can it wait for an appointment? He was very squirmy and he doesn't know me well enough yet for me to hold him still for others. I'm not sure how the vet would be able to asses his feet if it is bumble. Would they have to administer a sedative to get him to sit still? Would this cost more or affect him negatively? I'm a student and therefore have very low income. I'm so worried about this little guy. I can feel his bones leading me to believe he was unbelievably malnourished.

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brown velvet (tov beige) or hetero beige?

Hello.
First of all I'm sorry for my english.
I have three chinchillas.
black velvet female + beige homozygous.
I have a problem to identify their daughter.
I always thought that from this colors will always born brown velvet (tov beige), because many sources say so (in my country). But I was looking in google about this color and now I don't know what to think about this. In this calculator http://ift.tt/2ydv2hr it comes out that there is 50% chance for brown velvet and 50% for hetero beige. I have a problem with it.
Photos: http://ift.tt/2yMxx7i
What do you think about it? Is this brown velvet or hetero beige? Father is much brighter than her and from others hetero from web, so I think he is homozygous. This is father: http://ift.tt/2ydwLUb (he has pink eyes)

I ask because I'm going to buy a male for her and I wonder if can it be white wilson or pink white chinchilla.

Mom of baby chinchilla biting its base of the tail !!!

Hi, so I posted a thread of what to feed my baby chinchilla a couple days ago. The mom has been producing milk but I’m worried about the baby because the mom has been biting it’s base of the tail. I’ve seen her bite it!! It doesn’t even have hair there anymore!!! What can I do to make her stop that? Or what I can do? I have separated the baby from the mom and just take it when he needs to eat. I’ve been trying to feed it just in case he doesn’t eat enough and so far seems good and active. Thanks in advance :).

Sick chinchilla!!!😭

My Chinchilla is breathing very heavy, I nocitced about 2 weeks ago that he was breathing faster then normal, but the next day he was breathing fine so I just thought maybe it was from running around. Now the past 2-3 days his been breathing heavy again but this time he's breathing hard all the time, and it seems to be getting worse. I'm almost certain it's some kind of lung infection. So I haven't gave him his dust bath cause I didn't want to make it worse before I could see a vet. He's acting completely normal still bouncing around eating and drinking, etc. I don't know what caused him to get sick. He's only a year old, he's eats Oxbow pellets and Timothy hay. He gets a dust bath every 2-3 days.He gets lots of exercise, and he runs on his wheel all night. The room temperature is about 20-25 degrees Celsius. He has a appointment tomorrow at 4 o'clock. But I'm so scared. I feel like I have to constantly watch him to make sure he's ok. Can someone please let me know if this happened to anyone's else's chin. And what help it.😭😭

Pairing chinchillas

I currently have a male chinchilla who I rescued from Chin Friends on Long Island and I believe he was 4/5 when I rescued him so I believe he is about 5/6 years old now. A friend of mine is a vet tech and a girl she works with has a male and female chinchilla and they had babies. I'm interested in getting the male chinchilla baby from her but I'm worried about my chin and how he'll react to it since I don't think he's ever shared a cage with any other chins. Any suggestions for pairing them? Anything I can do before I have them meet, etc.

Thanks in advance!

Cagemate problem?

Hello!

I have been a chinchilla owner for 11 years to my male chinchilla, Walter. 2 years ago I paired him with a 2 year old chinchilla, Theo. Theo passed away suddenly from what we think was a bug bite on his nose, it happened really fast & despite efforts to save him, he passed away.

Walter has been taking the loss of his friend really well, no problems eating or drinking etc..I got him a Chinbuddie which he cuddles with and I have him housed in a 3 level ferret nation cage. The bottom portion of the cage is home to my 2nd chinchilla Oliva, which was supposed to be an "Oliver".

Although they are still bunked, I believe they can still communicate although they cannot see each other, but I cannot help to think that Walter needs a new friend. He is certainly an alfa male and I think that Theo's submissive personality was a great match for Walter, but I am afraid of matching him with another rescue. Do you guys think that having him bunked with Oliva is enough or would he benefit from another chinchilla? I'm just nervous he won't take to another chinchilla besides Theo. Does anyone have advice?

Pairing Chinchillas

Hello!

I am new to this forum and have questions about pairing chinchillas. I have been a chinchilla owner for 11 years to my Walter. Last year, 2 years ago I went through the process of pairing him with a 2 year old male chinchilla, Theo. A month ago Theo passed away suddenly from facial swelling, possibly from a bug bite. Walter seems to be doing okay despite losing his best buddy. I got him a Chinbuddie stuffed chinchilla to cuddle with since I knew he would be lonely. Although he seems to be doing okay, he really did enjoy the company of another chinchilla. He was the alfa and sorted out his dominance issues with Theo which went really well which is why I am reluctant to get another chinchilla although I want to. Is it possible that chinchillas can be paired more than once..or will Walter not take to another chinchilla besides Theo? Does anyone have experience with this and could give me advice on what to do?

What should I hand feed a newborn chinchilla?

Hi, so about 2 weeks ago I bought some chinchillas, a 4 month old baby, the mom and the dad. Today the mom of the 4 month old chin had a baby chinchilla! I didn't know she was pregnant! So my question is, what can I feed the baby chinchilla just in case the mom isn't producing milk? I can see the baby under her and it looks like it's sucking milk but I'm not 100% sure the mom actually has milk. If I could I would check the mom to see if she has milk but she is really aggressive. So could I hand feed the baby chinchilla, puppy formula? If not, what could I feed it? Also at how many weeks is it best to start interacting with the baby so that it's tame ( not going to rehome her, I'm going to keep her) Thanks in advanced:)
Also some of you may have seen the other thread that I did a couple weeks ago and I just wanted to let you know that I'm not talking about the pregnant chinchilla that I mentioned in that thread. Sadly she and another chin passed away on September 2nd of a heat stroke. I had left them in the house with the AC on but it stopped working and since I was gone for a couple hours I didn't know until I got home. 2 of my other chinchillas were also suffering from a heat stroke that day but fortunately they survived and are doing great!

Alfalfa and juveniles

I recently purchased 2 male cuties. Sterling is a white mosaic and is 3 months old, Onyx is a med ebony and is 2 months old. I've had chins in the past but it's been quite a while and I'm afraid I was highly uneducated at that time.
Obviously I want to give my boys the best and healthiest lives possible.
I'm a bit confused about the rules on alfalfa. I've tried to read as much as I can but some of the info I'm finding is a bit conflicting.
Right now the boys are on Mazuri and loose alfalfa per the breeders recommendation. I realize now that said breeder was more of a hobby breeder and has already given me some flawed recommendations (raisins being excellent multi-daily treats for one). I've only had them for a little over a week and have been feeding the loose alfalfa, Mazuri and alfalfa cubes per instructions. This seems like an incredible amount of alfalfa to me, even for juveniles.
I'm certainly no expert, but this seems incorrect to me. I wanted to double check with you since your information and advise has been such an enormous help to giving my boys the pampered (but healthy) life they deserve :)

Matted fur

Hello all,

I went away for a week and had my roommate take care of my chin. When I returned the front of his fur was damp and matted. My roommate claims he had no idea how it happened.

I used a cold blower to dry him as best I could but I'm not sure how to get the matts out. I've been using a fine comb to get the worst matts to fur slip. But it's hard to get the smaller ones over such a large area.

He came to me from an bad home and so he doesn't like to be handled. Can he work the smaller ones out? Do I take him to the vet? Any advice would be useful. Thank you!

I need to fatten up some Chinchillas.

Some of my rescues are on the thin side. One is missing a back foot but he is eating timothy hay so I am happy he will be ok. I think he has a hard time eating because they did not know he had no foot. SO I am nursing him back and if he does well I am going to have to keep him.

What are some good ways to fatten up thin chins? I know they need to be seen by a vet I am working on finding a vet that will see them. The closest one 30 mins away is not taking any more exotics:rolleyes2:.

Does your chin make this noise?

Hi everyone,

I'm a new chin owner (2 weeks to be exact) and my chinchilla Cheerio is unlike any pet I've ever had. Recently he's been making a low chirping sound (listen to full link) and I was wondering if any of you had heard this sound before from your chins?

I read on a website that this could mean they're lonely, but I take him out at least once a day, usually twice! not to mention sitting by his cage, talking to him, giving him oats and hay. His been alone the majority of his life, so it's not like I took him away from another chinchilla when I purchased him.

If it is loneliness - Should I get him a stuffed cuddle buddy? Would that make him feel less alone?

If it's not - what are your suggestions to what he might be doing?

This is the sound hes making - listen to the entire link. It's the noise toward the end that sounds more deep and guttural that he keeps making :

http://ift.tt/2ykOKEb

Proud new mommy!

Hello everyone!

2 weeks ago I got my first chinchilla ever - a two month old male whom I've named cheerio :) Im going to be keeping him single, but have already started to make an inseparable bond with him during our daily playtimes out of the cage. I cant wait to be a part of such a close-knit and knowledgable community.

Pet duck care information?

Botton line? I want a pet duck. Do they make good pets? Can you potty train them from ducklings? Can you refer me 2 a duck care website? I just need to know stuff about them

________________
PetCareKing

Strange Chin Behavior?

So tonight I took my chin out for playtime. I always sit on the floor with him while he runs around, and he will usually jump on me every once and a while - but tonight he started doing something new. He jumps on me and lightly bites me OR jumps on me and starts digging/nibbling on my leg almost like hes humping it. Also hes been chattering his teeth. I know what his nibbles feel like and this feels entirely different.
This is my first chinchilla, Ive had him for two weeks and he's about 2 or 3 months old. Ive never done anything to make him feel threatened (ie chase him around, squeeze him etc) and I interact with him every day. The bites dont particularly hurt but they are startling.

What is my chin trying to tell me??

Worried - Blood Found in Cage

Hi everyone,

I have two female chinchillas who have been together in the same cage for 3-4 years now. Recently, we have been intermittently finding spots of what looks like blood randomly throughout the cage. I have checked both of my girls for injuries and they have no cracks in their feet, their teeth are fine, and there is no blood staining the fur around their private areas. I also haven't been able to locate any cuts or scrapes on them. There are no sharp areas in the cage as well that could have cut them. This has happened a few times over the last couple of months but only seems to happen at night and we find the blood in the morning. I'm getting quite concerned because I don't know where this is coming from or what chinchilla it is coming from as well. I feel that separating them would stress them out quite a bit because they are very bonded and often cuddle with eachother throughout the day. I haven't noticed any changes in behaviour or eating habits either. Any suggestions as to what could be causing this? I have seen people suggesting to check paws and such, but my girls have very good paws with no cracks.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Heart Failure Prognosis

Well, it isn't confirmed yet, but I'm expecting to find out tomorrow that my ~12 year old boy may be in congestive heart failure. I had xrays taken about three weeks ago mainly to look at his teeth as he suffers from malocclusion that requires trims and such about every 6 weeks. In the xray though his lungs were cloudy. After over 2 weeks of antibiotics (Baytril and Doxycycline), his lungs looked the same if not worse. I have an echo scheduled tomorrow. I know there are medications for heart failure, but I am curious if anyone here has experience with this. If so, how long has your chin been on these meds ? I'm just trying to get an idea of the possibilities. Can a chin be on heart meds successfully for years?

Any thoughts are appreciated?

Ann Kline stuffed bear

My sister-in-law raised chinchillas for many years. When she passed away, her husband, who is my husband's brother, gave me a stuffed bear that he said was made by Ann Kline. Would anyone have a guess as to it's value and/or be interested in buying it? Thanks for your help!

Les

In search of cage guards

Does anyone know where I can buy durable (preferably fleece) cage guards for a double ferret nation cage? I bought the ones made for the cage about a year ago and they are so frustrating to clean. I found some on mycritterstore.com but I'm not sure how reputable the site is. Has anyone either bought from that site or got some some where else?

New chin Mom

Hello from Missouri! I am so greatfull to have found your forum. You're combined vast knowledge of all things chinny has really been priceless. I briefly had a chinchilla when I was 13, but that experience was sadly not a good one and unfortunately was quite short lived. Back then we didn't own a computer and only had whatever books I could dig up in library to go on for care instruction. I had saved all my summer babysitting money to purchase a guinea pig, upon arrival to the local pet shop I encountered the cutest creature I had ever seen. She was a female standard they thought around 5. Needs works on taming they said, but happily took my $200 cash, so off we went. I loved her even though she frequently bit me and projectile urinated in my face. My brother would let her out of her cage when I was in school and would just leave her out. I had a cat living in my room at the time and this chin was a difficult catch. I could see she wasn't happy and I didn't have the knowledge or guidance to give her what she needed. After nailing my mother one too many times with the torpedo pee-pee, Mom said enough. So we took her back to the store after only a short month. To my great shagrine, but parents, what can you do?

I'm now 27 and in a much better state to see to the proper care of one of these beautiful animals. I was considering sugar gliders, but I have a disability that effects my heart that causes me to overheat very easily so we must keep our house pretty cold. Usually 65f in the summer and low 60's in the winter. Not a good environment for a suggie. But an excellent environment for a chin. After reading extensively about both (thanks in large part to you lovely people) I decided the chin would be an excellent pet and a much better fit.
I found a small time breeder that was reasonably close and yesterday became the very proud guardian of 2 males. Sterling is a 3month old white mosaic, the other Onyx, a 2 1/2 month oldmedium black ebony (I think that's right, still trying to get the color lingo down). They had been living together so are quite happy with each other.
Unfortunately something happened with my critter nation cage and it won't be arriving until Tuesday (found out after bringing them home, grrr). We do have a few small parrots and had a spare cage that is obviously very temporary.
I am very excited about my new buddies, and I once again thank you for your unbiased knowledge, it can be a difficult thing to come by these days :)

Ouch, please help.

Hi guys! I'm new to the whole chinchilla thing. My girlfriend wanted one for a long time and finally convinced me to get one with her. I did the research and bought her a proper living area, food, toys ect. We went to PetSmart, now I regret going there. They had two females, one that was clearly an adult, and one that was maybe half her size.thinking it was a baby, or close to it we went with the smaller one. We talked to the employee and it seemed like she new what she was talking about. My girlfriend looked her over before we decided to take her home, she doesn't know much about healthy chinchillas. After giving her a little time to get use to her new home, I was cleaning out her cage and giving her fresh food. She started climbing all over my arm and running her head under my hand when I was trying to pick up some of the bedding. She was only here for a full day at this point, and I absolutely fell in love with her. She is the most friendly little girl and loves to play. As I was running my hand down her back I could feel all of her bones, her shoulders, and all of her ribs. I have never experienced petting a chinchilla before, but it honestly felt like she was nothing but bones under her fur.. they have a "return" policy there, but if this is the case where she is so under weight I couldn't ever, ever bring her back to a place like that. I saw the living conditions, they definitely were not ideal, nor was the care. I'm glad I brought her to a new home where she has room to run and play with people who love her. I just wanted to know if there was anything I can do to help? Should I bring her to the vet to have her looked over? I am buying a scale to weigh her properly. She appears to be young, with furry ears. I understand it's hard to judge it's age, and they don't ever know.

Thank you!

Apple sticks?

Where do you order large boxes of apple sticks?

Usually I order from Strattons Chins but I haven't received a reply to my emails. Does anyone know if there has been a change to her email or anything?? That's where I've always ordered from so I'd like to get more if I can. If not, I was wondering where others order their supply?

Chin has puffy nose!? :(

Honestly I can't figure out how to use this site but I'm worried about my 2 year old chin! Pictures are in a link at the bottom.
Anyway the first pic you can tell his nose is flat and normal but in the second picture its all puffy! He's also got a red scratch on his nose, probably from his cage being too close to the other chin's cage.
Bottom line is that I'm confused about the excessive swelling... Is there anything I can do to help him???? http://https://ffooooooooood.tumblr.com/post/165340032061http://ift.tt/2fnBvLF

Chin has puffy nose!? :(

http://ift.tt/2fnBvLF

This is a link to two pictures of my chinchilla chilli, the first is normal and the second is from today- I noticed that his nose is all puffy!! He's been wiping it a lot and I also noticed a scratch on the front of his nose! I think this might be due to his cage being a bit too close to my other two chinchilla's cage (who aren't too friendly with him yet.).
I think they might have nipped his nose or something, I just want to know why it might be swelling so much and if I should do anything to help him with it?? :( thanks

break up a M/F pair to repair M/M?

So I am fostering Chinchillas and well I had to keep some just because I got attached and I enjoy them. So We have nibbler our first. He is awesome we paired him up with a female they hit it off right away. Well I do not want babies but I want Nibbler to have a friend. SO I have this young male that I LOVE!!!! He is the best Chin. I want to pair him up with nibbler.

SO I took Potato the new young male about a year old out to the play room. I let him hope around before I let Nibbler out. The 2 were out and Nibbler mounted Potato. Potato did nothing just tried to walk away. They sniffed noses and were fine when on their way. They then took a dust bath together. Well after a little bit Nibbler the older one Jumped on Potato and pulled his fur. I broke it up and took potato back to his cage.

NOW I did have Nibblers lady friend in the same room in their cage. All and all it went well till than. SO I want to try again but do cages side by side and remove the female?

Nibbler and the female have only been together for a few weeks. Well they be sad if I split them up?

Potential cagemate issues?

I have to admit, and this is my fault, I got two chinchillas on the basis of knowledge that "they like companions." I had heard that some chinchillas just don't get along and don't like cagemates, but I was under the impression that as long as they were properly introduced and seemed okay, they'd be okay forever. Now, I know better in that regard. But I'm getting paranoid about whether or not my boys are getting along. They were introduced at the rescue/breeder I got them from and seemed to be living together great prior to me picking them up. I've had them for a month now.

My two boys (5 month mosaic and almost 8 month beige) have been doing the usual dominance mounting, and from what I've seen, the most that happens is one tries to mount the other and one being mounted will usually just run away. Both boys do it to each other, and only occasionally when the mosaic is being mounted, he'll voice his displeasure before running.

But I've also been noticing that the mosaic is biting the fur in the backside area of my beige. My beige doesn't care or notice, and half the time the mosaic bites for a few seconds, and then rolls over and pillows his head on the base of my beige's tail. The boys groom each other pretty regularly, so I don't know if he's just trying "fluff up" the beige's fur before laying down for his nap?

The beige does have TINY tufts of fur sticking out, but I thought he was maybe priming because he had a couple of them further up on his body which have since gone away (and his fur in that area looks lovely), and they're all mostly on his backside now.

The worst I've seen is the mosaic get upset and nip at the beige's nose. It just happens once, like he's telling him to get out of his face, and then they run away from each other or just kind of separate on the ledge.

Are these warning signs that I might need to separate them?

No tail?

I am fostering as many Chins as I can I am trying to rehome a breeding herd. Out of this batch of Chins I have one really nice female that is missing an eye and her whole tail.

What would cause a chin to lose her whole tail? I know our Aunt would have the answer she bred them but she passed away a year ago.

Any ideas what happened?

More Fosters.

I got another batch of foster Chinchillas all part of a breeding herd I am trying to re-home. This time I got a lot of really nice one. Now I find myself having a hard time giving them up. But I must because There are still so many that need homes.





I love this black ones face and she is sweet. I want to keep her.

No tail?

So I am working on placing the last of a breeding herd. I have 30 Chins left to find homes for. Well out of the 10 I am fostering now one female is missing a tail. She has no tail not even a nub and she is missing an ear and half of the other ear. She is so nice and gets along with almost any chin you put in with her.

I can understand how a chins could lose it's ears but a tail? That is so much most a part of the body. It is part of the back with bones. Can they be born that way? Or was it chewed off when she was a baby?

ISO male in Houston Texas area

Looking for a male in north Houston.


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Squishy poops

d

My chin, Ripley, is a little over a year old. She has had squishy poops the past 2 days. Yesterday, I stopped all her treats (oats, apple sticks, rosehips, and hibiscus) and gave her a tiny bit of burnt toast. She may be eating/drinking a little less than normal. (She eats Mazuri pellets and grass hay with purified water) She does come out to play. Tonight, I gave her more burnt toast. Poops are still a bit squishy/sticky.
I read in another thread about giving chins 0.3ml of Pet Pectillin twice a day to help her out. Is this the next best step? Do I need to take her to the vet at this point (the weekend is coming up and I don't want an emergency visit.)

Safe wood? Serviceberry tree

Hi all,

I had an arborist come to my home yesterday to give me an estimate on some tree work. He's the first to accurately identify the tree in my back yard in four years. I never heard of the name before, but it's called a Serviceberry tree. It needs pruning badly. Anyway, I was wondering if it's a chin-safe wood. I haven't found it anywhere. Here is the link for info on it.

If I scrubbed, boiled and baked it, what do you think?

I wish I knew what it was sooner. There are always tons of berries in the spring that the birds eat. If I'd known they were safe for humans, I would have been out there with the birds. LOL

He will also be pruning my Weeping Cherry tree, which I believe is not safe for chins. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks!

Trish

Litter pan?

Hello, it's been forever since I've posted on here.

Anyways, I switched years ago from a pyrex pan to a metal corner litter pan which i LOVED because it had a high back and would hold the fleece liners down.

Unfortunately, it just succumbed to rust. I cannot for the life of me figure out where I got it/ find any metal corner litter pans on google. I've found pictures of the one I had, but it just leads me to a sold item on ebay or a pinterest page.

Does anyone know where to get the metal corner litter pans? I do not want to keep using the pyrex dish, it just isn't the same :(

Is a playpen needed for chins ?

Hello everyone, I have chinchillas since 6 months and i'm always up to make them as happy as possible

I have this feeling (and to be honest i've always had it with every animals) that they are bored, though i'm not really sure

I tried many things to keep them occupied, I tried to grab them and put them in my room, way too dangerous.

Talking about grabbing them, either I have to go very slow and they always flee, or I go too fast and they gonna bark (even though they NEVER bite me, and of course I NEVER hurt them). Any tips about it ? I tried to give them the treats that they love after grabbing them, they won't accept it, I also noticed thye don't lose much fur when I try to catch them so I guess they don't see me as predator, maybe thye just wanna be left alone ?

Anyway, I tried to put them in the safest place in my house, the bathroom, its pretty spacious but in the end its just a big space to run, at best, nothing fun (or maybe it is for them?)

I thought about buying a playpen like one of these http://ift.tt/2j5EEEe and put a lot of toys in it but I'm doubtful about something :

Is it really useful ? Because 1) Their cage is the biggest I could find in term of already made rodent cage (140x80x50) and they already have all the toys I could find in it, including a wheel, two tubes, 4 hiding spots, rocks for their teeth and a ball with hay. Do you have any idea what else I could put ?

I also have a bit of remorse because unfortunatly, I can't really play with them a lot because 1) I don't have much access to the only possible playground for them, the bathroom (because of personal reasons, can't go there much) 2) They seem scared of me or at best they just don't wanna be held, I can force them but in the end i do it for them so...

Any idea or experience from you to keep my chinchillas busy ? Or to know if they are happy, and if a playpen is useful in my case or not ? please

What do I do with my chinchillas if I lose power if hurricane Irma hits Florida?!?

I have two chinchillas. I've had them for nine years and we live in South Florida (below Miami). So far in those 9 years we have not had hurricanes hit us, just tropical storms that have not caused any power outages. But as it stands now Hurricane Irma is suppose to hit us this weekend (sept 8-10 2017). If we lose power what can I do for my chinchillas to help them to survive should we lose power?

I have called my local vet to see if they would have ac with their generator and they said no they would not be running ac with their generator just their fridges so their meds don't go bad.

I searched online and it recommended frozen jars of ice or cool blocks to put in their cage, but with the heat here in Florida that would only last maybe an hour. Can anyone please help me with what to do!?!? I love my Chinchillas and don't want to lose them!

Growth near ear

Hello, my chinchilla Einstein is 12 years old and was just recently relocated to live with me. When I got him he had some matted fur on his chin and I thought he had the same above his eye. It appears the thing above his eye is some type of growth. It appears to be grayish in color.

I will schedule a vet appointment but how concerned should I be? Do chinchillas get cancerous external tumors?

Thanks

Bob