Bob won't eat!

I've been reading many of these threads and felt I should post my own.

Bob had pink eye, vets best guess is that he was aggravated by it and scratched his eye so now he has an ulcer. He's on metacam and eye drops for ulcers.

He won't eat or drink, he's not moving or doing anything. We tried force feeding Critical Care but it was a disaster. He won't eat it, it got everywhere. The only thing he'll eat is raisin. We gave him 2, 1 yesterday and 1 the day before.

What can I try to get him to eat?!

The ulcer is complication the force feeding process, his 3rd eyelid is protruding from his eye socket, it's very large so were worried about aggravating it further.

tiny poops

I just adopted an 6 year old chin, male. His poops are very tiny. I spoke to the woman I got him from and she told me his poops were always very small. Is this normal? Should I take him to the vet. He has never been to a vet so I do not want to stress him out anymore than he has been these last few days, a new home and everything. He does seem to be adjusting more everyday.

Small or far away?

Hi folks, new member here. I have three chinnies, a dad (neutered) and two daughters. I’ve had them about 4 years now, but am facing a dilemma coming up to the holidays.

For the first time, I will be living quite far away from both my family and my partner’s family at Christmas, so I won’t be able to simply pop round and check on them throughout the holiday season, and I’m looking for advice on how to look after my chins over the holidays.

We have only just moved into the area, so we don’t know any of our neighbours yet - otherwise I would ask someone to stop by and check on them every day or two.

I will be travelling home to visit family for about five days, and there will be no one in our house for the duration. I won’t be able to bring their normal cage along with me, as it is very large and my car is not. I bought a small cage (a birdcage, about 2.5 feet tall) which I had hoped to use as a holiday cage, but after putting them in it it seems extremely small.

In the past when I have gone away for a weekend, I have simply left an extra food packet in their house and an extra water bottle attached, but this would be a rather longer trip and I am concerned about leaving them on their own for so long.

I am trying to figure out whether it would be better to bring the chinnies along with me in the cage, knowing that they won’t have very much space and might not have a chance to run around outside the cage very often, if at all, or whether I should leave them to fend for themselves (with plenty of supplies) while I’m gone.

Has anybody any advice or experiences to share on this?

Licking the bars of his cage?

Hiya, so recently I've noticed my chinny licking the bars on his cage, he goes up and down them almost obsessively for 5 or 10 mins each evening, but I can't tell why he's doing it? He's never done it before these last few days. I've tried putting more toys in his cage incase he's bored, but he's still licking the bars... :hmm:

If anybody's experienced this before, do you know why they do it? Is it something to worry about?

Please can someone help???

hello anyone who might be reading this i could really use some advice on a hair ring, so teddy is my male chinchilla and hes been for the last maybe month grooming down there excessively i thought it could be a hair ring but he might just get rid of it himself as i have tried to do hair ring checks before but failed as he is quite fidgety and i didn't like stressing him out. I noticed that he started making pain noises and when id look over he was grooming himself.. i decided that i was just going to try again and have a look for myself so i managed to start a hair ring check but his penis is extremely swollen and it cant go back into the skin properly i managed to pull some of it down and i noticed some kind of blacking colour on his penis but i'm not sure if its hair or dying there's a very large lump that i cant pull the skin past which i suspect is the hair ring would Vaseline be okay to try and glide it a bit easier i'm just scared i might rip his skin if i pull too much hes obviously in pain as when i touched he was kicking me so hard that i'm now bleeding do you think i should take him to the vet to remove it or still try at home? the vets is closed right now and i don't think any of them close by have exotic vets that's why i'm trying to still deal with it at home but i feel like its better for a vet... Thanks

Safe or Not Safe Essential Oils?

Hello,

A friend of mine is into the Young Living Essential Oils. I've got a diffuser but I"m SUPER nervous about using it any where near my chinnies, so I only use it in one room that is closed off to them.

I'm wondering if anyone here has a list of essential oils that are big no nos, to having around chinchillas? Or a list of ones that might be okay? The only one I can seem to find for sure that isn't safe is tea tree. Otherwise everything is very vague and no 2 sources that I find seem to agree.

I would like to use my diffuser more but my babies being happy and healthy are more important to me. Also I only use the diffuser, I would never put the oils directly near my chinnies.

Cage mate pulling fur?

My 2 males have been getting along so well for months. I went on vacation for 2 weeks and I come back to find Nibbler is missing fur. I had a friend watching them maybe that stressed them out?

Turns out Potato his cage mate was over grooming him. I watched it happen. Potato would be grooming than pull out fur from nibbler and nibbler would bark. A few times Nibbler would bark a lot at Potato to keep him away. Then they are right back snug next to each other being cute.

I do have them next to a cage with 5 females. Most of the females are older well over 10 years. 2 are young under 5 years. I have since done some deep cleaning. Today I took the boys out to play and I changed their cage took everything out cleaned and and switched it around. I also put up blanket so they can not see the females any more. I think this has helped.

Has anyone had a same sex pair over groom their friend or pull fur. If so what did you do? did it work? Why where they pulling fur? Did you stop it?

My chinchilla got wet from being in a fish tank

My chinchilla jumped into an old fish tank and the water is very dirty and gross and i have no clue how long she was in there for. when i woke up this morning at around 8 or 9 i saw her in there and immediately used a blanket to dry he off the best i could and used a blow dryer to try and dry her. Im not concerned about her fur not looking as pretty, I just want her to be safe and not sick. She ate some of her kaytee yogurt treat, which is a good sign. but shes not not moving around. im going to take her to a vet tomorrow, but i cant today because of thanksgiving and im really stressing out. she seemed okay, besides her not moving as much. Im so scared for her.

My Chinchilla is scaring me

Today, my chinchilla is acting very quiet, usually, shes very loud and vocal about every little thing and always whines for me let her out. Since today is the day before Thanksgiving, I ignored her partially because there is many things I had to get done before tomorrow. When I finally got around to seeing her, she was sitting in the corner of the cage, hunched over. I pulled her out with little to no resistance and sat with her. She leaned her head against my hand and this was very strange because shes usually very alert and trying to sniff everything. I put her back in her cage and gave her a tablet that help digestion, to see if she would eat because she loves those. She took it, but on her way to jumping down to the final level of the cage she sort of fell on her side. I have no idea what to do, the vet is not open tomorrow, and I don't want her to suffer. She is only 3 years old and she's been having soft stool for a little while. I restricted her to hay only to see if it would help the situation. I will be taking her to the vet on Friday but I'm so worried something else is the issue, please help!

Wood

Where do people get their wood to build ledges and such? I've recently been interested in building my chin some ledges and its been hard finding untreated kiln dried pine. Is there any other wood that more accessible or where can I find wood to make into ledges?

I'm heartbroken and so confused, what happened?

Hello,

This is a little bit long, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart if you bear with me and read this. I'm heartbroken.

Background
My 15 year old chinchilla Egon has had issues with his teeth for over 11 years now. I was always told to put him down (even from people over here) but managed to find an exotics vet who wanted to give him a chance. After I found her, Egon's health has been much better for the last few years. The vet filed his teeth down every 2 months under sedation. Between the visits Egon's been really happy, bouncing and chirping.

But this time when he came back from the vet, he didn't want to eat. For 10 hours, we tried to appetite him into eating. He ate a limited amount and had his metacam, but continued to back off when I approached him with food. At this point he still ran around talking, and dust bathing.

The emergency vet
After another hour I took him to an emergency vet. They were not specialized with exocits and were very clear about this.

Vet said his stomach felt empty, and they weighted him at 430 grams. Egon's usual weight is 550-590. They said he didn't have much fluid in him, that they wanted to try and replenish fluids, give something for his stomach and some morphine.

They gave him:

• Primperan 5mg/ml
• Buprenodale 0,3mg/ml
• Sodium Chloride 9mg/ml
• Some unspecified injection (???)

Then they force fed him with critical care. He looked very tired at this point.

Back home
When we got home, he was moving even less. I put him in his transport cage so he wouldn't hurt himself on the ledges in his normal cage. After a few more hours, I took him out so he could move around on the floor, fearing his stomach would stop working. He looked almost limp, tilted his head and shook a little bit at first. I massaged his belly and put him back into the transport cage.

I tried to get some sleep, but woke up after 30 minutes because I could hear him whimper every 1-2 seconds. I've never heard him do that before. I called a family member to come and help me feed him again. We did, and when he was back in the cage he was no longer whimpering. I also called the vets and they said he could possibly be affected by the morphine (What morphine, the buprenodale?).

I looked after him every 30 minutes, thinking he was recovering. I noticed he was breathing a little bit slower than usual, and it looked like he had hiccups every 2-3 seconds.

When I returned 30 minutes later.. he was lying down on the side.. his coat pushing through the cage bars. I knew this was bad, rushed over to him and grabbed him. He didn't breath, and his eyes were open.. limbs were extremely stiff. But he was still warm. :cry4:

I don't understand.. what happened??? I'm guilting myself for making him go trough these last few hours!! I didn't want him to be in pain but looking back I think he was!

Senior Living: More Than Just Housing

There's the old saying that "Getting there is half the fun," which implies that wherever you are there's plenty more to do and see. There was probably never a better maxim to describe what the Senior Living Community at Three Links Care Center is all about. All it takes is one visit to see that there is more to our facility that fancy rooms and big great rooms.

The Senior Living Community at Three Links Care Center is designed to be like that, and just like you wouldn't have a home just so you had something to live in all of the time, we build our facilities so that they really are a home base for residents who have plenty to see and do outside, whether it be amongst the manicured lawns and gardens of the buildings themselves, or further out into the community.

Wherever they are, they will know that life has really not stopped at their door. Regardless of the level of care your loved one needs, we try to make sure that everyone in our facility experiences all of the outside attractions and entertainments that they can take part in. It goes without saying that this makes those in senior care feel more like they are truly alive and still considered vital members of the community.

Why not show your loved one that he or she is still an important part of your lives by making them part of ours? They will appreciate you for it, and will no doubt welcome you with open arms when you visit the next time you are here. But whether you are with them or not, they will know that as long as they are part of Senior Living Community, they really are not forgotten. Instead, they are alive in every sense of the word. For more information about Three Links Care Center, please visit our website at threelinks.org

Hello

Hi, my name is tia and I’m soon to be a chinchilla mommy. Next month I will be getting 2 kits and I’m so excited, but also nervous. I have so many questions and I think this is the perfect place to hopefully get honest and good answers!

Cleaning shelves

So we have two sets of boards we rotate in our boys cage. I just cleaned a set that we had taken out a while ago (prob should've cleaned it right when I took them out), I plan on swapping them out with the ones in the cage tomorrow.

I scrubbed them down with vinegar, let them sit for a bit, then scrubbed them down with warm water. Dried what I could, then let them dry over night. Today I'm going to sand some of the spots.

My question: there was alot of pee on the boards, so I ended up wiping them down with a lot of vinegar, all over, and then did the same with the water. I dried them but of course they were still damp, and had to dry over night. Pardon my ignorance, but even though they're dry now, is their a point where getting them TOO wet could be bad? Or if their kiln-dried, are they ok to be in the cage no matter how wet they get as long as they're dry by the time they go in the cage? This sounds stupid but I guess I want to make sure I didn't mess up the wood's "kiln-driedness" dumb as it sounds :hmm:

New noise after argument?

I have two chinchillas, both confirmed male, Milo and Tesla. Milo is a year old and Tesla will be a year old in February. They are kept in separate cages because Milo is so full of energy while Tesla is quite a bit more chill.

I do let them play together outside of their cages and they've played together just fine the entire time I've had them. No fighting, just a lot of cuddles and popcorning!

Just a few days ago however, Milo kept twitching his tail and trying to mount Tesla. I checked him for a hair ring just to be sure it wasn't that and found nothing. The encounter bothered Tesla so I put them both away.

The next day, it happened again! Except this time Milo seemed so very aggressive, chasing Tesla around and they were both vocalizing quite a lot. Again I put them away.

I left them to their cages for a few days and even played with them individually for another couple days.

Then today I decided to try and let them play again. I let them take dust baths. Within five minutes they were at it again. When I separated them, Milo was making this like, "huffing and puffing" noise and I couldn't find it on any reference sites to understand what it meant. I was wondering, what kind of noise this is. Is it agitation? Is Milo just being dominant?

I don't think I'll be letting them play together anymore, I'm just too afraid that things will turn violent if I do!

Fungus question

We recently noticed a bit of fur missing on one of our boys nose, it appears to be fungus.

I dabbed some blu kote on it and some Tinactin powder should be arriving this evening. We plan on putting some of this powder in his dust bath, as we've read you can do.

Any advice on fungus is appreciated, but my main question: he is housed with another male chin. Our back-up cage is not quite as up to snuff anymore as I thought. Is it necessary to separate them? If so I won't be able to for a couple days when I can get another cage. My second question: if it's ok for them to remain housed together, is it ok for the non-infected chin to take a bath with the Tinactin powder as well? It would be tricky to give them baths separately but we absolutely will if there's a risk. Would it be good for the non-infected chin to have the Tinactin powder in case he actually is infected and just hasn't shown signs yet?

Thank you!

Hi!

Hi everyone, I'm Amy, pretty new to looking after chinnies. I have 1 at the moment, but I'm in talks with a local rescue for introducing a second chinny to my home and hopefully being able to bond them with my current one.

About me: I'm 23, live in the uk, I like video and board games, love all the cute fluffy creatures, I currently have 1 male chinchilla called Tom, and 2 female hamsters - Sooty and Sweet.

About Tom: I acquired Tom after his previous owner got too sick to look after him, he's a bit skittish, clever, very cheeky, and never wants playtime to end, so it's quite a challenge trying to put him back in his cage. He's roughly 2.5-3 years old, and has unfortunately had to move around a lot in the past due to changing owners so much but I have him now and he's mine forevermore :)

I've had him for around 2 months now, and things seem to be going well. I was able to take him for his first vets visit yesterday and found out that he's been a bit neglected in the past so one of his front teeth isn't so healthy, and that he's suffered some kind of face trauma and lost some of his back teeth when he was younger. :cry3:

Being a first time chinny owner I have loads of questions, but I'm hoping with everybody's advice on here I can make Tom's life awesome <3

P.S. Here's the link to a pic of him, as I've noticed attachments don't seem to work for people on other posts. http://ift.tt/2Ab9ItO

Not nibbles, not quite biting, but something?

Hiya, I rescued a chinny a few months ago and have been having a great time bonding with him and spoiling him with loads of attention, I've noticed sometimes he nibbles me, which from what I've read is like grooming/social behaviours which is fine. However lately (last couple of weeks?) he's been doing something a little different, and I'm not sure if it's out of annoyance or if its another grooming/social thing?

Basically when I'm giving him chin scritches or petting him he likes to stop me occassionally and kind of bites? Like he grabs my fingers and puts them between his teeth and then kinda just... presses his teeth on them? It's not painful, and I don't think he's trying to hurt me, he just does that a few times and then lets go and waits for more scritches. Then rinse and repeat.

Not a major concern, I'm just curious why he's doing it. I don't want to be annoying him and wondered if it's some kind of warning like "please stop this or I will bite you"? Or if it's a mutual "you give me scritches and I'll give you cute little bite things"? :hmm:

Losing Hair

My 7-year old female grey has beautiful fur. So pretty, so soft. But lately something has changed. She is missing hair on her lower back, hind legs, rump and base of the tail. She is not bald, but in people terms she looks like a 4 year kid whose 6 year old sibling grabbed some scissors to play beauty parlor. It looks chopped off/peach-fuzzy and is coarse. Tried to upload a photo but did not work, hence the description.

Is this something natural (shedding/self biting) or a sign of something more insidious.

What the heck is this?

I wasn't really sure where to post this, so if it should be moved, please do so.

I checked on my chins before I went to bed last night, and in the corner of the cage was some funky stuff. I freaked out. I have no idea what it is. It's a plastic-y texture, but I don't know where they could have gotten it. Could they have swallowed it and then thrown it up? The shape/form of it has me puzzled. If it is plastic, would it have melted to the current shape? Or is it something else?

They seem fine, btw. But I will watch them closely today.

Thanks!
Trish

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Custom size fleece liner

Hi all,

My chin's cage is about 38" x 23". I'm looking for 2-3 fleece liners, preferably 2 layers of fleece with an absorbent middle layer (UHAUL, quilt, etc). I'm a bit tight on funds right now so I'd like to get a price estimate first before I decide if I'll get them now or in a few weeks. I'd be willing to pay shipping if necessary. Would someone be able to make liners for me, and if so, how much would they cost? Thanks!

Special Needs Chinchilla

Hi everyone! I work at a pet store, and we have a chinchilla who got an infection; she's taken all her antibiotics and is perfectly healthy now but her head is still tilted. The vet is not sure if this condition will ever get better or go away, so right now her options are to be adopted by someone who can care for her, or euthanization, as we don't have the space or resources to care for her long-term at the store; so I'm going to be adopting her as soon as she's cleared to go by the vet.

As far as her individual needs go, I'm going to be using a single-level rabbit cage for her, removing any shelves that she could potentially fall from and injure herself, as the head tilt affects her depth perception and ability to jump. I'm going to look for a hide/home with a wide opening and preferably a rounded, not flat, top, so she can get into it easily, but not on top of it. I've already seen how her food and water are placed in her cage at the store to be sure she can access them, and I'm going to be replicating the setup at home. The veterinarian she's been seeing so far for the infection/head tilt is certified to care for chinchillas, and I'm thinking it'd be best to just have them continue seeing her for whatever she might need, considering they already know her and her disability.

So here's where the questions start: I want to use a soft bedding for her, so that if she does accidentally fall over, she won't hurt herself. Would paper be soft enough, or should I use a fleece liner? One site I read recommended fleece for chinchillas with a head tilt. If I go with fleece, should I purchase liners, or make them myself?

As far as toys and exercise go, would it be safe to let her have a wheel? Would she be able to get into and out of it safely on her own? I'll be chinchilla-proofing my room so she can run around freely when I'm home to supervise her, but I'm not sure if she should have something in her cage with her for when I'm working. For chew toys, would loose ones on the floor be better, or ones that hang from the cage? I feel like with loose ones she could move them around if she needed, but she could also trip over them, whereas with hanging ones she may not be able to access them if they're placed poorly, but if she ran into them they wouldn't hurt her.

As far as dust baths, I'm assuming I'll have to help her get in and out of whatever container I end up using, and obviously supervise her. Is there any kind of container that would be better or worse for this? Should I have her bathe in the cage, or during her free-roam time; if she's bathing in the cage, should I leave the container in there even when it's empty, or only place it in for the baths, so she doesn't try and climb around it herself? For the cage itself, would the wire be alright, or should I try to soften it with something? I'm worried if she tried to jump she could hurt herself, or try to chew on the wire and end up injuring herself that way due to the head tilt.

I'm sorry if any of these questions seem silly but I want to be sure I can care for her properly with her disability. Please feel free to tell me if I'm worrying too much, or ESPECIALLY point out any issues the head tilt might cause that I've missed! I want this little girl to be as happy and healthy as possible, and I'm prepared to do whatever she needs.

chin for adoption, ASAP

I noticed this while I was looking for an older chin to adopt. Too young for me but maybe someone would be able to take him in.


http://ift.tt/2iNvAAs

Fur Biting Issue

I have three pet chinchillas. Gizmo (M-6y.o.), Charlie (F-5y.o.), and Pebbles (F-2.5y.o.).

Gizmo is in his own separate part of the cage, and Charlie and Pebbles (mom and baby) are in the other section.

About 5 months ago I began to notice my girls have been ripping their fur out for some reason. Gizmo does not do it at all. The baby, Pebbles, has much more missing than Charlie does but I occasionally catch them both doing it. Charlie has NEVER done this before now and I'm growing concerned because its starting to look awful, almost sickly.

They are generally pretty happy chinchillas. They have a wheel, their entire cage is made of wood for chewing, they have toys, they get dust baths a few days a week, and they come out for play regularly.

Does anyone know why they might be doing this? Or is it just boredom? I can't think of anything else I can do to entertain them more than I already am. Could it be diet? dust? They eat Oxbow, have timothy hay cubes, and they use blue beauty dust bath (sometimes Poof!).

Is my cage and chin okay

Advice needed.

Is my cage okay? My Chinni is 3months old fed burgess herbal hay and degu pellets.

Advice or suggestions appreciated. Cage measures 97 height 53 depth and 81 length internal measurements

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Heat or Radiation Treatment for Hay

Hi Everyone,

I ordered Alfalfa Hay and a hay ball toy from Amazon, the package was held by customs and they said it would require a treatment before release. I believe the treatment would be either by heat or radiation, i also believe I get to choose which one. So, with that in mind in case they needed both not just one, will the radiation harm my chinchilla? I'd be grateful if anyone who is familiar with this or has gone through this could reply to my post :)


Thanks,
Heath

Many chinchillas in south central pa

I have a few chinchillas looking for good homes in time for Christmas!

8 week old standard female, ready now
7 month old standard female
3 year old standard female, possibly bred
1 1/2 year old standard female ready in dec
1 1/2 year old standard female
dark tan male kit ready in dec
extra dark ebony female kit ready mid/end dec
and more!

see my website for a current list and pictures http://ift.tt/1cybDYe

Chin food/water containers?

So I'm getting a new CN (or FN, whichever I can find the cheapest option for) cage soon, and I'd prefer not to use the water bottle my local breeders gave me, it sometimes drips and would fit very oddly on the new cage. Anyone know of a good one to buy that is safe and doesn't tend to drip? I can make due with the food bowl I have, I'll probably find a way to attach it to the cage sides. However if anyone knows of a good food bowl that works well for them, is safe for the chins, and prevents messes in any way, suggestions for that are very appreciated as well.

New Chinchilla Owner please help!

Hello!
I purchased a chinchilla about a month ago who I named Houdini. I got him from a high school kid who kept him in basically a hamster cage. His fur was matted and since I got him he's in (what I call) a palace, an enclosure taller than me with multiple jump platforms and such... He gets dust baths every two or three days, I'm giving him everything to the book according to Google. I'm being very patient and I'm attempting to making one of those chin spin wheels without paying $100.

He's warmed up to me a lot, but he will still shoot pee at me. I haven't held him since the kid I bought him from put him in my arms.

I would just like some advice on earning Houdinis trust and making sure he's happy and living his best life!

Thank you, I sincerely would appreciate any advice.
Abbey


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Cat and chinchilla!

Hello! Recently, we had a horrible accident happen involving one of our feral cats. I was referred here by a friend who said to ask about it, so here it goes.

Yesterday, My little sister had a friend open, she was showing off the chinchilla and did NOT close the cage door. Thats been a rule for the year we've had them. The chinchilla got out, and the cat must've seen them. I just barely noticed it when my cat was running around with the chinchilla in its mouth! I scared the cat off and the chin seemed fine. He just had one tiny little scratch on his foot, which we cleaned up.

We put him in the cage with the other one, which have been together since birth, and they seemed fine. This morning, I woke up to my chin limp inside the cage. We got one of my mothers transport carriers and made a little bed for him. He's been limp all day, and one thing I noticed is that he feels much lighter then before. Usually I'd take a few minutes at his cage before he'd even let me put a finger on him, then i'd be able to pet him. Now, he just let me touch him and pick him up, he makes that little sound sometimes that you hear when they are in distress.

We can't afford to go to the vet right now, as money is Very tight. I was wondering if anyone has had a situation like this before? what do I do?

My mom has rabbits, so she's dealt with similar situations, but chinchilla's are so fragile that we just do not know what to do. We've been giving him water and pedialyte for the day.

If anyone knows what to do in this situation, please do leave a reply. Any help is welcomed, Thank you!

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Hi!

Hello!

My name is Carol, and a little over a month ago my roommate and I brought two 3 month old chinchilla girls into our lives. I decided to join the forum because though my roommate had had a chinchilla before as well as other small pets, I have only ever had cats and wanted to make myself as informed as possible. I have already been having a great time learning about their habits and their needs, and I love spoiling them! I can't wait to learn so much more by being a part of this site!

Chins Fighting - Neutering to cure aggressive behavior

Hello everyone,

I am new to the site here and need some help before I make a decision to neuter one of my chins. Everyone seems very knowledge so I welcome all opinions and help.

I have two male chins that I rescued from a family that bought them at PetCo before realizing chins don't make good pets for young children (duh). I have had them for almost two years and they lived peacefully in a custom built large cage that is 4ft x 2ft x4ft (LxWxH) with a tube running to another cage that is 3ft x 2ft x 2ft.

Two months ago, I moved across the country and since moving my two chins seem to be fighting more and more often. They are in the same cage as they were before and lived peacefully before the move, only occasionally fighting or chasing each other, but never very often or very serious.

One chin is much larger, named Fatty, and the other chin is much smaller Alfonse. Fatty seems to be the aggressor in most conflicts. Almost daily I am finding small clumps of fur around there cage seemingly from Alfonse.

Today was a tipping point when I noticed dried blood in their cage and a wound on Alfonse's back leg. I am uncertain how the wound came about, but I am afraid Fatty bit Alfonse during a fight. I have since put a divider in their cage and neither seem very happy about it. They sleep each other on the same side of the divider and chew at the block of wood dividing the cage (even though they have PLENTY of other things to chew on).

Fatty has some weird personality traits that make me think he was abused before I took him in. He is terrified of people and often hides when people are near his cage (even after the two years I have had them). Alfonse is much more friendly with people and adventurous. Even though Fatty is larger, it is odd to me that he is becoming more dominant when he is scared of almost everything.

Anyway, I am trying to figure out whether the cause of the fights is the A) stress of being moved (but it has been two months since the move), B) a random change in behavior, or C) caused by maturing and therefore increased aggression.

I think my only hope is to get Fatty neutered but I am afraid this will make him more afraid of people. Does anyone have any advice? I may also consider rehoming Fatty but this would be a last resort. I am in the Denver area.

Thank you so much all.

Do Chins know if they're warm?

I know overheating is deadly for chins, but do they know if they're warm/overheating?

I ask because my Squid LOVES crawling up in my hoodies or shirts to sleep while I'm watching TV or cuddle up right by the vent when the heat is on. I assumed he would know if he was too warm and move.

Though just now while he was in my hoodie, I checked on him and his ears were a bright red and he was quite warm, so I immediately pulled him out of my hoodie and he just looked at me like "stoopid hooman what are you doing, I was sleeping"

He had the option to leave, he wasn't blocked in whatsoever. So, do they know when theyre too warm?

Hello!

Greetings everyone, I joined this forum finally after finding myself reading several threads here whenever I was looking for some information to help with my raising chinchillas, and today I decided to join! I have never joined a forum of any sorts before so I apologize in advance if I don't know what I'm doing haha. I'll now tell a bit about myself, and my chichillas of course!

My name is Zaven. I am 15 years old and I live i the United States. I'm also a guy for anyone wondering. I am home schooled however I love to get involved with the local high school for clubs and such. I especially enjoy theatre, music, woodworking, and Brazlian Jiu Jitsu, a martial art I have practiced for basically my entire life. I have always been an avid animal and wildlife enthusiast, but I first gained my love for chinchillas when I held one for the first time in the 6th grade on a trip to a nature center of some sort. (It was quite a while ago so the details are quite foggy, sorry about that haha) That's enough about me though, on to my chinchillas.

I own two male chinchillas, named Leo and Vinnie. I first welcomed Leo to my home back in November of 2014, on my 13th birthday. He is now a little over 3 years old, and has a standard grey fur coat. Vinnie was welcomed to the chin family on the same day, two years later in 2016. He is a bit over 1 year old and has a beige coat. (I will include some pictures of the two below.) Leo is usually pretty calm and sweet, and can also be very curious and quite the explorer. Vinnie, on the other hand, is far more crazy and energetic, and on top of that much more finnicky when it comes to being held by new people especially. I love them both and they both get along very well despite their seemingly polar opposite personalities.

I will likely post quite a bit of questions for those more experienced than I, for even after nearly 3 years of owning chinchillas I have a lot to learn and improve on my skills raising them. I hope you enjoyed reading my introduction, and I hope you will enjoy my future posts here. Bye!

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Questions About Fleece Bedding and Critter Nation Cage

Hello, I am new to this forum, and to all forums actually, so I apologize for my lack of knowledge of these types of things haha.

I have 2 male chinchillas (ages 1 and 3 years) living a cage I built out of wood and wire fencing, mainly as a temporary cage until I could buy a higher quality one to last a long time. It's not very easy to clean and maintain, and it's also pretty ugly. So the plan is to buy a Critter Nation next week for my birthday.
Right now I use wood shavings as bedding and it is VERY messy, even with 3 inch deep pans. And it doesn't help that the Critter Nation's pans are like a half inch deep or something stupid.
To any of you reading who use fleece liners, how do those work? I've seen so many people online say they use fleece bedding for their chins, and it sounds like a great idea to me, I just have a few questions about bedding and the cage.
I will list everything I'm having trouble finding help with:

-Do the chins chew through it? And how might you stop it if so?
-How do you make them and maintain them?
-Should I place a absorbent layer underneath the fleece, or will the fabric be enough?
-What might be the cheapest way to buy the Critter Nation? (Double) Do they go on sale for Black Friday/Cyber Monday on Amazon? Probably a dumb question but I figured I might as well ask just in case.
-What are your thoughts o fleece bedding, the Critter Nation, or both in conjunction with each other?

Any help with any of these topics would be greatly appreciated. Any and all other tips regarding fleece bedding or the cage are welcome as well! Thanks in advance! :)

Questions About Critter Nation Cage and Bedding for Chinchillas

Hello, as you could probably tell, I am new to this forum. New to ALL forums, actually, so I apologize ahead of time for my small knowledge of how all of this works.
Anyways, I have two chinchillas (male, ages 1 and 3 years approx.) currently living in a cage I built about a year ago. I built it out of kiln dried white pie 2x2's and chicken wire which I attached to the wood frame using a staple gun. However this cage is not very pretty, and its a bit of a pain to clean. My chins also get bedding, food, and poop EVERYWHERE! So it's more or less just a temporary cage till I can get a better one.
So to solve this, on my birthday (which is next week) I plan to be getting a double Critter Nation cage as I hear that they are great cages and are easy to clean and maintain, and are also way more practical and appealing to the eye than the ugly mess of a cage I have currently.
My major question right now is about the cage and bedding. I currently use wood shavings that my local breeder, who I got my chinchillas from, sells in large bags. A lot of the chinchilla owners I've seen on the internet use fleece liners, however, and I want to try them out, it seems like a convenient and easy to clean method. And the pans on the Critter Nation are way too shallow for me to consider using my current bedding without modifying the cage, anyways. If anyone reading uses fleece as bedding, could you please detail how you made and maintain your liners, how to keep the chins from chewing through them, your overall thoughts on these bedding methods, and any other useful tips I should know? And could any Critter Nation owners tell me their thoughts on the cage? (And maybe the cheapest way to buy mine, lol.) Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! :)

Old male with females?

So I have this old male I am nursing back to health he is old well over 15 years. He hates all the males I have tried to put him with. I was going to just let him live alone. Then I got this Idea to put him in with my females. I have some elderly females too.

I thought maybe get him fixed. He is so old. I could just keep him in a cage by himself. I could try to bound him to my other 2 males. I do not want to mess that up they are so perfect together.

Anyone have old male chins with ladies? Could this work? I do not want to breed so I think I just need to keep them apart.

Chin Sudden Behavior Change, Charging then Biting

My chin recently has been displaying a behavior change. When he's out of the cage (for playtime), he'd sometimes charge at people then nick them at the legs. Sometimes the bites are soft so they feel like needles pricking at your skin, and other times the bites break skin. I don't know why he's suddenly behaving this way! He only does this to a specific person, who has never harmed or mistreated my chin. Any thoughts? :help: