Chinchilla biting but doesn't seem angry?

Hey guys - I have a male chinchilla, almost 8 months old. Recently when I've been letting him out to play he will "hump" and nibble me, which is usually only for a couple seconds and then he continues running around. Today when he was nibbling he bit down really hard. he didn't bark or anything, just bit down way harder than usual and it hurt pretty bad. Like i said, I don't think he was angry because he didn't bark? Does anyone know what this might mean? Hormones? Chinchilla puberty? lol

Thanks in advance!!

chinchilla rescue in nj

Does anyone know of a chinchilla rescue in NJ? I have an unopened 25lb bag of Oxbow pellets and some hay I would like to donate. Thank you

Cleaning and scaring

Hi,
I got my chins yesterday. They are 3 months old. They took the move pretty badly, and seems to be scared and very wary of me -which is fully understandable.
And I am quite happy to give them their time to get used to the new surroundings. I don't mind if it takes some weeks or longer. But I will have to get my hand in there in a few days to clean up a bit. They are not going to like it, and I don't want to scare them off any more than what they already are.

Your suggestions and help would really be appreciated.
Renier

Scaly white spot on forehead

https://imgur.com/a/LvsdhVT

Hello everyone,

Does anyone know what that is? I pulled at his forehead and a small part of it came off , underneath it is black and kind of lumpy I think. There is still some skin around it as you can see that I haven’t been able to successfully peel off yet although I’m not sure if I should just take him to a vet instead.

Please let me know if anyone’s experiences this before ! Really hoping its not ringworm/Fungus but it looks nothing like the pictures I’ve seen of that , no red spots or lost fur.

Keep in mind I parted the hear on his forehead for the picture to show it better.

This was a couple days ago and it’s more or less still the same.
I was told about blue Kote and just wanted to make sure it was 100% neccesary before I applied it (to avoid tinting his fur)

Thank you in advance.

Shaking head when eating, why?

This has happened twice. My chin kept shaking/tossing his head repeatedly more than five times in a row while I syringe-fed him critical care. He only did this while swallowing the first few mouthfuls. Some time before this, he twitched a few times when eating critical care once. What could this be? Low blood sugar, calcium deficiency or overdose, seizure symptoms, or could it be related to dental problems? He LOVES critical care, and was trying to gobble it up, so could it be triggered by his excitement? Or the sudden sugar spike....

I'm so worried because the way he did those quick shakes of the head while trying to eat just looked so uncontrollable and weird. Please help if you have any idea why! Thank you.

Pans - metal, plastic, wood?

Hello everyone,
I am an exciting guy who will be getting his chins in 4 days. In my country we can not get ready-made cages. For rats yes, but my chins will have a three-story palace. Now I had to resort to getting a big parrot cage. I have to somehow now get floors / pans for the three levels. I will add some jumping ledges as well, but I do want three solid levels.

They must cover the whole floor, and then a corner opening for them to move up and down the levels.
It is unlikely that I will find any kind of pan matching my specs / size along with a bit of a "lip".

I am left to my own devices. I can start with a slab of pine wood I guess, but it won't have a lip. Plastic and steel will be a mission to cut to size and include the corner opening.

Anyway - I am sure you know what I mean.
Your thoughts and suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance.
Renier

Bonding chinchillas

I'm in the process of trying to bond my two babies. Their cages are right next to each other and I do cage swaps.

Issue is one of my babies is really scared of the other. He will be all brave and go up to him but then immediately run away. Is this normal during the bonding process? I know all the other stuff they do is normal it's just that one issue which I have no idea is normal or not

I do put them in neutral territory and neither of them is hiding in a corner in fear, they still play with their toys and run around. I put out two dust baths to distract them.

Is there anything else I could be doing to help them bond?

Thank you

Do chinchillas eat treats when injured

I scared my poor chinchilla and while he was running he bumped into so many things and tripped alot. He tried jumping onto and under things and failed badly. He was horrified the poor baby. I put him back in his cage and now I'm scared. It's only been 10 mins but now hes not eating or running on his wheel like he usually does. I offered him a goji berry and he took it but I'm still scared since even kids accept candy when they are hurt.

Also because I scared him so badly I fear our bond has been broken. I dont know what I can do to fix that now. I'm scared he will hate me forever and hes only one so that's a long time for a chinchilla to hate you

I hate myself to much for this. When do I know if I should take him to the vet? Do I wait a bit longer to see what he does? It's too late to go to the vet now so if hes not eating should I try in the morning?

Please help me I'm really scared.

Thank you in advance

Help - My chinchilla is acting strange and is over grooming himself?!

My chinchilla Buddy is chewing his fur under his chest. I can't tell if he's pulling it out or not as he's just started to do it. He seems irritated and not himself meaning he's acting very frustrated and irritated (chewing his cage which he doesn't normally do and avoiding coming out for exercise) and is constantly grooming and chewing or licking his chest in particular. I've just come back from holiday so can it be stress because I was away? Please help, I need some advice he has never done this before and he is 4 years old.

How long for chinchilla to adjust to new cage?

I have purchased a new, much larger cage for my 6 year old female chinchilla and I am slightly worried about her new behaviour. I moved some stuff from her old cage to her new cage to make the transition less stressful, and she loves all the new stuff, however she mainly stays on the lower portion of the cage, which is understandable as this is only the second day of her living there and so she is still getting used to the entire cage and jumping onto new platforms. She is eating slightly less than before but this may be due to the fact that the food is placed in a new location, however this does not worry me too much as i feel she will eat normally again once she fully settles into her cage.
She also does this weird new thing of biting the bars only at the bottom level of the cage and sliding her teeth to the side of the bars? She never did this or chewed the bars in her old cage. She will also sometimes get a pellet or a wooden stick and slide these across the bars from side to side, any idea why and if she will stop once she settles into her cage? It is as though she is looking for a way out but she also does this during exercise time when the doors of the cage are open, as well as on the outside of the cage.
But my question is how long does it usually take chinchillas to get acquired to their new cage and surroundings so they feel safe at home again? It's only been 2 days so should i not worry about these new behaviours?

Chinchilla acting weird after failed introduction/fight

I recently got a new chinchilla I was hoping to introduce to my older 2 1/2 year old. I have had him over a month and they have had very little one on one contact with eachother. I will swap their cages and they can see eachother through the bars. Today I thought I should introduce the two. I put them in an open room and let them roam. It went really well at first. But they both managed to squeeze behind a desk and got in a fight. The new chinchilla is just fine, but my older one is not. He is either dragging his belly as he walks, or walking with his rear end held up and is front on the ground. and is not moving much at all. This is not like him at all. He is very wobbly when he does walk. Ive been looking and I cant find a broken bone and I cant get him to eat or drink. He will take a rasin from but but he drops it after a bit. He is responsive of me and seems to know what's going on. The thing is. I thi k it's some sort of head injury, but I cant afford a vet.my mom keeps telling me he is going to be fine but I'm really scared and don't know what to do. Right after it happened he tried to get in his dustbath and run around but he kept falling into things. Right now he is in his cage. He keeps laying down then moving to another spot, like he's trying to get comfortable but he cant. I really don't k ow what to do.ive never felt with a sick or j hired chinchilla before so I don't know what's going on.

Chinchilla... Self mutilation?

For a while now we have been dealing with fur biting with one of our chinchillas. He would bite out parts of his fur, and he just looked patchy. We didn't figure much of it, because when we adopted them we got him, and his mom, and she has that kind of habit too, not as extreme, but she has like little fur biting patches too. Well about a month ago we noticed he had an open wound a little smaller than nickel on his stomach, we panicked, took him to the vet immediately, got him some anti-biotics, they told us to do whatever we could to stop him from chewing it. We tried to home make an e-collar, and he would not let us put it anywhere near him, if I got it behind his head or anywhere near his head he would flip out and start jumping everywhere he could away from my hands, he is usually very hand tame with me and my girlfriend. We gave him meds, he hated us for it, but it closed back up... After long shifts of watching him and alternating sleep trying to do our best to keep him occupied enough that he wouldn't chew it. Now we noticed that he's opened up roughly 2-3x the size it was before and is just chewing on it endlessly... We have been wrapping around his midsection with gauze and replacing it every 8-12 hours. We took him back to the vet and they just gave us more antibiotics and sent us on our way, but we cannot get him to stop chewing, the wound is larger, and are generally unsure what to do... We don't want him to just eat himself to death.. Any help at all is greatly appreciated...

kit's tail

Hey I was just want to know if a tail curled upwards on kits is an indicator that the kit is getting enough food?

My happy/sad chin story

Hello so I decided to tell you my good/bad chin story. First of all hi my name is Tigris I am 17 and I apologise for all grammar mistakes (english is my second language) anyways here it is:

In my school we have two chinchillas, male and female. They have kits every year and school always gives them away for free to any student who would like to have them. Last year they had one kit in march, but were then surprised by another one in july. I just want to let you know that that has never happened before because they dont let them backbread so that was a total shock for them. Anyways they had two kits to give away.

I didnt know about that until november (because nobody really talked about it) and then one day I just casually mentioned it to my mom. We already have a lot of animals so I knew that my mom wouldn't let me take them and I was okay with it, I didn't expect it anyways. But the next day she said "hey I was thinking about it and why don't we take them". Ofcourse I was in it so we took them the next week. The lady who takes care for the animals in school said that they are 100% both males. Spoilers: they were not. But we trusted her because she knew a lot about chinchillas so we were sure that she knew how to sex them.

Anyways a couple months passed and now its march. One day my mom heard squeaking from the cage and she found a newborn kit in it. We were SHOCKED. The kit wasn't walking and couldn't lift up his head. He looked like he was paralyzed. We didn't know much about kits so we thought that's just how chinchillas are born. Few days had passed and we noticed that he was losing weight and still wasn't walking. We took him to the vet and he tried to take care for him for a few days and giving him nutrients through infusion but sadly it didn't work and he died a week after he was born. We were crushed. Apparently he lacked oxygen after he was born so his brain was damaged.

After he was born we left the male with female because when we took the male out, female was clearly in distress and wouldn't feed the kit. She would just jump around the cage and we were scared that the kit would either be crushed or starved to death. So we just left them together and yeah you know what happened. They backbread. So now its july and two healthy kits were born yesterday. I am still terrified that something will go wrong, that's why I post so many probably stupid questions on this forum. I can't handle another loss of a kit. But anyways everything look great for now so keep your fingers crossed for me! I will keep you updated and post a few pics in the future.

Thank you if you read this :hug2:
Tigris and the chinnies

Some questions about my kits

Hey so I have a couple different questions about my kits:

1. I noticed that one of my kits is kinda shaking at times. I am pretty sure that he can't be cold because my room temperature is appropriate for chinchillas and neither the mom or the other kit are shaking. Is he just scared or is it a disease or something serious?

2. They were born yesterday, one weighed 58 grams and the other 55 grams. Today I weighed them again and the smaller one was 56 grams, the other was still 58. Is it okay if the bigger one didnt gain any weight? I know that he is on the larger side of newborns but should I be concerned if he doesnt gain any weight tommorow? He seems fine and he has a lot of energy (he runs around the cage without a problem).

3. I know mastitis (not sure if i spelled it correctly) is a common problem and I would like to know if its really obvious if the female has it? Can you tell its something wrong by just looking at the nipples? My female nipples seem fine but sometimes she makes a weird noise and starts pushing the kits away. Is that normal?

4. My kits are scared of being handled and they keep trying to get away. One of them even tried to bit me. I promise you that i handled them correctly but they still looked so nervous. Is that normal? Did they miss their mom?

5. Okay the last question. Can you sex kits on the first/second day? I am no expert but I tried today and I am pretty sure they are male and female. I would just like to know if its even possible to sex them that early?

Thank you for any answers and I am sorry if some of the questions seem stupid but I already had one kit before these two and he sadly did not make it so I am very paranoid that something will go wrong with these two too. I will probably post my story with chinchillas on the forum some time in the future so you can read it and understand my paranoia.

Any help is appreciated <3

Chinchilla Sneezing

I have a 2 year old chin named Bun Bun :) She lives in the double critter nation cage and has recently started sneezing more than usual. I deep cleaned her cage like 1-2 months ago and changed the bottom floor's bedding to tile. I also slowly changed her diet and hay (timothy). )She still uses the same dust) But i did recently buy her some treats that she's never had before (goji berries, chamomile, granulated bee pollen, lavender, rosehips, and these rose lookin things) (every treat I bought for her was from Ronda's Chinchillas or TJ's Chin)
Could Apple twigs be the problem? Or the different toys I got her? Is it possible that my chin might be allergic to one of the treats?

Please help-relocating my new chin mama

Hello everyone. My chin has given birth today and I need to know if its okay to put her in a different cage, because the one she is in rn is to tall and there is a lot of blood at the place where she gave birth. She and kits are hanging right at that bloody place and thats probably not the best for them right? Would it cause too much stress to relocate her in a smaller cage? I am sorry if the question is kinda dumb but I have had only one kit before and he died a week later so I really have no experience. Not to mention that this pregnancy was a complete surprise for us.
Oh and also sorry for my grammar mistakes.
Thanks everyone! :)

Fighting siblings-PLEASE HELP

Hello everybody. So today my chinchilla gave birth to two adorable kits. They seem healthy and well developed, but I noticed that they fight a lot and I am scared that they will hurt each other. When they are fighting they affect mom too, she becomes nervous and starts making weird sounds and tries to make them stop by pushing them around. One of the kits is smaller and I am sure he is being bullied by the bigger one. I know that is quite common but is there anything I can do to protect them? Or is it just a phase? Dad is in the same cage but he has been neutred (not sure how to spell that so I am just gonna say he doesnt have his balls anymore) so its okay if they stay together right? Should I separate the kits and make sure that only one at a time is with mother? I am worried and dont know what to do so ANY help will be appreciated.
(sorry for my grammar mistakes)
Thank you! :)

Chinchilla not as active

Hey everyone, I’ve been noticing for the past week that my chinchilla Gizmo isn’t as active as he normally is. He doesn’t appear to have any major issues going on, he’s eating and drinking normally, poops normal size, still very alert and affectionate. However, he’s not jumping on his high ledges anymore and running on his saucer much less. I’m not sure how old he is exactly as I rescued him, but I have had him for about 11 years. He doesn’t appear to be injured in any way, which was my first concern, but he doesn’t seem to have any problems physically. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? Thanks everyone!

Hay

Yoshi won’t touch any kind of hay what can I do


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Brush

What is the best brush to use for a chinchilla?


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3 day old Kits fighting

Mama Momo produced 2 kits on Monday. I think Momo isn't producing enough milk so the kits are fighting. The older one seems to attack the younger a lot.

I started rotating them for 2 hours at a time by placing them in a carrier. Momo actually gets the ability to sleep since they aren't fighting for the right spot at this time.

Any advice to help Momo and her 2 new kits?

Ate plastic

I feel like a terrible chin mom. Two days ago Tiquita ate the clicky top of a pen. I gave her some gas drops as a precaution thinking, it might help in case trying to pass the plastic caused gas. Well, she bit the tip of the syringe off yesterday! She's still eating and acting normally. I was hoping to get input on how long I should be watching her poops? Anyone know how long it will take to pass or how long until I see signs of blockage if it were to go that route? Do you think she'll be in the clear by friday? I'll be leaving town early Friday morning and won't be back until after midnight. Any suggestions on helping her digest/pass the plastic?

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Mom huddles in corner of cage

My chin recently gave birth to two kits. She seems very loving to both of them. I've found her to sometimes huddle herself in the corner of the cage as if she's denying them milk for a bit to let her sleep.

I've been thinking of hand feeding them with goats milk or separating them from the mom for a bit to all her to sleep.

But I just wanted a little advice before I take action.

Potential URI?

Last week I noticed one of my chinchillas had a watery eye, so I took him to the vet. She said everything was fine, she even let us look at his teeth by using a device with a camera, and they were good indicating no teeth problem.
She said to withhold the dust bath for a few days and to try a different type of dust.

That was three days ago, however his eye has not gotten better at all, if not worse. I also noticed he has been sneezing, like once every 5-10 minutes I want to say. There isn’t any discharge coming out of his nose but he seems to wipe it a lot. His breathing is also a little wheezy. I am wondering if this is a possible URI? I am planning on making another vet appointment soon, but I am at my wits end...

Soon to be Chinchilla Owner

Hi there! I just joined this forum today in the hopes I can learn a bit more of the ins and outs to owning a chinchilla before I bring one into my house.

I know they need to be kept cool, not above 75 degrees or that can cause problems. Is central air conditioning reliable enough in that case, or would I need to invest in a portable air conditioner? I'm in Southern California, and we just had a ridiculous heat wave. So how should I proceed?

So this is the cage I was thinking of getting:

I know the metal bars at the bottom won't really work but that can be taken out so it's just the pan at the bottom.

I want to know as much as I possibly can and set things up to be the best they can before I actually get my chinchilla. So any and all further information would be seriously appreciated!

Chins tail

I'm new to this site but around October i bought pebbles and its just until now i noticed the state of her tail. It comes out straight and then has a 65 degree bend in it and I assume it was broken when she was little bu I'm just looking for some clarification for it seeing that i can't find anything on it


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Lonely Chin

Ive had my 6 year old male chinchilla for about a year now, and I think he is doing great, but sometimes I feel guilty for keeping him alone, even though every night I let him out and play and stuff. He barks sometimes, but I think thats him just dreaming, he runs on his wheel all night long, and he seems to have formed a unique relationship with different members of my family. Should I be worried that he is lonely and needs a friend?

Breeders in Houston- Brown Velvet or Black Velvet, or

I was wondering if anyone could help me find a Brown or Black velvet chinchilla around Houston. Any other color is fine too but most specifically a brown or black velvet. The price does not really matter for me :) as long as its not 1000+. And as for the age.... maybe around 3 years and younger.

also where do you get your chins? because from what I found, I don't have very many breeders near me. And can anyone give a little more information on shipping chins? Is it 120% safe for the chins?

https://www.google.com/search?biw=12...gZZ_2Y9SiQS4M: here's a link to what I'm kind of looking for ;)

Is there something wrong with them?

I have two chins that I'm trying to bond together. It's not working very well so far but that's not what this is about.

They both seem more easy going then chins I see on YouTube. They dont chew as much (other then pumice and willow balls) and they arnt into jumping around in their cage

One of them is a black velvet and he is a bit older then a year. He loves to run on his wheel. He's definitely more active then the other one but I'm concerned that he may not be chewing enough. I provide him with many toys.

My other chin is a mosaic and he is 3-4 years old. He is in a smaller cage but that's only because I wanna move them both to the double critternation cage. Is has levels but has no since for ledges. He runs on his flying saucer sometimes but not as obsessively. The only thing I have seen him chew on is wicker balls, hay and sometimes pumice. Most of the day he sleeps. I have even pulled an all nighter to see if he's more active at night but he isnt.

Do you have any idea what could be wrong with him? Should I take him for a check up?

(Side note I have had my black velvet chin for 2-3 months and my mosaic chin for about a month now)

Thank you in advance!

After Dental Surgery Help

My chinchilla Moxxi got dental surgery yesterday and I've been through this before with her. This time is a bit different. So after I brought her home in a carrier from the vets she was active when bringing her home. I fed her some of the critical care and she ate it easily. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XB2fCx85ug

She also went from being active, to sleeping all the time. I'm assuming that's from the surgery.

I tried feeding her later on that night she did not want to eat anymore, so I had to force feed her. This morning I had to force feed her again, and in the afternoon. As vet said she should be getting about 3-5ml of critical care. How could she go from willingly to eat her food as shown in video. To not wanting it in her mouth one bit? I know she might be still in pain, but her meds should've helped her with that. Give me some ideas, I'm getting lost.

Help baby chinchilla got foot stuck and won’t walk on it!!!

I have a baby chinchillas born on may 20th. One of them got its foot stuck in the panel as I cleaned out the cage and I didn’t realize it, I was in a hurry and I have been gone all day. When I got back and saw it I freed him and he is hopping around and eating but not putting any weigh on it at all. What should I do? Will he be fine or will I have to put him down? Is he to young to be put to sleep and have it removed?

Looking for breeder in canada

I'm looking for a chinchilla breeder in nova Scotia canada. Any information would be helpful. Thanks.

Diet Enrichment/Treats?

Wondering what kind of treats and small things I can add to my chins diet to give him a little variety? We have a rose bush out front, and though it doesn't have hips yet, it does have petals... can he have those?

He's on a standard pellet and hay diet right now, and I know we're not supposed to venture far from that, I like to give him a little something extra to keep him entertained with his food. My family also gives him raisins on occasion, and I'd like to find a less sugary treat that they can offer him.

Holding by the tail

Hello,

I have a chinchilla male that I would like to be able to pick up by his tail. Since currently I have no way to pick him up, but I would like to be able to pick him up in case of emergency. Since grabbing them by their tail seems to be the least stressfull and save way I would like to learn more about it. Because I tried to gently grab the base of his tail but he shrieked so I let go. How do I let him get used to it? And do I grab it at the base where his other fur ends and the tail fur starts or even closer to his body? And if I have him by the tail how should I change the position so that he is resting in my arms? And how much preasure can you put? I really hope someone can help me so that he gets used to it and won't scream when I pick him up.

Thank you in advance.

Chin-safe treats

Hey guys, I've had my chin, Nimbus, for about a week now and have been using oats to get him to warm up to me. They work REALLY well with getting him used to being handled. Unfortunately, I'm worried I might be giving him too many, but I can't think of other ways to coax him to being handled. Are there any treats that chins love that I can feed a larger amount of and not worry too much about making him sick?