Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[kstump]

Hi Everyone!

I am a new Chin owner as of Saturday and I have a lot of questions!! So here I go....

1. I gave my Chin a cube of the timothy hay yesterday and he didn't eat it so do I need to give him another tonight or wait until he eats it?

2. He has a big ball that I put him in so he can run around my house safely but when my doxin walks by him the chin starts "barking" and chasing him and doxin is scared...Is he trying to make friends or attack him?

3. My choices for buying Chin food is a 20 min drive to Walmart and I've heard their food isn't as healthy..is this true? Or I have to drive an hour to the pet store...Is there anywhere I can order it online or can I buy what Walmart sells? Also what do I need to look for in the ingredients of the food I'm buying?

I am sure there are more questions but that is all I can think of right now. Thanks in advance for your help!!

[fuji]

Congrats on your new chin!

I'm brand new to the board but might have a few answers to your questions

1. The cubes are treats/chew toys (In my opinion) and I'd leave it in there till its done or 2 days old. You need to feed your chin long strain fresh T.Hay and always have that available. I'll take a nibbled cube out if I think my chin isn't touching his fresh hay because of it.

2. The balls are not safe for chins (ball of death). They can over heat and die while inside them (worst case) and they are made of plastic which if eaten can lead to death as well. Also if they pee while in the ball, it can ruin their fur. As far as the dog I'm not sure barking is usually not a good noise for them to be making

3. I use Oxbow Chinchilla food (http://goo.gl/yqJ10) and I know a lot of others use Mazuri (http://goo.gl/gMffD) these are the best. Did he come with some food? If it's not enough to last a month, buy the same food for now, then slow switch foods by blending the future food into your chins current diet.

[kstump]

The lady I got him from gave me a bag of the fresh hay but said she prefers the cubes as they are less messy so I didn't know which is best to use. Also I have seen where people say they have hay racks where can I find one of those? He came with the ball and I had no idea it was that unsafe!! Think I will be pitching that in the dump now!! As for the food he did come with enough to last about a week and I bought an extra box so I think I should have enough to be able to mix! Thank you for your help!!!!!

[fuji]

The lady I got him from gave me a bag of the fresh hay but said she prefers the cubes as they are less messy so I didn't know which is best to use. Also I have seen where people say they have hay racks where can I find one of those? He came with the ball and I had no idea it was that unsafe!! Think I will be pitching that in the dump now!! As for the food he did come with enough to last about a week and I bought an extra box so I think I should have enough to be able to mix! Thank you for your help!!!!!

Some people use flower pots to put their hay into, I fill a couple of hanging balls to make it more interesting for him. You can make your own fleece feed bag pretty cheaply. no plastic is the biggest rule.

I got a ball with mine as well, its a cute idea until i learned how dangerous the thing is

How old is your chin? Pictures?

[TokiDokiWartooth]

1. From what I have seen, the Timothy Hay Cubes are ok as a substitute for fresh Timothy hay, but make sure you are buying a HIGH QUALITY Cube.

2. As everyone has already told you about the ball of death.  Barking is a way for chins to warn other chins of danger.  If it's barking, it's scared.

3.  If you are unable to find a pet store where they carry a quality product like Oxbow or Mazuri, you should order online.

If you are going to try those hanging hay balls, just be careful, there is a thread on this forum regarding horror stories with chins getting their little heads stuck in between the wires.  Hay Hangers are OK but again, if your chin is anything like mine, they will jump on top of it and can get themselves stuck in them.  I use a large bowl that mounts to the side of my cage for the hay.  less mess that way, too.

[GrayRodent]

Congrats on your new chin.

It is not uncommon for a chinchilla to stop eating the day you bring him home but make sure he is eating at least some pellets. Try to keep him in a calm quiet area for a few days because relocation causes quite a bit of stress for a chin. I wouldn't let him out much until he starts eating normally. With my new chinchilla it took about 4 days for his weight to stabilize after I brought him home and he was pretty well adjusted from the start.

I am surprised it's going after the dog instead of running away. I recommend you keep them separate especially if your chin gets out (which does happen with those!). I imagine the chin would try to attack to the dog and probably lose.

I use a chinchilla ball myself but don't let him run for more than 10 minutes at a time and only if the inside temperature is around 70F or below. If you are not very careful heatstroke can easily occur. It is made of plastic but the way it is constructed it is hard to get his teeth around any plastic inside.  If the chin pees inside it's messy. I've had this happen once but a dust bath took care of it. It is true that plastic can kill a chinchilla if ingested. Therefore using a chinchilla ball is a calculated risk.

I actually get my hay at Walmart because it's cheap and at our Walmart it looks fresh. The first time I bought it was fine. The second one smelled damp and moldy (kind of like grass cuttings in a trash can) so I took it back. I wonder if maybe it was returned after a ride in the rain. We got one from a different Walmart store that was fine. What matters is the hay is green, fresh, and does not smell damp.

I have been getting my pellets from Petsmart. I would also recommend Oxbow or Mazuri chinchilla diet that is alfalfa based pellets only. I've used Oxbow for a while and my chin liked it. Do not get the Kaytee Fiesta Max mix or mixes like it. They are full of junk that is very unhealthy for chins to have in their main diet. My chin is on Purina Rabbit Show mix which is what his breeder used and she gave me a month's supply. It seems more crumbly than the Oxbow and seems to make for soft stools but she says it's best for gaining weight on growing chins. I will soon switch to Tradition chinchilla food since it is recommended by expert breeders who have also used Purina and said it's better yet. Since my chin is still a baby I want him to grow on that. Unfortunately that is an online only purchase for me. This typically adds about a 10.00 shipping cost so it's more cost effective when you order other supplies or toys as well.

I looked at the Walmart website and did not find chinchilla food. I'm not sure what your store carries. If it's rabbit food I would not buy it. Only certain kinds of high-end rabbit feeds are suitable. If your pet store does carry good pellets it might be worth the drive. They'll last for months and you will notice a difference in weight gain (most pet store chins are not fully grown) with a good diet. If not then you may have to order online.

Going through ingredients can be a fairly complex task but there is information out there if you want to dig into it. I think your best bet is to run it past our experts and see what they say.

[kstump]

Oh wow! So much research to do!! Thank You all for your input!! I am really torn on what to do about his ball because he seems to like it but I don't want it if its going to be a hazard...

The food Walmart has says its for guinea pigs and chins so I think I am going to avoid that...The lady I got him from had me get some purina rabbit food to mix with chin pellets and some Chin fruit and nut mix but I think I want to wean him from that and go to strictly Chin food. Also are their any good websites to order food from?

I was at Orschelns yesterday and they had a hanging ball to put the hay in..it was for rabbits but would it work for Chins? I believe it was metal.

I have attached a pic of my chin..its not a very good one I took it with my cell. The lady said he was around 2 years. And I feel terrible I don't have a name for him yet but I can't really tell his personality yet to choose a name...I just want to do things right so I hope I'm not bothering everyone with stupid questions lol Thank You all!!!

[kstump]

Okay I have another question!! lol I found a 10lb bag of the Oxbow Chin food on wag.com for $16.99 is that a good price or should I look else where?

[GrayRodent]

As for the ball I don't mind using it myself but I'm careful to minimize the risks. It's probably more risky to let him run around in a room without it since there are many other kinds of hazards especially electrical cords. I used it a lot before I trained him to be picked up and carried around but since he was tamed I haven't felt the need for it. My new chin was very tame when I got him and he stays on my (mostly chin-proofed) desk when he runs around.

I do let him run in the bathroom after I've removed everything potentially hazardous from it and give him dust baths in the bathtub which is a good alternative. Also if he chews the baseboards I yell "no!" and slam my hand down or slap him (lightly). It works well to avoid damage. Also I have a covered trash can since my first chin loved to jump in it and make a mess. I have a covered toilet brush as well.

Chinchillas should never be given nuts so I would pick those out immediately. Those can cause liver damage (lipidosis) and fatal diarrhea. My first chin started on Fiesta Max so I mixed it with regular pellets (after removing the fruit and nuts from it) over the course of 5 days without a problem. I did keep the dried fruit and give it as a treat. They should get no more than two pieces a day.

Guinea pigs have very different dietary requirements. I imagine a mix for both is likely good for neither. Don't use a wire hay ball. They are known to kill and maim chins when they get their heads stuck where the wires meet in the center because it gets narrower and they panic and can't free themselves.

I've ordered online from TJ's chinchilla supplies http://www.tjschinchillasupplies.com/ and had a fast turnaround. I highly recommend them.

I used a wooden feeder I bought at Petsmart for my first chin and removed one of the planks from it to make a larger opening and it works well. Unfortunately my small 300g baby chin was able to fit between the planks and gave me a good scare so I'll wait until he grows to 400g (the size of the other chin) before I give it back. Until then I'll put the hay on the wire floor and it works okay although a lot of hay falls through and gets wasted. I tried putting it on a wooden shelf but he peed on it (strange since he doesn't pee on the shelf unless there's hay on it!) I also tried a large parrot bowl since I use a converted parrot cage that might work for mini bails but is unusable for regular loose hay. I do have a Ware Products metal J-feeder that I use for pellets. It has a wire mesh floor that lets the crumbles fall through and has worked nicely for me. I'm thinking about ordering a new wooden hay feeder from TJ's that's made for chins.

As far as naming I called mine by his chinchilla number (B48) for weeks before I named him. I named him K'ulu, supposedly the Mayan word for Raccoon, in honor of the infamous end of the world in 2012 which happened the same week I got him and his late night ruckuses. I wanted to name him Bix (Bix is pronounced beesh) ak'aaba ("What is your name?") but no one else could pronounce it so I found a simpler word.

The 5lb bag of Oxbow I purchased at Petsmart was about $15.00 so that sounds pretty good to me.

[fuji]

Okay I have another question!! lol I found a 10lb bag of the Oxbow Chin food on wag.com for $16.99 is that a good price or should I look else where?

Petsmart is $15 in Toronto, I recently found it for less at Global pet, their reg price is 11.99.

[kstump]

I have another question...I hope nobody is getting tired of my questions!! When I pick my Chin up and try to hold him he always turns around and bites me...not that it hurts but I don't know how to get him to stop doing that and be nice  I know I've only had him a few days but its just really disappointing I can't play with him because he just wants to bite me. Hes not aggressive in his cage by any means just when I try to hold him  Am I doing something wrong?

[GrayRodent]

That is because your chinchilla is not used to being held and handled and may not be very tame. It is also likely he needs to get used to used to you. It can take weeks or months for a chinchilla to trust a new owner. My first chinchilla did this and he bit hard. The owner said he was 4 months old but I'm starting to suspect he was over a year old because his pelt may have been primed out and looked way different than the 3 month old I got from a breeder. It is always harder to tame older chins who did not grow up with being handled frequently.

After I got him to the place where he allowed me to touch and pet him in the cage it was about 3 weeks of training before I could pick him up and hold him for more than 20 seconds. It took an additional month of conditioning before I could hold him more than five minutes without him struggling. Even my new chin who started out tame took 2 weeks before he would hold still when being held. I am still working on him to get him to the same place the other chinchilla was. These timeframes are actually quite short compared to others' experiences.

If he stays still and calm while you pet him and touch him in the cage you can start holding him. If not you'll need to get to that point first. This is what I did to tame my first chin.

The objective is to desensitize him to being restrained. Once I got past that point my chinchilla actually wanted to be held on occasion. When you hold him do it for short periods at a time like 10 second sessions. If you position your hands so they are below his jaw you're less likely to get bit. The trick is you don't want the chin to get upset enough to feel like biting so you want to put him back before he does.

On the other hand if you do get bit continue to restrain him for at least 10 additional seconds to prove that biting doesn't cause you to let go. Otherwise you can easily re-enforce the biting behavior. Of course I went an extra step and just allowed him to bite. I don't recommend that because he bit harder than I thought he could. Reposition and keep holding.

Usually chinchillas struggle in short bursts when you restrain them and they want to get away. When the struggling stops put him back in the cage before the next burst. This conditions the chinchilla to stay still proving that struggling does not get him anywhere and if you are consistent he'll be less likely to jump from your hands as you approach the cage.

Do this several times a day and do it only when your chinchilla is acting awake and alert. If he is in deep sleep during the daylight hours like most chins are he's gonna be extra irritable. You'll find that each day you'll be able to hold him slightly longer before gets antsy and eventually the threat of biting pretty much ends. After a few weeks it should be very easy to remove the animal from the cage and move him around.

Another thing I found helpful with my first not so tame chin was to sit in a closed shower stall with him and interact with him there. I didn't hold him but let him wander around and jump on me or do things that didn't cause too much stress. I wanted him to associate me and getting out of the cage with play and not stress although I did work with him a little. At the time I was working on getting him to allow me to touch his head and back. This helped immensely because he could not get away from me and was forced to get used to me being there.

For a new chinchilla I recommend doing a 20 minute session like this every day for a week and give dust baths in this manner.

Although my chin was not as tame as I wanted him to be at the end of his short life I could see progress each week as I worked with him. I successfully trained him to let me hold him in different ways. At the end I was able to hold him for 20 minutes at a time without problems or allow him to sit still or nap on my lap when he was sleepy. The only other time I really got bit hard was when he was acting territorial inside his wooden hutch a couple times and I reached in there to get him out. He was one that acted tamer outside of the cage.

[kstump]

He is okay with me petting his chin in the cage and I assume the lady I got him from fed him lots of treats because when he hears a bag he runs to the side of the cage. I haven't let him out of the cage in like my bathroom yet I didn't know how long I should wait until he is used to the surroundings. I am just nervous I am doing something wrong. And when he bit me I held him a little longer while walking back to his cage and put him up but I don't know if that is going to tech him a bad habit and should I quit giving him a treat until he quits biting? After I pick him up I give him a treat but when the treat is gone that's when the bad behavior starts. I am just so confused they are completely different to train than any other animal I have had.  I really do appreciate all your help! I am just worried he is over spoiled and I know I need to give it time...sigh 

[GrayRodent]

The closest animal I know to compare training to is birds. They have similar psychologies to large parrots but are not as prone to being neurotic. The two chinchillas I've kept have a good memory though and have been very forgiving if I've done anything to irritate them. Sometimes I think chins can appear to dislike things more than they actually do. You can prevent unnecessary startling and irritation by thinking ahead. Some things you'll learn the hard way but you'll be fine if it's not a seriously traumatic event.

I think what you did with the biting is fine. If you don't immediately react to it then it is harder for them to make that cause and effect relationship. That is exactly what I did with my other chin and he came out pretty well and only took him out for a few seconds at a time. If you do this 3-5 times a day (more if he is doing well with it) you'll see progress. Remember to put him in the cage when he is still if that is possible. I remember doing the same with my first chin. The treat was a distraction from his dislike of being restrained. When the distraction was gone he turned to struggling and sometimes biting. After a few days of training there were no more biting attempts but it was a month before he stopped struggling against me.

You do need to be careful with treats. In fact I would stop giving them for the first week and pay close attention to the consistency of the feces in the cage. They tend to get soft and mushy during stressful periods which is unhealthy and the treats can cause diarrhea in this state. You can start giving treats once everything looks normal and the chin is eating its regular diet. This is true of any time.

He should only get about 2 raisins or the equivalent volume in dried fruit per day. Otherwise you can be doing harm. Sugar can cause severe colic if they get too much as once. I use scissors to cut up raisins into 4 or 5 slices so two raisins can go a long way. Also try to distribute it across the day to minimize the laxative effect. Most days my chin does not get treats and does not need them. I use them occasionally as training aids. Sometimes I'll give him an alfalfa pellet from his feeder and he'll usually take it.

If your chinchilla seems to like you otherwise and is not shying away from you and is eating his regular diet I think it's safe to let him run in the bathroom for a while each night. I would stop trying to hold and train him for a few days (unless you're transferring him to another place) and just let him get used to the place. After that I'd just hold him in short periods without giving treats. You don't even have to walk away from the cage. It is just to desensitize him to the sensation of being restrained which is going to be slightly stressful to the chin for a few days.

[kstump]

Thank You so much!!! I am really happy I have a place I can come ask questions and get GOOD answers!! I am going to start using your techniques and hopefully he will improve!! Thanks Again!!!