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Author Topic: Am I doing everything ok?  (Read 1945 times)

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Fearground

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Am I doing everything ok?
« on: June 04, 2015, 04:58:30 AM »

Hey guys.
I'm a new chinchilla owner and have adopted 2 males.
Both look to be in good health, have plenty of wood etc in the cage for them to chew.

One of them is slightly smaller than the other but I'm not sure if it's fur or weight if that makes sense.

So far I've been cleaning out their droppings every day from the cage and giving them fresh food every day. The food I've got is the "Charlie Chinchilla" mixed muesli. They seem to be enjoying it. I've also got a huge 20kg bag of chinchilla pellets but haven't tried them on that yet.

When cleaning I move them to one half of the cage, sweep up the mess and go over the plastic bottom with anti bacterial wipes (non scented) is this ok for them?

I also change the bathing sand every 2 days.

If there's anything I'm not doing or doing wrong please let me know.

Oh and is it normal for one of them to have short whiskers (almost broken off looking) and the others to be long?

Thanks
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GrayRodent

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2015, 06:18:06 AM »

Again, welcome to our forum. We have many knowledgeable people here who are experienced with raising and breeding chinchillas where I have obtained much of my own knowledge. I'm glad they appear to be in good health but you may want to take them to a veterinarian just to get a general exam and establish they are at a good healthy weight. Chinchillas can very greatly in size depending on their breeding.

I do recommend not feeding chinchillas treats except for training purposes and they should only be fed in very small quantities (like no more than 6 cheerios in a day). Their regular food should be high quality alfalfa based pellets and loose timothy hay. They should have constant access to both of these in addition to their wood cage items to chew. They are prone to tooth problems which if they occur can mean the end of them so diet is extremely important.

When I care for my chins I will sweep out the droppings each day and change the bedding about once every 3-4 days. Dust does not need to be changed every other day. Change it about once a month and between changing you can sift the dust with a strainer if desired. I recommend avoiding using antibacterial wipes. If you really want to be clean you can put your pets in a travel cage and hose and clean out your big cage 3 times a year. I clean mine about once a year and replace the shelving. If you end up with a sick pet with an infectious disease, of course, that would be different. You should have a second chinchilla cage ready in case you need to separate them. At least have a travel cage you can transfer into not only for vet visits but for cage maintenance.

Plastic cage bottoms are not recommended for chinchillas as they are apt to chew through plastic and escape. Plastic can also be very harmful to them if they swallow it.
Chinchillas when kept together have a dominant and subordinate animal and sometimes the subordinate animal gets its whiskers chewed off by the dominant one which is possible what you are seeing.

Chinchillas can be weighed with a regular kitchen scale. A downwards trend in weight typically signifies health problems that should be investigated. I recommend weighing once a week but wait for a couple of weeks before you handle them until they are used to their new home and more bonded with you.
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BLS Chins

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2015, 08:02:22 PM »

Size varies greatly in chinchillas. As long as they are eating, pooping and acting well I wouldnt worry about their size. You can always get a kitchen scale (that weighs in grams) and make sure they maintain their weight. Any loss is a sign of potential problems.

Charlie chinchilla is one of the worst foods you can feed. It is full of treats, seeds and extras. You want a plain alfalfa pellet based diet. You are in the UK im assuming. Im not very familiar with that pellets are available in your area but i would suggest searching around for a better quality feed.

Do you leave the dust bath in all the time? Chins should be dusted 1-3 times a week. Over dusting can lead to dry skin on their ears and feet. Also leaving it in all the time is a big waste of dust. By dusting for 10-15 mins they get clean enough without soiling the dust so you dont have to change it as frequently.

Congrats on your new chins. Feel free to ask any questions.
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GrayRodent

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2015, 08:30:02 PM »

Chinchilas should NEVER have fruits in their regular diets.
They never have seeds or nuts even for treats because they are outright harmful for them. If they are given a mixture of pellets they will pick out the sweet junk and leave the rest. They are best off with a very simple diet with high quality loose hay.

I am horrified at the quality of commercial chinchilla diets. I know the UK has a different selection than the US and if I remember right you'll be forced to settle on something that's not very good anyway. Charlie chinchilla is an unacceptable diet for chinchillas and there are better ones out there. I know we have other UK pet owners who frequent here who may be able to recommend something.

And please don't leave your duster in the cage. (Not saying you're doing that) It's really unhealthy for your pets.
I hope everything goes well for you. Chinchillas can be very rewarding. Remember to take it slow with them at first and let them get accustomed to things as you go.
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Fearground

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2015, 04:34:24 AM »

Thanks very much guys, a lot of good info here.

I've changed their diet straight away and got rid of Charlie Chinchilla - and replaced with a good amount of Timothy Hay & Chinchilla pellets. I never knew about keeping the duster out, so good tips here also. Is it okay to feed them raisins as a treat, like going back in their cage etc as I read that somewhere else but not sure to do or not.

I also wanted to ask if there's any way I can train them to pee/poop in a certain place rather than all over the cage, for their own cleanliness lol.

(In my prev post about my cage being plastic bottomed - it's plastic overlay then wire underneath. Pic below)

Another thing I want to ask is about bedding - they current sleep on a wooden ledge, but have a wooden hut thing they go in to hide too, what type of bedding is best to get for them - as the previous owner had blankets down on the cage and they were very smelly and dirty.



My chins:


Their cage:


Thanks!
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GrayRodent

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2015, 02:14:01 PM »

Those are some significantly different sized animals there. Are you positive the big one is a male?

Unfortunately chinchillas cannot be trained to poop in one place. Their digestive systems are not exactly made for control, however, urination is different. Typically chinchillas will urinate in one place in the cage and not go outside of the cage with it. They typically do not urinate on shelves in a cage that is properly set up. I hate to say it but your cage has some problems (I'll get in that later).

Raisins are okay to give as treats. I know not everyone agrees but it's common practice and you won't more than two in a day. I don't recommend them though as there are better alternatives like cheerios, no more than 4 in a day. My philosophy is don't give treats unless you have a very good reason to do that. They only reason I can think of is trying to tame a very wild pet who is afraid of you. The more I research on this subject the more I think treats are generally not a good thing for chinchillas and interaction is what they need most.

I actually use the same cage as you but I've modified the floor. I should post an article on this but it require some skill in fabrication of wood and metal. For the FN-182 cage there are aftermarket metal trays available online. The plastic is going to be chewed on by your pets and they will likely escape as others have reported with the same setup.
Another possibility is to use fleece lining, which is like blankets, and perhaps those blankets were designed for the cage, in which case they should washed and reused or order some new ones. Fleece is not ideal in my opinion but owners have had success with it.

The metal flood pan is ideal for you and it should be used with pine chips as bedding. I wish I could refer to a local source of these but the only one I know of is Bass Equipment (www.bassequipment.com).

If you're interested in building a wood floor I can give you some pointers. You'll have to staple a wire floor to a wood frame and insert it as a panel. Then you'll have to build rails to accept one of the plastic trays to go underneath the wire floor panel and use an absorbent pad like a puppy pad over it. The chins will urinate through the grate onto the pad. You'll just remove the middle panel and add some more shelves to your cage. This is how I have it in mine.

It is not good practice to have plastic in a chinchilla cage that can be gnawed upon. Plastic can be deadly if enough is ingested. Wood and metal items are ideal.

One last thing I don't understand is why there are two water bottles. It might be better to just have one in there so you don't have to maintain two. With any water bottle check it to make sure it dispenses at least once a day in your routine.
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Fearground

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2015, 09:15:20 AM »

Hey thanks very much for the tips.

This was when I first got the chins and the extra bottle has been removed, I'll post new pic soon.

I'm not sure why isaid the floor was plastic as it is in fact metal lol.. The level on bottom was plastic but removed this last night and installed new wooden one.

Could you possibly upload a pic of your cage GrayRodent sounds good!
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GrayRodent

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2015, 06:00:57 PM »

Here is my chinchilla cage as I am working on an electronically measured watering system (which explains some of the strange things going on there). The floor is composed of three panels that are cut very precisely so there are no gaps between them. Two panels are solid planks and the third is a frame that accepts a wire floor.

The floor sets on two aluminum rails that are screwed on beneath them. Beneath the floor there are two rails going front to back that hold the original plastic pan underneath the floor to catch the droppings.

Before I had the FN cage I had a parrot cage which was set up to work the exact same way and I really liked it. It took more work to set up this cage but so far it seems to be working very nicely and is better than the parrot cage setup in many respects.
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GrayRodent

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2015, 06:59:25 PM »

Here is a diagram that illustrates how the rails are placed in the cage.
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Fearground

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2015, 03:16:17 AM »

Brilliant stuff!!
I think I'm going to need to do this to mine. Although the bit where the hay is in hours is also the bit that slides out is that right?

Would I be able to keep the metal floor on the bottom and then cut a panel out and make the same sort of thing rather than wood floor?

That electro water thing looks mental lol
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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2015, 07:06:49 AM »

Yeah the electronic water measuring system is not doing to great right now but I will get to work one way or the other. I'm trying to do it the inexpensive way with capacitance sensing but a more expensive resistance sensor is available that will work. I'll be sure to write more about it once it's doing what it is supposed to do.

The hay is on side of the grate and I make sure to sweep it so it's always the same half or it gets urinated on which can be very unhealthy. I make sure to do this every morning and remove anything that looks soiled. Perhaps there is a better way to do this but this is the best way I know with this setup.

You could certainly use a metal floor but I'm not sure how you would fasten the grate. Whatever you do you must not allow your chinchillas to be exposed to sharp metal or the ends of cut wire so file it well. Installing a wire grate requires that there are no gaps around the edges their feet can get through. I learned this the hard way with an earlier cage and my pet got a nasty wound on its toe from getting it into a gap. Chinchillas are very bouncy and if there's something they can get hurt on they'll find it!

I suppose you could weld it to the bottom of a metal tray but the grate itself will have to be cleaned regularly to prevent corrosion. Chinchilla urine is very corrosive to wire. With my setup the grate is stapled to the bottom of the wooden frame and can be easily and inexpensively replaced every couple of years.
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Fearground

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Re: Am I doing everything ok?
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2015, 08:48:52 AM »

I'll be sure to keep an eye on the updates for it sounds cool!

I'm going to buy more wood in the next few days and I'll come up with a way to do this lol thanks very much for your help

Greatly appreciated
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