Chinchilla Community Forums

Chinchillas => General Chat => Topic started by: kenseth03 on July 16, 2014, 06:51:35 PM

Title: Newbie help
Post by: kenseth03 on July 16, 2014, 06:51:35 PM

We just adopted a chinchilla from a friend of ours. She loved it and didn't want to get rid of him but she works 14 hrs. a day now and doesn't have time for it. I researched a bit before I got it but I have some questions. Is it normal for them to nibble on your hands? For some reason he clamps down harder on your finger nails too. Also, I got to admit that I have a hard time getting him out of his cage without just outright grabbing him? I am not gonna lie,I really am scared he is gonna bite me or my wife or son. We just brought him home yesterday and I feel like for a week or two he just needs to get used to his cage being in a new home with new surroundings before handling him too much. He does seem to take raisins from our hand pretty gently. Any help for a new Chinchilla owner would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully he will work out just fine cause I want to build him a large custom cage. Thanks in advance for your help.
 

Title: Re: Newbie help
Post by: GrayRodent on July 16, 2014, 07:04:51 PM

Chinchillas normally do not bite but can if they are provoked. They can also clamp down if they smell food on your hands and are capable of drawing blood. I don't consider them to be dangerous their bite won't send you to the hospital or anything but it does hurt. (The worst part is reacting badly to it and scaring your pet which can make it harder to for them to trust you)
Please be very careful not to startle your chinchilla for the first couple of weeks. You may want to not remove it from the cage for at least 5 days and let it get accustomed to its new place.
I will post more information for you later.

Title: Re: Newbie help
Post by: kenseth03 on July 16, 2014, 07:08:29 PM

Thank you Gray Rodent.  :)

Title: Re: Newbie help
Post by: GrayRodent on July 16, 2014, 07:43:16 PM

Here are some recent posts that you might find helpful.

http://www.chinchillaclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,4564.msg33312/topicseen.html#new
http://www.chinchillaclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,4563.msg33292/topicseen.html#new
http://www.chinchillaclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,4565.msg33304/topicseen.html#new
http://www.chinchillaclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,4554.msg33249/topicseen.html#new

Of course the board is full of excellent information and advice even from breeders and more knowledgeable members.
And there are links from the site as well:
http://www.chinchillaclub.com/directories.shtml