Chinchilla Community Forums

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Q & A / Re: New Chin Owner - NEED ADVICE!!!

« on: March 16, 2010, 08:44:19 AM »

This makes me so angry

Luckily you are the type to do your own research and managed to realize what awful advice you had been given.

It really is sickening that these companies can't be bothered to train their employees about the animals they are selling, there is absolutely no excuse for a pet store employee to recommend dangerous living conditions for any animal.

Thank you for being responsible and caring enough to educate yourself about yourpet and best of luck with your new chin (but watch out they're addicting

)

2

Q & A / Re: forcing to hold

« on: March 09, 2010, 11:19:30 AM »

You don't want to force him to be held. Chins need to learn to trust you and holding them against their will is not a good way to earn that trust!

Bonding with your chin is a process that take patience, take it slow and easy and you will see much better results.

3

Health / Re: runt kit

« on: March 09, 2010, 10:05:24 AM »

That's great news I am very happy for you and your baby

4

General Chat / Re: Good place for cages?

« on: March 09, 2010, 09:44:08 AM »

Thanks for the advice

I am going to go with the "chinchilla townhouse" from the link that Jo Ann suggested.

5

General Chat / Re: New Chin

« on: March 03, 2010, 11:11:14 AM »

Patience is the biggest part of taming and bonding with our chin. Don't force yourself on her.

I have always had luck with offering a treat while she is in her cage, let her get used to you and know your smell. As you do this more and more you should move the treat from your hand further down your arm so your chin has to climb on you to get to it. This is a great way to earn her trust and bond with her, make sure you dont give more than one treat a day though, you can cut a raisin into 4 or 5 pieces if you want to make it go further.

The other thing that works well for me is making sure you are there for their out of cage time, I like to lay down in the area that they are running in and they love to climb all over me

.

Gaining a chin's trust and affection takes time and patience but it is very rewarding.

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General Chat / Re: The bonding has begun... Update: Reply #8!

« on: February 22, 2010, 01:04:57 PM »

That cage looks great, and I am really happy to see the family all together and happy! HOpefully they will be fully bonded for you soon

7

General Chat / Good place for cages?

« on: February 17, 2010, 02:56:26 PM »

Hi,

First off I would like to say that this forum is by far the best place I have found for both talking about and learning about Chins, you guys are full of great info and personality so I am really glad I found this place

Now on to the reason for posting, I have a roomy 3 level cage for my girls currently and they seem to really like it but I am not crazy about having a wire floor so I have been looking for a new home for my babies.

Here is when I run into my issue, I can not seem to find a suitable cage ANYWHERE! In all my searches I have found one cage that I loved but it was on a site that only ships to the UK

. Everything else seems to be either way too small or infested with plastic.

If you guys could give me any help I would be so grateful!

Thanks!
-Joe

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General Chat / Re: messy hay!

« on: February 16, 2010, 10:07:54 AM »

I gave up on trying to keep the hay neat awhile ago lol. They have tooo much fun making a mess for me to really want to stop them anyway

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Q & A / Re: Soon to be owner with a few questions

« on: February 16, 2010, 09:46:33 AM »

Quote from: Jenova on February 15, 2010, 06:09:05 PM

You'll want to put bedding on the bottom anyway. Something like carefresh is not only safe but as it's made from paper/cardboard it'll dampen out any noise.

I've heard mixed things about carefresh. I know the majority of carefresh users are happy with it but I have heard one too many stories about a poor little chinnie eating it and it causing severe issues.

I use kiln dried pine myself.