Chinchilla Community Forums

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General Chat / Re: Breeding, Buying, and Indecision

« on: September 21, 2011, 05:30:21 AM »

Both my chins are girls. The second is a pure ebony, and the first is hetero beige, I'm not sure what her parents are. I'm not going to get a boy, in any case. Do you think if I put the two together in a new room the first wouldn't go for the second? If she did would I be able to stop her in time?

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General Chat / Re: Eating bedding?

« on: September 19, 2011, 04:06:59 PM »

Is there anything I can do to stop it when I'm not around to catch her?

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General Chat / Re: Breeding, Buying, and Indecision

« on: September 19, 2011, 04:06:17 PM »

The breeding thing makes sense. I've been trying to introduce the two for over a year. I worked every day for about two months, but it's gotten spread out over time. If the two were trying to kill each other dianah, what did you do? Keep putting them together? I don't want to believe my first could kill my second, but about a year ago I let the two run together and she bit the second one (no injuries, just a fur-slip).

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General Chat / Eating bedding?

« on: September 18, 2011, 06:04:43 PM »

My chin is eating her bedding. Is this normal, or does it mean she's not getting the right diet?

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General Chat / Breeding, Buying, and Indecision

« on: September 18, 2011, 07:51:01 AM »

Last year I purchased my second chinchilla, being worried about my first being lonely. But my first hated my second so they currently live in separate cages. The point of the second chin was so the first wouldn't be lonely, but now they both are. I know its hard for females to get along, so I was thinking I might try to get a boy? Or, I would take the second female to a breeder to see if she got along with another female BEFORE the purchase. The problem is, I am only "allowed" to have two chinchillas. The first chinchilla I got started out being sweet. She would leap into my arms when I opened the cage. Now she doesn't even want me to pick her up. Should I try and sell my first chinchilla? As a breeder, or a pet (she is almost 3)? I want her to have a better life than I can give her, because I often am really busy and don't have time to try and get her to run or play. Also, the male I am looking for for the second female is just a baby. I know he really shouldn't breed until he is one, but since he is a baby does that mean they WON'T breed if I put them together, or that they will but won't be READY? If the latter is the case, should I just have them live separately for a year? If it would be advisable to get a female for her, should I get a baby or one who is her age? If I get a baby, will she try to establish dominance or will she take care of it like she would one of her own babies (she is a little over 1)?

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Q & A / Re: Can Chinnies eat Coconut?

« on: April 18, 2011, 01:33:09 PM »

I was in a pet store the other day and I saw this coconut home that looked fun, since my older chin just HATES hammocks! It was erring on the expensive side, though, so I just bought a coconut at the grocery. What I did was I split it in half and used spoons and knives

to scrape out all of the fruit and I just gave them the shell. It's a good chewtoy and I like to think maybe the flavor rubbed off, just without the fat

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Q & A / Re: Is it worth it?

« on: April 18, 2011, 01:28:58 PM »

Leo would probably jump that pen. I have a baby who actually hasn't managed four feet yet, but she's starting small. My older one can do it no problem. If you're going after a playpen, I would look at one that's taller; like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Super-Pet-Pet-N-Playpen-Rabbit-Guinea/dp/B000MD3OJO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1303154746&sr=8-6 . I'm not sure how tall it is but it looks to be taller than the other one, and wider as well.

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Guestbook / Re: Checking the place out

« on: April 11, 2011, 02:55:19 PM »

Welcome! Sounds like a cool cage you've got going there! I wish I'd thought of bringing my chin along in order to find the right match. My two are same-gender right now and do not get along AT ALL.

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Q & A / Re: Unsure of what to do.

« on: April 11, 2011, 02:46:45 PM »

Keep us posted on the progress! And I'm sure both Leo and dianah's boy will come around... my older girl, Sammi, will make a running leap into my arms... if I give her enough time to decide I'm safe!

I think she just wants to run, though. Ah, well. She's better than the baby. Cleo loves being scratched but she is terrified when I try to pick her Up!

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General Chat / Re: strange odor

« on: April 10, 2011, 04:35:04 PM »

Oh, good!! I'm glad so many of you guys have experienced this now! My baby does this too, as I said in my post, "Baby-animal thing"! Good to know it's normal.

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Q & A / Re: Unsure of what to do.

« on: April 10, 2011, 04:31:04 PM »

Do you have a bathroom or someplace without many places he can hide under? I would spend sometime-- maybe on a weekend or something-- just doing what dianah said-- letting him run all over you. He may not come at first, but if you just lie on the floor doing your own thing he'll come to you eventually. Also, stay away from the sugar on those treats! It's bad for them. You can try getting some rose hips, shredded oats, dried banana chips, or rose buds and see if he responds to any of those. Also, is there always dust in his pink house? Too many baths will dry out his skin, although he should be getting them pretty regularly.

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General Chat / Re: Baby-animal thing?

« on: March 27, 2011, 06:53:13 AM »

I do give them treats, although not every day. I hadn't realized treats could make their poop softer. In any case, I also read something about hay/pellets varying the hardness? Anyways, dianah, I'm not sure it smells either sweet or fruity

... It's sort of like I feel I've smelled it before, but I just can't place it! It's not exactly bad-- to me it just registers as "baby animal"... except that this never happened with the older one. I think I can only smell it when she's scared or something, because the other day I picked her up and smelled her

and she didn't smell like anything, really. But the first time I noticed it I had been letting her run and picked her up and she tried to run away and then there was this huge waft of it in the air