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1

Q & A / Re: Chin Babies

« on: August 09, 2010, 07:36:13 PM »

Quin is female (my original) and Boss Hogg (the new mom) was supposed to become her BFF.  But when we realized she was pregnant we didn't want to stress her anymore by putting her in with a new chinchilla.  I haven't figured out yet what the babies are - but we are for sure only keeping one if it's female.  These babies were an "oops" on the part of the person who had Boss Hogg before, and for certain not something I feel needs to be repeated.  It was stressfull enough for all of us the first time, LOL!

I think I have some pictures of when the babies were born (that day or the next day) but for sure I can get some tonight - they are so cute and fuzzy! And they will climb on top of the house and jump down just fine, so they might be ok with mom's original cage.  I know she misses her jumping ledges! I think I need to get them a bigger house though, I'm worried that the babies might get squished when they all go in there.  They fit fine now, but the babies are growing by leaps all the time.  Next time I go to the petstore for hay (probably over the weekend) I'll be looking into a larger house.

Any other advice on the babies would be appreciated even if I didn't ask - I know Boss Hogg is taking great care of them so I don't worry too much about that end of it.


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I found the pictures of their birthday (literal, LOL!) but it keeps telling me the file size is too large for me to post Anyone have any ideas on how to fix that?

2

Q & A / Chin Babies

« on: August 09, 2010, 08:38:14 AM »

The chinchilla that I rescued in the spring had babies on July 10.  3 beautiful little ones   She is grey but they are mostly black so I am assuming that dad was black.  It's so cute how they don't match mom at all, LOL!  Kits and mom are flourishing - she is energetic and happy, they are bouncing off the cage walls (literally!!!).  I noticed last night they are eating more and more "grown-up" food like hay and hay pellets. I haven't seen the babies drink any water yet, but I did move the water bottle down really low so they could reach it (and put in another one for mom so she doesn't have to bend so far!!).

So now I have a few questions now that they are getting to be bigger.  How long do I have to keep them in a 1 story cage? I know mom will be ecstatic to get her shelves back and the book I read just said they needed to be in a 1 story so they wouldn't fall, but it didn't say how long.

When will they actually ROLL in the dust bath? This isn't a need to know kind of thing, more of a curiousity.  I put the dust bath in twice a week for mom and the babies look at me (and her actually) like we are nuts with this dust stuff.

How old do they have to be before I can give them away? I know, this sounds heartless.  But there's no way I can keep and properly take care of 5 chinchillas (mom, 3 babies, and my original chin).  I would rather see them go to homes where people will be great owners than stay with me where each one is going to get mediocre attention.  I had to rescue mom.  She was going to die.  I would like to keep 1 to be friends with my original.  But 3 of these  chins are going to have to go.  It's not so bad right now, they are little, mom does most of the care.  But I know it's going to get harder as they mature.  And I don't want to seperate them too early.

And finally - will it be easier to make friends with my original chinchilla with mom or with one of the babies? I've kept them all seperate from my original since I didn't want to stress out mom when she was pregnant or when the babies were small.  She came to my home in such rough shape to start with I figured she didn't need the added stress. So my Quin doesn't "know" any of them.  I hear them chittering at each other occasionally at night, but mostly they ignore each other.  Of course, their cages are on the opposite sides of the room

3

Q & A / Dandelions

« on: April 08, 2008, 11:33:08 AM »

Can Chinchillas eat fresh dandilions?  I am asking because I saw dandelion treats (they look like the yogurt bites) that were marketed towards chinchillas, but nothing I've read on chin care suggests either a yes or a no on the dandelions.  If they can eat the fresh dandilions, wouldn't that be then better for them than the mushed, reformed dandelion product that is sold for them?  I have plenty of the fresh ones - we don't use ANY form of pesticides - and was wondering if I could give them to Quincy.  Thanks for any help!!
E

(on another matter - has anyone here ever noticed that there are WAY more - practically double - the amount of sad smilies for options here than there are happy ones?  Usually it's the other way around.  Are there really that many sad feelings associated with this board?)

4

Q & A / Re: I had a dog / chinchilli question..

« on: March 21, 2008, 12:27:23 AM »

I have a chin and we got a dog (pit bull/lab mix) several months afterwards.  Quincy -  my chin - is very interested in Princess - my dog.  She wants to sniff noses and check out this new thing.  Princess wants to check out Quincy too - and eat her!!!  She tried to bite Quincy through the cage shortly after we got her.  Needless to say, Quincy is never let out of her cage while Princess is in the house.  Just keep in mind that some dogs are hunters of small animals by nature (as is the case with my dog) and will never "get over" that aspect of their breeding. If you do get a dog, keeping the dog apart from your chin may be the best thing for them.

5

Q & A / Hibernation/Winter Food Storing

« on: October 21, 2007, 10:04:58 PM »

I've had my chinchilla since February this year and this will be our first winter together   I've noticed that since the weather turned cooler (she's inside - I would have no idea if/how she would notice the weather - it's just a corollation that I've made) she's been "burying" her food.  She dumps her pellets into her hay on the bottom floor of her cage and buries them.  Do chins hibernate or store food for winter?  She's about 8 months old now.  Could it be an age thing rather than a seasonal thing?  She eats first and then when she's done eating she just pours the rest.

6

Q & A / Re: Quincy - my new Chinchilla :D

« on: April 12, 2007, 08:54:26 AM »

She's always been pretty calm.  She's curious about what's around her, but mostly she chills out.  She "seems" content to just let me pet her (in the cage - out of the cage she likes me to keep my distance).  She eats about half a small handfull of hay and about 1 tblspoon of pellets and I can't tell if she drinks - it doesn't seem to be that much.  She has a water bottle hanging in her cage and she goes up to it, but it seems like the water level doesn't go down much every day.  She pees on her shavings (which I put near her food because that's where she was peeing, but I think I might have to move her food cause to me that's kinda gross!) and I change those every day.  She poops all over the cage   They are oval/cylindrical - but I'm not sure what you mean by too dry or too soft, LOL - should I be able to squish them between my fingers?  I haven't tried to, but I will to test to see about dryness.  As a "person" I would like her to drink more - but I am trained for the 8 -8 oz glasses a day and am really unsure about her water needs.  From reading the other posts on the board (which I wish I would have done BEFORE buying her!!) I am seeing that she's really young.  They told me that she was 8 weeks when I bought her.  Her eyes do not seem dull or glazed over.

7

Q & A / Quincy - my new Chinchilla :D

« on: April 11, 2007, 10:38:50 PM »

Hi everyone   We just got a new chin on Sunday - she's our first ever!  She is so adorable and sweet.  From the second day in our home, she was curious about me, sniffing me through the bars, nibbling my fingers, taking food (hay) from my hand.  Today is the second time I've taken her out of her cage to play on the floor.  She's on a tile floor, but she just sits there, staring at me.  At first, she hopped around and sniffed everything, but now she just sits.  I bought her some blocks (small wood ones) and some chew toys (plain wood again) and a large box to jump on, a bath house (with dust), and a small box to jump on.  She doesn't seem interested in the toys at all - and wouldn't go into the bathhouse.  I think I'm going to try putting the dust into the smaller box to see if she likes the open air better (she doesn't go into her hide box in the cage either - she prefers to "hide" on top of it - it's in the back corner of her cage) but I don't know how to get her to play.  She'll jump around the cage a bit, but she's more curious and into sniffing everything than running around.  Is there something else I could be doing or could she just be a laid back kind of chin?