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1

Health / Signs of Malo or something else

« on: September 03, 2013, 09:57:00 PM »

Hi everyone! I know I've been posting a lot, but please bear with me, this is important. The fur around my chinchilla's right eye is always wet and matted down. It's not a big area, only about a quarter inch around the eye. Now here's the part that's confusing me, the area around the eye has looked like that for as long as I've had him ( I've owned him for a year, and he is around 15 months old). So, here's my question, what does he have? Could it be an eye infection or injury that still hasn't healed itself after a year, could it be malo (even though he is still growing which means he's eating, plus, at the rate chinchilla teeth grow, wouldn't he have already died if he's had it for close to a year), or could it possibly be his hair around his eyeball is somehow irritating his eye and causing it to become wet? Please let me know if you guys have any answers! I'd really like to take him to a vet, but we're tight on money now. Thank you!

2

General Chat / "Breaking News" about Critter Nation Bass Pans

« on: September 03, 2013, 08:37:19 PM »

Well, I have some breaking news to share with everyone! I just finished talking with the people over at Bass Equipment, and I am happy to announce that they have FINALLY began selling deep metal replacement pans for the two smaller half size trays in the Critter Nation 161! For years they only sold the two large pans made for the top and bottom of the cage, and you'd be left to your own devices to replace the smaller pans with either fleece or wood ledges, but I guess they've heard all of our laments and have now began selling the smaller pans too. I just ordered mine, they cost about $16 dollars each, and since they're not on the website yet they have to be ordered over the phone. The one drawback however is while the two big pans are 2 3/4 inches deep, the smaller half size pans are only an inch deep. Hopefully they'll still work though! I'll be getting mine by next Friday, so I'll post some pictures and additional details then! Now all of us can finally outfit our entire cage with the deep metal Bass pans, thank the chinchilla gods! Lol jk
P.S. Does anybody know what type of Rustoleum I should use on my pans and how long I should let them cure for?

3

Q & A / Re: Temporary Chinchilla Cage

« on: August 30, 2013, 12:49:52 PM »

Thanks for the advice. The chinchillas will be in the temporary cage for no more than 4 days at the most. I just found out I can't even keep them in the pen if I wanted to since there is no place to attach their water bottle. I'll make sure to keep it cool in the car, and I'll set up a quiet area in the new house before I take the chins over. Thank you!

4

Q & A / Temporary Chinchilla Cage

« on: August 30, 2013, 11:12:37 AM »

Hi guys,
I have a quick question. My family is moving to a new house in December and I'll need to keep my chinchillas in a temporary cage for a few days during the moving process since their current cage (A critternation) will need to be partially taken apart so we can move it. The temporary cage that we have in mind is 38 inches long, 19 inches wide, and 19 inches tall and will need to house two chinchillas. Do you think this will suffice for about three days? If not, would the chinchilla's playpen be ok to keep them in ( the playpen looks like this ) I can set up the play pen, put some sort of non chewable covering on the ground, and I can put a long board of wood on top of the play pen to keep them from jumping out. Any suggestions? Also, does anybody have any tips to make this moving process less stressful for the little guys? The drive to the house is only about ten minutes, so they shouldn't get too stressed in the car. Thank you!
~Chris

5

Cages / Suggestions For Building My Own Cage

« on: August 29, 2013, 11:25:38 AM »

Hello Everyone,
Lately I have found myself very unhappy with my chinchilla's double Critter Nation cage. The pans are super shallow (and the Bass metal pans need to be painted or powder coated plus, they don't make the metal pans for the smaller middle levels on the top and bottom of the cage), the wire bars easily break when you attach an exercise wheel to them, and I just feel like it's poor quality. So, I've decided I would like to build my own cage! Currently I am in the preliminary planning process, I've been doing some research and seeing what it takes to build one of these cages. I shouldn't have much trouble during the assembly of the cage since my grandfather who lives with us is a very handy engineer, my brother is very good a building things, and we have a close family friend who we can call upon for some emergency help. But, I need some advice about materials. For those of you who have built cages, or who are familiar with building cages, I have some questions:
1. What materials did you use for the walls, shelves, etc.
2. Is melamine coated wood a good material for a chinchilla cage? I've heard from some that it's great and super easy to clean, but other have said that a chinchilla can get sick if it starts gnawing on the melamine which is toxic.
3. How did you secure shelves, etc? Did you use gorilla glue or liquid nails? Did you just screw them in, or, if you have an all wire cage, how did you attach the shelves?
4. Was your cage solid sides with a wire front, or was it all wire? If it was all wire, what type of wire did you use? Would you recommend using vinyl coated wire?
5. Finally, do you have any blueprints, plans, or pictures from cages that you have built. A blueprint or plan that I can base my cage off of would be greatly appreciated
Thank you everybody for reading my very long post. You guys are always very helpful when I have questions! By the way, I will make sure to do ALL necessary research and planning before I jump into this project and I will always have my chinchillas safety in mind when building!
~Chris

6

Q & A / Chinchilla Water Filtration

« on: August 27, 2013, 10:29:15 PM »

Hi fellow chinchilla owners,
I have a question about water for my chinchillas. For a few months now I've been giving my chinchillas plain regular water from the sink (it's city water, not well water) but I've realized that though convenient, tap water can contain giardia and other microbes that'll possibly make my chinchillas sick one day. So, I have the following questions, what do you think I should use to give my chinchillas good and clean water. Would you recommend a Brita or Pur filter (and if so, do you recommend the filter pitchers, or the one that attach to the sink), should I use the reverse osmosis method (which I don't know anything about, so please someone tell me about it), or, to make life easier, should I just buy jugs of filtered water from the supermarket? Also, I have two miscellaneous questions:
1. Does putting the chinchilla's water bottle in the dishwasher suffice, or should it be cleaned with water and bleach, or some other method?
2. The chinchillas should only have room temperature water, correct? I've only ever given them room temperature water, but I've heard others say cold is fine too, though I thought cold would give them a chill? Does anybody know?
Thank you everybody, any and all answers are greatly appreciated!

7

Health / Re: Wet Chinchillas Poop

« on: February 15, 2013, 10:11:03 AM »

Thank you guys so much! I just bought a new food (it's basically the same as the last one) I'll pick out the treats and see what happens. I was noticing that there were a lot of treats in the food. I'm thinking it is just the food because my chins have been acting fine, playing, running around etc. I'll keep you posted 

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8

Health / Re: Wet Chinchillas Poop

« on: February 13, 2013, 10:02:17 PM »

It's not runny, but it does smear if you touch it.

9

Health / Wet Chinchillas Poop

« on: February 13, 2013, 09:09:49 PM »

Hi fellow chinchilla owners, I recently noticed that one of my chinchillas has been having fairly wet poops. Instead of the poops being their regular firm football shapes, they are more like black shriveled blobs that are moist and get stuck and smeared into my chinchilla's fur. He doesn't seem sick because he's been running around the cage and playing all day. I've heard that sometimes diarrhea is cause by too many treats. I feed my chinchillas LM Farms Bonanza Gourmet Diet, which has many treats already mixed in including, dried banana, rose hips, and other little snacks. I'm not sure if the food with all its snacks is causing the wet poops (the food is high in fiber, which does help you poop) or if it is something else.Thanks for all your help!!!! I'll check on my chinchillas in the morning to see if they still have the diarrhea.

10

Cages / Toys For My Chinchillas

« on: October 02, 2012, 09:08:44 AM »

Hi Guys,
I recently bought a Midwest Critter Nation Cage for my chins and I need to know, what are some good toys to put in the cage. I currently only have a dinky little hammock for them to play in, I know, it's boring! Any suggestions of fun (and cheap!!!) toys would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

11

Health / Re: Are my chinchillas getting too hot?

« on: October 02, 2012, 08:59:43 AM »

Thanks a bunch GrayRodent. I think I'll start looking into a portable air conditioner for them.
Bobo and Moose thank you too!

12

Health / Are my chinchillas getting too hot?

« on: October 01, 2012, 09:17:50 PM »

Hi everyone,
I need urgent help, I need to know if my chinchillas are too hot. The room they are currently in stays between 72 and 76 degrees. When it gets too hot, and before I go to bed, I place the cage in a room which stays about 70 degrees. I'm going to the store tomorrow to buy a "chin chiller," a granite slab that they lay on if it is too hot. In the meantime though, could someone please answer these two questions:
1: let me know what a good temperature range is for chinchillas
2: How to spot heat exhaustion
Thank you so much!!!
Sincerely,
Chris
And the chins, BoBo and Moose