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1

Health / Wheezing while sleeping?

« on: October 13, 2008, 11:21:59 PM »

Is it normal for a chinnie to make a weird weezy/wheeky noise while he sleeps?  I've heard Charley do this more often, and I'm not sure if its normal or if I should be worried.  Suddenly I'll hear a noise that starts loud and slowly fades away...kind of like "WHEEE, WHeee, Wheee, whee", and when I got see him I notice he's in his resting/sleeping pose.  Other than that he acts perfectly normal, should I worry?

2

General Chat / Introducing....CHARLIE!

« on: July 12, 2008, 09:08:05 AM »

Well, the new addition to the household has arrived :yahoo.  This past week I decided to adopt my sister's chinchilla Charlie, because I just felt it was time and he really needed a good decent home.  She's moved around a lot, and Charlie ended up in the care of my mom, who doesn't have time for him, and he end up alone at the house, sometimes people forgetting to feed him for a couple days.  So I set up a chin-napping and now he's here .

So here he is, my new baby, Charlie boy the chinchilla

Charlie getting acquainted with his new home that I built him:




Getting a well deserved chinchilla dust bath


I love this picture, he was rolling around in circles 


This is the house I built him:




And here is what my Hamster, guinea pig, rabbit, and chinchilla condo looks like now



Charlie is still getting accustomed to his new home, he is doing his best to tear it up :heehee, this morning I found the hidey house at the top upside down on the other side of the cage, I found some of the wood panels on their side, one level fallen, LOL, he was busy last night.  Today I am going to try to anchor down all the stuff he managed to get loose, LOL.

3

Q & A / Need Advice for Charlie the Chin

« on: July 10, 2008, 04:04:04 PM »

,
This is my first post.  I will soon be adopting my sister's chinchilla, Charlie, and was happy to find this site to get more information.  Here is the back story:

My sister has had her Chinchilla Charlie for a couple of years, she got him from her BF when he worked at Petco, I think Charlie was a baby. Anyway, my sister is so scatterbrained, and sadly poor Charlie has had to pay for it. She's moved a lot, and finally ended up at my mom's house, then she moved out this past month, and left Charlie behind. So my mom was left to care for Charlie, and mom is not home that often. This weekend my mom came to my house, and was playing with my babies (I currently have 2 guinea pigs, 1 hamster, and 1 large rabbit) and when she heard the pigs 'grumble' she mentioned how it was funny that when she would forget to feed Charlie for 2-3 days he'd start to make squeeky noises.......MOOOOM, you are supposed to feed him EVERY DAY!! So I can't stand it, that just made me want to cry, poor Charlie, today I'm building a new cage next to the rabbit and the pig's cage and I'm Chin-napping Charlie this weekend. My sister told me before how she'd love for him to come home with me, but I wasn't able to at the time and I knew she was taking care of him. Now I can't stand knowing this poor little guy is going days without food. I know my mom loves Charlie and isn't trying to be neglectful on purpose, she just can't care for him properly and is very forgetful.

So I guess I'm kind of looking for advice.  I've been researching all day about his housing and feeding.  He has an XL Super Pet cage, but I will be building him something different.  My other babies have very large cages, I know they need to have plenty of room, and I just don't see the super pet cage being big enough.  I'm used to building cages for the pigs and the rabbit with cubes and zip ties, my only question is:

1. How tall and wide is it recommended for a chin's cage to be?
2. Do they just need bedding at the bottom of the cage?
3. Do you keep the dust baths inside the cage at all times?
4. Can I only put wooden stuff in his cage, or can I put cardboard in there as well?

As for feeding, I was wondering:

1. Do they only need hay and pellets on a daily basis?  For my pigs, hamster, and rabbit I feed them veggies twice a day, and give them a small dose of pellets.  But from what I've read, for chin's its the opposite?  Also, what kind of pellets are best?  I know for rabbits and pigs pellets with extra junk in them are not good, is it the same for chins?  Also, I have lots of hay, is just regular hay at the bottom of the cage good?  Or do they need a special designated area for the hay? 

That is all I can think of for now.  I'll be busy this evening, I appreciate all the help!

PS: this is what my furbaby condo looks like right now.  Bella the hamster is on top, Nismo and Momo the guinea pigs have their 2x4 home in the middle, and Dori the rabbit has the 2x2x4 cage below (she is running loose around the house anytime I'm home).  I was thinking of building Charlie's cage to the right.