I'm not very good at introductions, so I'll say what comes to mind.
I'm 23 and am currently in Edmonton. I own two chinchillas; one is a male standard grey named 'Grey' and the other is a female black velvet named 'Velvet'. They do not know their names yet, but I have taught Velvet several tricks and I believe she has the capacity to learn a lot. Grey is very shy and generally does not come out of his cage. He appears to be a bit of a fur biter, but this behaviour has decreased since I purchased him and his fur is slowly growing in. They are both well adjusted with each other but do not like being held. Both can be hand fed quite easily.
They were purchased recently two weeks apart from separate pet shops. I chose Velvet after she showed interest in me when I passed the display. I purchased her the next day. After two weeks of being with Velvet, I decided to get her a companion as I knew that chinchillas housed together tend to be better adjusted if you can't give as much attention. I brought Velvet with me to help me decide on a second chinchilla. After several bad introductions with several chinchillas around the city, Velvet appeared to get along very well at first with Grey. Upon taking them both back home, Velvet did not appreciate the intruder in her cage (a Ferret Nation 142 bi-level) and chased and sprayed Grey on sight. As the cage is very large, Grey was able to keep his distance and I settled on getting some sleep and properly partitioning the cage in the morning. When I awoke, they were sleeping together contently. The fastest chinchilla introduction I've seen or heard about. Both chinchillas seem to be very happy with each other and Velvet's personality has become more open as a result.
The cage has been modified somewhat to create a more interesting and stimulating environment for the chinchillas. On the bottom of the cage rests a giant maze created from 4" PVC pipe. The bottom half of the cage also has a quarter divided out of it with several 2x4s. The chinchillas MUST use the PVC pipe to access this quarter and subsequently the top half of their cage. The design was initially simple at first, being largely square and surrounding a Super Pet "Woodland Get-Away". As the chinchillas were forced to use the pipe to access the top half of the cage where the food and water was located, it was not long before they were able to masterfully find their way through it. I have recently changed the design to be more vertical to challenge them. They have mastered the new design almost instantly.
The levels are supposed to be connected with a metal ladder ramp that clips to the cage. I found this ramp to be potentially dangerous to the chinchillas. Although the designers of the cage provided several easy to clean soft "happy feet" covers for the ramps, I was worried they might chew it. So I cut a length of aspen and used a mitre box to carve out notches for traction. I would later find that my fears were unfounded as I later provided them the fabric out of curiosity and they did not chew it. It now covers another length of aspen to give them a soft place to sit.
The cage's top half contains the usual planks and stands that chinchilla cages normally do. A 4" PVC pipe connects two platforms at the rear of the cage and an aspen 1x4 crosses the front top half of this level. Both chinchillas have developed the interesting habit of running laps through this arrangement, no doubt because I have not provided them a wheel yet. It is interesting to watch, particularly when they both do it at once. I intend to order a flying saucer type wheel next week.
The hay is kept in a wire hay holder sold for the purpose. After I caught Velvet several times standing on the collapsible arms of the rack to pick from the top and hissing at her to dissuade her from doing so, I modified the hay holder to be mounted on the outside of the cage; the hay sticking through to the inside. She was not impressed with this modification. Grey was indifferent.
It was my intention to generally keep them in the cage and handle them as little as possible to keep a little bit of the 'wild' in them. However, I previously owned chinchillas and I couldn't resist. Taking them out once every two to three days was becoming a daily infatuation and now Velvet is upset and chatters if she is put back into her cage, particularly if I don't give her a treat afterwards. She is also extremely well adjusted to being a lap pet, my first ever chinchilla that's had this behaviour. I am able to pet her slowly and lightly and she'll even go to sleep when I'm petting her. She sleeps on her side, but this is not an issue. Grey is indifferent to the out of cage experience choosing to spend large amounts of his time behind the toilet in solitude much as he does in the cage, except of course, when he snuggles with Velvet. Grey does not like behind handled whatsoever and even light gentle attempts at petting is likely to send him bounding off to hide.
As for treats? Aha, the joke's on them! Alfalfa pellets. I can give them quite a bit because their main diet is timothy pellets and hay. They love it and don't miss the treats at all. This makes it very easy to coax and train them. Being able to give them more than one or two a day greatly accelerates the training process and helps to reinforce the behaviour I am trying to coax out of them. It also makes for healthier chinchillas as they won't be as prone to diabetes. Additionally, this allows them to set the rate at which I teach them. Velvet seems to average about 7 iterations of a behaviour I am trying to teach before she decides she's had enough. Grey, again, is indifferent to any training and I simply give him the pellets when he comes out when I am training Velvet.
Velvet has mastered "up" which means she is to go to the top-front of the cage to recieve the treat. Velvet is also slowly learning "down" which means she is to go to the front of the quatered off section of the cage to recieve the treat. And she is quickly learning "stand" which means she must stand only on her hind legs. I have started with having her lift her front paws in reaction to the command and have slowly increased the distance she has to stand to recieve her treat. Grey has learned nothing.
I seem to have been blessed with tidy chinchillas. They urinate and even DEFACATE in the same spots in their cage. I kid you not, 75% to 80% of their droppings are always in the same two or three locations. This makes it extremely easy to clean up, although I must clean more often as it piles up rather quickly. But instead of doing a complete change out of the shavings, I merely have to vacuum out the droppings and the pipe maze. On the downside, they tend to scatter their shavings and I have to vacuum in and behind their cage much more often. Several pine planks have been mounted vertically to the back and right side of the cage to help contain the shavings.
As the pair are different sexes, they are able to breed. Grey has made only a single attempt to do so with the end result being urine spray and a very angry female. Grey has not attempted this again and I hope he doesn't. If he does, I hope Velvet keeps her attitude the same and fends him off. I can manage one litter of kits before I intend to neuter him, and neutering is very expensive. He is a very shy and submissive chinchilla and I don't see him having the confidence to try again. In any case, I welcome any new arrivals with open arms.
Some introduction! That's basically a biography!
