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[Indigoblue9572]

Hi all,

I found this board today and am so glad to read everyone's posts about their chins!  I've never had them before, but used to do animal rescue and have dealt with them in my prior field of veterinary assisting. 

We are the proud parents of two 9 week old baby boys.  One is very hyper and the other quite calm.  We just got them last night from a woman who had rescued their parents and didn't realize the female was pregnant, so once the babies were born wanted to get them into a good home. 

We have a large cage with several levels but didn't realize until we put the chins in it last night that the side bars are wider spaced than the front, back and top, so had to get smaller screening to temporarily wrap the sides so they can't wiggle out.  We're planning to get them some toys and bedding and some cage accessories after work today. 

I'm sure I'll end up with more questions as the days go by.  We have a cat and we're working very slowly (and VERY carefully) at introducing him.  So far, the only room we have "chin proofed" is our tiny bathroom, and both chins had a blast running around and crawling all over us last night.  The cat just watches them running around and if they get too close he hisses but hasn't tried to do anything else (and we're right there holding him so he can't hurt them).

I'd love to get to the point of letting them explore larger areas of our tiny 1 bedroom apartment, but sheesh I can't imagine being able to safely allow that!!  We'll never leave them alone with the cat and we roll their cage into our walk in closet at night so he can't stick his paws in the cage.

I don't really have any questions other than how fast do these little guys grow?  At 9 weeks, they're palm of your hand sized and can just fit anywhere!  I'm wondering how long we'll have to keep the "chicken wire" on the sides of the cage.

Thanks and any suggestions, comments or advice is more than welcome!

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

Congrats on your new chinchillas! What are their names?

[Indigoblue9572]

We haven't quite named them yet but their parents are "Sage" and "Basil" so we were thinking "Barley" and "Hops"

[GrayRodent]

I don't know if this will help but I got my chinchilla at 3 months and he was 300g. He could pretty much fit in my hand (although I have long fingers) and had short stubby whiskers that he lost in about three weeks. Looked really strange for a while when his long ones were growing in. At about 6 months now he is around 440g is a double handful and is still growing about 4 grams a week. He also has decent blood lines and should get up to 500g (average weight for males). I had a chin from a pet store that didn't get much passed 400g but I know they can get up to 700g sometimes. The females grow larger.

Getting them at such a young age is awesome. They will become remarkably tame if you keep working with them.
It might be worth it to put them into a different cage with 1/2" x 1" bar spacing for a couple of months. Perhaps someone can comment on this but I think chicken wire might be unsafe for chins.

[Indigoblue9572]

Thanks for your reply.

I thought the wire he used was "chicken" wire but it's actually rabbit/guinea pig/small animal wire with tiny square spacing.  He fashioned it to fit over the back and two sides and so far, everything is working well.

I don't want them to grow up too fast, but yeah, to know that we don't have to have the extra wire (it impedes our view of them) would be nice.

They're doing well.  It is normal though, for them to play for a while and then get really quiet and just kinda sit there not sleeping, just sit for a period of say, 20 minutes or so?  They also fell asleep pretty early last night at 9:30 after we had them out for about an hour giving them their dust baths and letting them run the kitchen and play.  I was surprised they were asleep so quickly since the first night we got them they were up ALL night long.

[GrayRodent]

I suppose it is normal for baby animals to take frequent rests and that is likely what you're observing. With chinchillas you do have to be careful about overheating. If the room temperature is above 75 you might notice them becoming lethargic and laying on their sides after being active. Truth is this can even happen at lower temperatures depending on the exertion.

Anything above 73 is considered unhealthy especially when the animals are active. Holding them in your hands will accelerate the process. They may not be able to cool down if it gets above 80 and the risk of death from overheating becomes significant. Most chinchilla owners will have a thermometer by the cage to keep track.

When my chinchilla is hot I can sometimes tell by the veins in his ears and by his posture. Usually this occurs when he is running around and playing rough. It's something that you just have to learn from experience.

As far as sleep goes I've noticed there can be a lot of variation in their sleep depending on how much you handle them and let them out during the day. Since you just got them it may take a week or so before they adjust to their new place and schedule. Mine will usually sleep partway through the middle of the night.

[Indigoblue9572]

Thanks again!

We keep our apartment at 68 and their cage is in the dining room away from any heat vents or drafts.  When we let them out, it's usually for an hour or so in the evening and we let them play in the kitchen as it's a small room and we've completely "chin-proofed" it. 

They don't like to be held for long, just short periods and we don't force them to be held unless we're trying to move them from one room to another and that's just briefly.

There's so much to learn about these little guys but we're so happy to have them and they're so entertaining to watch!