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[IkiKolohe]

Aloha!!

I have a few more questions. I'm going to post them in three different posts in case others might find the subject matter interesting!

I'm ordering a triple height Critter Nation.  I plan to remove the "floor" of the middle one, but leave the cutout "floor" between the second and third.  I do believe I'll eventually get a male and my thoughts are I could block that top one off for a single chin.  The bottom part would house my 2 girls...  Though they'd have access to all 3 starting out!

I'm making all my own shelves, ledges, hidey holes, bridges, tunnels, hammocks, etc.  My question is how much distance should I put between the major shelves.  I'm thinking either 6" or 8".  But when you are a small chinchilla, 2" can make a big difference!!  I know I don't want long "drops" anywhere to keep from injuring during a mis-jump or something... What's the max distance between 2 ledges/shelves?

Mahalo in advance for any help you can give!!
Tina

[GrayRodent]

I have a double height ferret nation cage with is almost identical. I think the only major difference is the CN has tighter bar spacing. One section is actually more than enough for one chinchilla.
If you have two females and a male I think that will be okay. But you should be careful if you have two males and one female because the males may fight. Having that third section is great in case the girls decide to start fighting each other for whatever reason.

I've actually replaced the floor of the cage with wood and a grate system that allows waste to fall down onto a false floor. On the second level I built a box that facilitates this. I'm not sure what kind of the floor the CN comes with but you can probably get some aftermarket metal floor pans if you haven't done that. The plastic FN cage floor cannot be used with chinchillas. They will chew it and escape. And there's always the issue of plastic which can be fatal if enough is ingested. If the cage comes with wire ramps like mine did do not use them with chins. They are known to cause foot fractures and even worse.

In my cage My shelves are spaced about 1/2 of the height of each section. Some are spaced in 1/3 heights of the section. My chins have no problems with that configuration. They can easily jump from the floor to the top shelf if they so choose. One shelf I have above a wheel to keep them from getting on top of the wheel which is dangerous. That is a distance of about 4 inches from the surface to the ceiling. It's also my pet's favorite shelf to sleep on.

I used to have my cage combined for my two chins but they weren't that compatible with each other and now they live in separate sections. They are both happy with that. When they were combined the height between the top shelf and the floor did seem steep to me. I expect a fall from that would not be good. For one chin it wasn't an issue but with two playing and quarreling with each other I was not near as comfortable with the idea. So I do recommend putting a partial floor between sections to arrest any potential falls. However having two combined sections with lots of shelves I have never had any injuries myself.

As you might know chinchillas are not discriminate about making babies. Please be sure to keep the male separated from the female at all times and not to the let them out with each other even for brief periods.

[IkiKolohe]

I have a double height ferret nation cage with is almost identical. I think the only major difference is the CN has tighter bar spacing. One section is actually more than enough for one chinchilla.
If you have two females and a male I think that will be okay. But you should be careful if you have two males and one female because the males may fight. Having that third section is great in case the girls decide to start fighting each other for whatever reason.

I'm bringing home 2 girls to start with... Then later, I MIGHT decide to get a male for breeding.  If that's the case, I'll more than likely turn the 3rd story into a bachelor pad.

I've actually replaced the floor of the cage with wood and a grate system that allows waste to fall down onto a false floor. On the second level I built a box that facilitates this.

Any chance you could take some pictures of how you modified yours??  My brain Can't picture with just what you've written.

In my cage My shelves are spaced about 1/2 of the height of each section. Some are spaced in 1/3 heights of the section. My chins have no problems with that configuration. They can easily jump from the floor to the top shelf if they so choose. One shelf I have above a wheel to keep them from getting on top of the wheel which is dangerous. That is a distance of about 4 inches from the surface to the ceiling. It's also my pet's favorite shelf to sleep on.

Okie, so each story is 24", so half would be 12", third would be 8".

As you might know chinchillas are not discriminate about making babies. Please be sure to keep the male separated from the female at all times and not to the let them out with each other even for brief periods.

Yeppers, quite aware of this!  I'll do my best to not have any accidental breeding!  [/font][/size]

[GrayRodent]

Making a demo of my cage is something I've been threatening to do for a while. Perhaps today is the day. I think I'll make a few videos of it because there is a lot to see there. Considering you are doing some serious woodworking I think you'll want to emulate some of the features in this cage.

If you want to breed I highly recommend checking out Empress Chinchilla and perhaps joining them. (http://empresschinchilla.org/)
They have a lot of knowledge there specifically about breeding. I highly recommend getting breeders from a chinchilla show that have been evaluated and are  of decent quality. If you can't do this then I can request that you don't breed because if you care about the chinchilla owner's community you are going to care greatly about employing the highest standards possible of breeding. They are a good place to start for getting serious about breeding.

[BLS Chins]

You want to be sure that your chins cant fall more than 16 inches. Any higher and they can harm themselves if they miss a jump. So over lapping ledges or adding hammocks can help.

Is there a specific reason you want to breed? It can be very costly and your cages are not breeding appropriate. Are your females from a reputable breeder with pedigrees?

[GrayRodent]

I started the cage filming thing, at least got the equipment ready today but had some problems. It's pretty much a vacation weekend and I have too many other things going on right now. So that's on hold. At the very least I will make some photos available tomorrow. I'm using a system of wood planks on rails that are fitted tightly so there are no gaps with the doors closed. One of the "planks" is a frame with a wire floor stapled underneath of it.

Beneath that floor are more rails with the plastic tray on them to catch the droppings. This is completely inaccessible to the chinchilla. Beneath the wire is a puppy training pad that catches the urine and the mess. To change is out all I have to do is lift the frame.

On the upper level I use the wire floor that came with the cage although chinchillas can't use it. So I covered it over with wood planks to make a solid floor. Then I built a box that sits on top of that and when you close the door it secures it in place. It has a floor of aluminum sheeting and an inset frame identical to the one on the bottom floor inside of it about 2" off the aluminum floor. So there's also a puppy pad, although folded up to fit inside and lay flat.

[IkiKolohe]

You want to be sure that your chins cant fall more than 16 inches. Any higher and they can harm themselves if they miss a jump. So over lapping ledges or adding hammocks can help.

Mahalo!!  Exactly the info I was looking for.    even though it's still a month or 2 off before the weather cools off enough for my girls to make the 45 minute jump from their island to mine, I'm having fun using all my dads woodworking tools and my own sewing/crafting talents to create a dream chinchilla home 

Is there a specific reason you want to breed? It can be very costly and your cages are not breeding appropriate. Are your females from a reputable breeder with pedigrees?

I've moved this reply to a different thread.  I have a feeling it could get fairly long and it has nothing to do with this thread.  Give me a bit to write out my thoughts, then I'll post on a more on-topic board.

~ Tina[/font][/size]