Moving With Chinchilla Question

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Cass C

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 22, 2014
Messages
154
Hey Everyone! I am getting ready to move about 20 minutes away in February, so it's not a long distance move. My question is what would make this the least stressful for my chinchilla. I currently have her in a three level Critter Nation cage, so it's 9ft tall and won't be easy to move. She will be in a little cat carrier for the trip.

I have a few options for what to do once we are at the new house.

Option 1: I have a single level critter nation that is much easier to move I can put up in the new place, so she won't be in the cat carrier for a really long time while we move and setup the big cage. Which might not happen the first night since we are doing all the moving ourselves.

Option 2: I can put the chinchilla into the single level now and have the big cage disassembled and ready to be put in to the new house, so she can go straight into the big cage at the new place.

Option 3: Is a last resort to move both her and the big cage at the same time, so she would be in the tiny carrier a lot longer.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I just want the transition to be as stress free as possible for her. I'd love to hear suggestions.

Here is a picture of Ender.

Ender.jpg
 
Id put her in the carrier and then when you get there, put her back in her normal cage. She will have a lot of new stuff to get used to. Good to have something that she used to like her cage.
 
I'd go with option 2, put her in the single level cage for now and get her normal cage all set up at your new home so she has something familiar in the new place. That way everything doesn't change for her all at once. New sights, smells, and sounds, but same old familiar cage to settle into.
 
In the past I have dedicated most of one day moving to her and I put her in the single level cage while she watches me disassemble her kingdom, then I put her in the carrier and take her and her kingdom to the new place and she watches me reassemble it. Then I turn her loose.
 
When i brought mine home from the humane society, i was surprised that mine was completely fine and content, and actually went to sleep in the box he came in. Maybe you will be that lucky? it was around a 20-30 min drive back
 
Haha I wouldn't say mine experiences anxiety but she is definitely alert. Although I have moved so often I think she is used to it.
 
I take mine on two hour trips to and from college several times a year. It's not ideal but it's been our only option. If you're worried about stress, is there a way you can have the other cage set up when you move so she goes straight from one to the other and you just throw in the same houses, hammocks, etc that she had in the other one? That's what I do with mine now. They get a little annoyed when we go back to school because each bonded pair only have a single unit in my double CN, whereas at home each pair has a double FN. But having things that smell like them seems to make the trips easier. By now they're just used to it as well. :).
 
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