My New Chin's New House

Hello everyone. I am getting my first ever chinchilla from a breeder on December 6th. I have done so much research on chinchilla's, and I'm trying to make sure that I am doing everything right. I am going to put links to everything I am getting so that you all can look at it if you'd like and let me know if I'm purchasing something that I really should not be purchasing (or if there is something that I need that I am forgetting).

I recently purchased a Critter Nation double cage (here) which I received yesterday. I finished setting it up about 15 minutes ago (images at the bottom of this post).

Tonight I will be picking up the two metal pans with 3" sides that I ordered from Bass Equipment. I read plastic is not good for chinchillas, so I don't want to have any of that in my cage. Within a week I should have a flying saucer wheel (here - it is the 13 3/4" with wire cage wall stand).

I have ordered a water filter (here) as I was told that tap water can be harmful to chinchillas.

For food I have purchased three types of Oxbow hay (here, here, and here), and Oxbow Essentials Chinchilla Deluxe (here).

For bedding I purchased Kaytee Aspen Bedding (here). I just came across another thread where someone put tile in for flooring on both levels of their cage. Honestly, that looks really nice, and I'm probably going to end up doing that using ceramic tile.

I also purchased this container to store bedding (large container) and food (small container).

For his bath I have ordered Oxbow Poof Blue Cloud (here). As far as a bath container, do you think it would be okay for me to use a small (10 gallon) aquarium that has never been used? Or should I stick with one of those plastic bath houses that every pet store seems to endorse?

I also have some Lava Ledges (here) and some Lava Bites (here).

The only things I am really wanting to do now is get wooden shelving, and change out the wire ramps that came with the cage for some wooden ramps. For now I'll use the wire ramps (they came with fleece sleeves to put over them), but I really don't like having them.

Also, I am needing to get a little house for him to sleep in. Does anyone have suggestions on a great house/hideaway?

P.S. I'll be updating this thread with pictures of my progress. Tonight I'll be able to add pictures of the cage with the new metal pans in it.

Most of the stuff sounds great, as for the ramps, just remove them completely, chins don't need ramps they hop not walk. The fleece ramp covers chins can easily pull off. For the dust bath, anything at least a gallon that they can roll in works, a 10 gallon aquarium may be too big, you'd have to use a lot of dust to cover the bottom a lot of people use those gallon candy jars without the lid of coarse.
The house my boys have is this one it gives them some place to sleep and chew on. You could probably got with the smaller one with having only one chin though.

Some other things you might want to put on your list are food bowl, glass water bottle, hay holder, lots and lots of chew toys (hanging toys, toss toys, shredding toys, etc), and some fleece hammocks. Depending on the age you are getting, if the chin is under 6 months hold off on giving him the wheel, kits need to grow and can over do it on a wheel. You also want to get a scale that measures in grams so you can keep track of weight, weight loss is commonly the first sign of trouble.

If you are going with tile you'll want to litter train the chin to pee in a litter box, so you'll need something for that, either a small metal pan or glass pan. Otherwise I would think the pee sitting in puddles on the tile could cause issues of getting on the chin.

Amethyst said:

Most of the stuff sounds great, as for the ramps, just remove them completely, chins don't need ramps they hop not walk. The fleece ramp covers chins can easily pull off. For the dust bath, anything at least a gallon that they can roll in works, a 10 gallon aquarium may be too big, you'd have to use a lot of dust to cover the bottom a lot of people use those gallon candy jars without the lid of coarse.
The house my boys have is this one it gives them some place to sleep and chew on. You could probably got with the smaller one with having only one chin though.

Some other things you might want to put on your list are food bowl, glass water bottle, hay holder, lots and lots of chew toys (hanging toys, toss toys, shredding toys, etc), and some fleece hammocks. Depending on the age you are getting, if the chin is under 6 months hold off on giving him the wheel, kits need to grow and can over do it on a wheel. You also want to get a scale that measures in grams so you can keep track of weight, weight loss is commonly the first sign of trouble.

If you are going with tile you'll want to litter train the chin to pee in a litter box, so you'll need something for that, either a small metal pan or glass pan. Otherwise I would think the pee sitting in puddles on the tile could cause issues of getting on the chin.

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1) You know, I was wondering about the ramps and what purpose they truly serve from the chinchillas I have seen. I'm going to leave the ramps out for now, and I can get wood ramps at a later time if I see a need for it.

2) I think that "candy jar" looks a lot better to me. Unless someone sees a downside to using that for a bath house, I think that's what I'll get.

I spoke with the breeder about a half hour ago. The chinchilla I am getting is just over 6 months old, and he's actually got a brother (same age). She doesn't really want to split them up since they have been together since they were born. I am in agreement, so I'm actually getting two chinchillas instead of one. That brings me to my third point:

3) That house you listed costs less (with shipping) than the ones I was looking at here. Do you think the ones I was looking at would be better as they are designed specifically for chinchillas, or would you suggest I save a couple of bucks and get the one from Amazon that you showed? There isn't too much of a difference in price, but you've had success with the Amazon one, and I haven't seen reviews for the Simply Chintastic houses.

4) How silly of me to remember the food and the water filter, but forget the containers to hold them. Sheesh. I am really glad I posted this, and thank you so much for reminding me of those little (and extremely vital) items. For the food I'll just get a ceramic bowl. I saw a few wire hay hangars at the pet store that I'll get for the hay. For the water I saw a glass Kaytee water bottle (here). Since I will have two chinchillas should I also get two water bottles, or do you think they'd be fine sharing the one?

5) As far as toys, I don't have a lot of those. I have lava bites, some generic chew/play toys that I saw at the pet store, and I'm getting a pumice stone as well (I hear that they like those). I plan on getting a lot more toys, as well as some tubing for them to crawl through, but I probably won't be able to do that until around the 1st of January. Do you think with the wheel, and about 6 different toys they would be fine for a few weeks? Or does that need to be done right now?

6) I am assuming that a common food scale (like this) would do the trick. Thoughts?

7) I will probably have the tile done before I get the chinchillas, but I'll still use Aspen Bedding on top of it until I can see where they usually go, and then slowly reduce the aspen bedding until they have just the bedding in the one corner. I'll look into another ceramic or metal pan to put in that area and hold the bedding.

I appreciate all of your advice and input. If you have (or anyone else has) anything else to add feel free to do so. Thanks a ton!

Last I heard, Simply Chintastic had a really long wait list for orders. You may want to email them and check on availability of what you are looking for. If they are booked out too far, I would suggest trying Rick at NOLA Chinchilla Rescue: http://nolachinrescue.webs.com/houseshaybinsstairs.htm or Christine at Twilight Chinchillas: http://twilightchinchillastoysandmore.weebly.com/houses.html.

And yes, that food scale would be fine.

Chinmama said:

Last I heard, Simply Chintastic had a really long wait list for orders. You may want to email them and check on availability of what you are looking for. If they are booked out too far, I would suggest trying Rick at NOLA Chinchilla Rescue: http://nolachinrescue.webs.com/houseshaybinsstairs.htm or Christine at Twilight Chinchillas: http://twilightchinchillastoysandmore.weebly.com/houses.html.

And yes, that food scale would be fine.

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I just received an email back this morning, and you are right. They're backed up to the beginning of next year. I really liked everything I saw in the NOLA link you provided. I think for now I'll get the house from Amazon (as it's cheap, and fast), and then after Christmas I'll get a better house from that link you provided. Also, I got my two metal pans from Bass Equipment yesterday.

Without metal pans:


With metal pans:

The Simply Chintastic stuff looks great, but as said the wait list tends to be long, but if you are willing to spend the extra money go with a better quality house. It will probably last longer and no worry about the company changing the construction (the house I linked use to be make with nails, mine has wood pegs but if you get an older one it could still have nails).

I strongly advise two of everything for two chins, that completely eliminates having an issue of resource guarding and causing a fight. If you go with a ceramic bowl make sure it's heavy, chins love to throw the food bowls around. Another option is to go with a metal coop cup instead that hook to the bars of the cage.

Most hay holders in pet stores are more designed for rabbits or guinea pigs, the wire ones aren't safe for chins, they can and have gotten feet and legs caught. Better options for hay would be clay pots, fleece bags, or wooden boxes for examples (both links from Chinmama have the wood hay holders).

Some toys for now should be fine, but keep in mind they need to always be chewing, and rotating toys is a good idea to keep things interesting. Also each chin have their own preference for what kind of wood they like (basic safe wood list here) and what kinds of material they like to chew on (loofa, palm leaf, sea grass, coconut shell, bamboo, cardboard, pumice, etc), so you do need a variety. You don't need a ton all at once, just and assortment to have on hand to change things out over time. Check out the vendors on here for toys, you can get a lot more and in some cases safer toys for cheaper the you'll find in pet stores, as well as toy parts and chew sticks. For the most part I try to steer clear of pet store toys for chins, they commonly aren't labeled what kind of wood is used and/or come from places like China that have little to no safety controls, not to mention over priced.

I can suggest the carpet roll tubes from home depot or lowes, etc. I have the people in the power tool rental place cut it into cage sizes, a few longer for playtime in the hall, etc. free mine like to shred, so it works out a bit better for me. Ive also been successful with paper towel tubes, but be sure it doesnt have glue on it. i hang mine or just lay them in there. BUT my girls dont eat it, they rip it up and throw the pieces onto the carpet for me to find in the am. lol... not sure i would keep using it if i thought they were eating it.

As I sit here, three out of four chins are laying against their cuddle buddies, chin safe fleece zebras. stuffed with fleece strips. Im sure someone has a link to them handy?

I also didnt see any mention in your post of chin safe fleece hammocks. Or I have a PVC pipe, with a "sleeve: of fleece to go over and around it to keep it inaccessible.

Sorry for no links, I am a DIY-er, so I very rarely buy it from someone. Today the hubby is bringing home apple and blackberry branches that he knows were never sprayed- I prep them myself. Free! Just more time spent on it, but well worth it for me. a drill a bag of hardware and a box of bandaids are all you really need in life.

The fleece hammocks are something I need to get as well. I forgot about those. I can get a couple here for about $10 each it looks like, so I'll probably do that.

Amethyst, I got two of those coop bowls. Also, do you think this hay holder would work? I know you said wire is bad, but this has wider spacing. I know the wire ones I saw in pet stores had very small spacing between wires, and I could see that being bad.

Another thing, you mentioned getting two of everything. Would I be correct in assuming that you don't mean I need two exercise wheels (or flying saucer wheels)? I wouldn't imagine both chinchillas absolutely needing to be on that at the same time.

What I meant when I said two of everything I meant food and water related mostly. So two water bottles and two food bowls, maybe two hay holders too if that becomes an issue, they should be fine with one wheel and one house. Some people have had to get two wheels but most are fine sharing. I don't know about that hay holder, if the spacing is ok or not. Too small and they can get feet stuck, a bit bigger you can get a head stuck depending on how deep it is. The metal hay holders that hang on the outside of the cage work too.

This is just a In my experience warning... But I once had a hamster that was in a cage with a wire component.... and I came home one day to find a dead hamster. He had actually chewed the wire, snipped it and had a piece of it lodged in his mouth and died.

This may have been a fluke... but I do not recommend any wire of any type in a cage. Period.

But again, this was just my opinion.

I definitely don't plan on having any wire in the cage at this point. I did get ceramic tile tonight that I will put in the bottom of the pan in the next few days. I'm excited about that.

I don't plan on having any wire inside the cage itself at this point. I did reach out to Rick from NOLA Chinchilla Rescue. I am getting a wooden hay bin from him, as well as wooden ledges. I think I'm removing the second layer metal pan and just leaving the entire cage open with different ledges, tunnels, and a couple of hammocks to go up the rest of the cage. I did get tile for the bottom pan. I am getting grout for that Tuesday, and then sealant once the grout sets.

Do you have these over in the States?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Pet-Toy-Chew-Cube/dp/B003TL23IO/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

I find them great hay holders. Their meant for hamsters to nest in, but I just chuck away the bedding in them and stuff a handful of hay in. My chin loves pulling it out of the holes, there's no metal to get trapped on and the cube itself is a fine chew toy in itself.

So after a lot of time, money, and effort I have (mostly) assembled my cage and the accessories. I actually removed the middle divider. I saw a lot of people doing that to create more room for climbing/jumping, and (in my opinion) it is better to do that now than to disassemble the cage after it is completely set up to remove it. I have two food bowls, one large house, two hammocks, plenty of pumice stones, bamboo balls, and other miscellaneous chew toys. In one of the pictures you can see I have a large hanging toy as well. I have a Lixit water bottle and a metal pan for bedding (if I can get them litter trained). I am planning to add more ledges to mount on the doors so they can hop/jump around the cage 360 degrees, but that won't be for a couple more weeks. Hopefully for now they can be happy with their three walls. I have attached pictures. Please let me know what you think. I still have over a week before I get my chinchillas, so I still have time for any last minute changes that are needed.

Any opinions/suggestions?

do you have a pic of the cage so far?

Godofgods said:

do you have a pic of the cage so far?

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The pictures are in the post two up from yours (post #14). I can see them. Are you not able to see them?

I dont see the pics either.

Let me re-post these, and let me know if you guys can see them now:

The cage is looking great, however it looks possibly too open. You want to make sure the chin can't fall more then about a foot or it can get hurt or die, that's one thing about removing the middle you have to keep in mind. I actually use my hammocks as a safety net in the middle of the cage. This is from last year Christmas time but my cage is still set up similar to this to give you an idea of what I meant.