A little concerned with weight & fur slips

Good afternoon, all.

I adopted Gizmo less than 2 months ago I believe. Me and my husband adopted him from a shelter, and in the paperwork it said Gizmo weighed approx 485 grams, and on another sheet it said 500 grams. (I'm going to assume the 485 is most accurate out of the two.) In the paperwork, it also stated his age, so today gizmo is about 1 yr 4 mos old.

At the shelter, there was another chinchilla right beside him, and it was also male, and it look considerably bigger than Gizmo did/does. When me and my husband did the adoption interview for Gizmo, we brought up our concerns about how our little guy looked way smaller than that other chinchilla in the room. The adoption counselor said that she believes when Gizmo was a kit, his previous owner did not feed him alfalfa like he was supposed to, in order to make him grow, and therefor is as small as he is. Gizmo also came into the shelter with a hurt bloody leg, which had completely healed by the time we saw him.

A few days ago, my husband and I finally received the digital kitchen scale we ordered online, and it was a hassle to get Gizmo to stand perfectly on it. it kept saying he was in the 200s (which is very unlikely, he would be skin and bones), and finally settled on 470 grams. According to the paperwork, it said he weighed 485 grams, so I am very concerned. He ALWAYS pigs out on his food. and for the record:

We are feeding him Oxbow pellets, and Oxbow hay.
For treats, in our care, he has ONLY EVER GOTTEN rosehips, oats, and clovers. (though for the most part, rosehips; and his treat isn't daily).


We are first time chinchilla owners, and to me, other than being concerned about his weight, he looks completely healthy. He loves the both of us, and loves to be petted and will coo all night long while he gallivants on his wheel. But being that we've had him for 2 months, we have been trying to pick him up, all without any luck. One of the times he actually had a fur slip, and he was shrieking and twisting around so we let him go. And just recently, he had another one (although not nearly as much fur came out.) Only 2 fur slips have occurred to my knowledge. the rest of the times we'd try to pick him up, he'd bark and hop away. This last time, when he had the fur slip, he walked away like he was fine and came up to us again (he was out of his cage for his playtime).

I am really rather confused. Part of me wonders if Gizmo thinks trying to pick him up is a game, because of the way he acts. Only once did he act TRULY UPSET and had that huge fur slip, but the rest of the time he will just bark once and stay where he is and let me continue to pet him, or he will hop away and then seconds later come back up to me. He's actually barked from it, and then a couple seconds later started cooing multiple different instances. This little guy is confusing.


Is there anything wrong with his weight? should he be weighing more? I don't feel his ribs when i touch his belly, and he always pigs out on his food, but should I be trying to get him to gain weight?

****and yes there are a few plastic things in his cage, but we have kept a very close eye on him, and he has no interest in plastic as of yet.

omg that last pic is my favorite, so precious!!!

my suggestion would be to make sure your kitchen scale is zeroed out BEFORE you put him on it. OR, try putting an empty bowl or something on it, THEN zero it, then you can add your chin and get his weight alone.

as far as picking him up...... don't fret too much. some chins just don't like to actually be picked up... ever! your guy is still new to you and might need more time or more bonding, more trust. I have 1 boy and 1 girl who neither likes me to pick them up. but they LOOOOVE getting petted, and will run right up to me for petting and scratches under the chin, but just HATE for me to pick them up. Maybe, ask yourself, why are you picking him up? does he need to be picked up? If not, maybe just be ok with petting him in his cage. offer him your open hand and maybe he will slowly put his front paws on your hand to smell you.. maybe in time he will hop in your hand completely. For one of my guys, if i need him out of his cage, i hold up a small box or dust bath, let him hop in, then move him to where i need him to go. but be patient with your guy, and hopefully he will warm up to you in time!

chrisbradley6 said:

For one of my guys, if i need him out of his cage, i hold up a small box or dust bath, let him hop in, then move him to where i need him to go. but be patient with your guy, and hopefully he will warm up to you in time!

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I've wanted to try moving the chins in a box/baking dish that they may have hopped into, but I'm terrified of them jumping out en route and falling. Chrisbradley, is the box/bath usually enclosed, or do you find your chins are pretty good about staying in an opening container while you're carrying them?

I'm new to chins too, so can't help the OP too much, I'm afraid. If Gizmo is eating/drinking/pooping just fine then maybe just keep an eye on his weight from here on out? Is it possible that the shelter's records/scale may have been off? Or perhaps he lost a little weight during the adjustment process?

I feel like the first few months the last thing you want to do is needlessly stress out the chinchilla - so like Chrisbradley said, especially since Gizmo's fur slipping, perhaps letting him hop into your hands of his own accord in his own time might be a good idea? I have one chin that it took about 2 months before he would willingly do that, but the second he did, I rewarded him with a tiny piece of crushed rose hip. He did it again. He got another tiny piece. Third time - again. So he'll do it more often now. Sometimes he gets a treat, sometimes he doesn't. His brother is not a fan of human hands, so we don't push it. It's a victory when he elects to put two paws on us for a few seconds...

Gizmo is adorable! I am sure others will have good advice on his weight...

chrisbradley6 said:

omg that last pic is my favorite, so precious!!!

my suggestion would be to make sure your kitchen scale is zeroed out BEFORE you put him on it. OR, try putting an empty bowl or something on it, THEN zero it, then you can add your chin and get his weight alone.

as far as picking him up...... don't fret too much. some chins just don't like to actually be picked up... ever! your guy is still new to you and might need more time or more bonding, more trust. I have 1 boy and 1 girl who neither likes me to pick them up. but they LOOOOVE getting petted, and will run right up to me for petting and scratches under the chin, but just HATE for me to pick them up. Maybe, ask yourself, why are you picking him up? does he need to be picked up? If not, maybe just be ok with petting him in his cage. offer him your open hand and maybe he will slowly put his front paws on your hand to smell you.. maybe in time he will hop in your hand completely. For one of my guys, if i need him out of his cage, i hold up a small box or dust bath, let him hop in, then move him to where i need him to go. but be patient with your guy, and hopefully he will warm up to you in time!

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Haha thank you!

Yes, we had zero'd it many times, the kitchen scale seems to be very sensitive so it kept jumping in numbers.What we did was put him in his dust bath, and set the dust bath on the scale, got the number, and then took him out of the dust bath and weighed it then subtracted and got the 470. when he was on the scale just by himself, it kept saying he was in the 200s which is impossible, he isn't skin and bones. I don't know if we're weighing him incorrectly or what. But at the same time, as you can see, he is not a huge chinchilla.

The main reason we're trying to pick him up is if, in the future, we ever need to check him for hair rings. Of course we'd love to be able to pick him up just to hold him but I don't ever see that happening. But the funny thing is, is he will put ALL FOUR PAWS into our palms. Just climb right into our hands, but only on his terms. He will also crawl up our arms and sniff our faces. He will even try sleeping in our palms and will let us pet him while he's falling asleep. Just recently, he put all four paws in the palm of my hand, so his entire body was sitting in it, and i lifted my hand up for a good while with him in it, which is the closest ive gotten to picking him up. but that was, once again, on his terms.

The day we brought him home from the shelter, he was pretty comfortable with us. he coo'd, he let us pet him, and he was okay with coming out for playtime that same day. So why he won't let us pick him up? Sometimes I really do think it's a game for him for the most part. When he's out for playtime, we will try and he will bark and get all hyper and bounce off the playpen's wall and then come back up to us and jump into our laps. he never seems scared (except for that one time).

A couple things about the weight, as I have told you before in PMs chins can weigh 400-1,000g+ so he is probably just a smaller chin, without knowing his parents' sizes you can't tell just by weight alone if he is smaller then he should be. A 10g weigh difference between the shelter and home in itself is nothing to worry about after one weighing. There is a lot that can cause weight to fluctuate 5 or more grams, was he squirming at the shelter so they got most of a best guess weight? did he just eat, drinking, pee, or poop? All those things can change his weight a little. It's best to get a better baseline weight, do weighing at the same time of day once or twice a week for a few weeks, then see if the weight is going down or not. Also when my guys first got their wheel their weighs did go down a little in the first month or so of use, but jumped back up and they gained as fat was replaced with muscle.

A couple things about the cage, I know you said he doesn't chew the plastic, but those igloos are also dangerous because of the risk of over heating, they don't allow heat to escape. The hay holder you have is also dangerous, if he decides to jump on it he can get a foot caught and break a leg or foot. Same thing with the grating on the litter pan you are using, it's a foot trap hazard. That hammock you are using is also not chin safe, it needs to be completely fleece no straps of other material. I don't see a water bottle, but I do see a small bowl that looks like possibly has water in it? If so that is very bad, chins can get pneumonia or even drowned from water bowls, there mouth is the same level as their nose so they can accidentally breath in water. Chins don't lap water like a cat or dog. Also chins can get wet from a water bowl, resulting in wet then moldy fur, and things can fall in the bowl contaminating the water. I really hope it's just the light making it look like a water bowl. Lastly, the fleece blanket on the bottom, you need to remove the string edging, just because he hasn't chew it yet doesn't mean he wont.

Amethyst said:

A couple things about the weight, as I have told you before in PMs chins can weigh 400-1,000g+ so he is probably just a smaller chin, without knowing his parents' sizes you can't tell just by weight alone if he is smaller then he should be. A 10g weigh difference between the shelter and home in itself is nothing to worry about after one weighing. There is a lot that can cause weight to fluctuate 5 or more grams, was he squirming at the shelter so they got most of a best guess weight? did he just eat, drinking, pee, or poop? All those things can change his weight a little. It's best to get a better baseline weight, do weighing at the same time of day once or twice a week for a few weeks, then see if the weight is going down or not. Also when my guys first got their wheel their weighs did go down a little in the first month or so of use, but jumped back up and they gained as fat was replaced with muscle.

A couple things about the cage, I know you said he doesn't chew the plastic, but those igloos are also dangerous because of the risk of over heating, they don't allow heat to escape. The hay holder you have is also dangerous, if he decides to jump on it he can get a foot caught and break a leg or foot. Same thing with the grating on the litter pan you are using, it's a foot trap hazard. That hammock you are using is also not chin safe, it needs to be completely fleece no straps of other material. I don't see a water bottle, but I do see a small bowl that looks like possibly has water in it? If so that is very bad, chins can get pneumonia or even drowned from water bowls, there mouth is the same level as their nose so they can accidentally breath in water. Chins don't lap water like a cat or dog. Also chins can get wet from a water bowl, resulting in wet then moldy fur, and things can fall in the bowl contaminating the water. I really hope it's just the light making it look like a water bowl. Lastly, the fleece blanket on the bottom, you need to remove the string edging, just because he hasn't chew it yet doesn't mean he wont.

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I know you told me that they can be any size, but I am worried because I am not sure if I should be making him gain weight, or if he is fine the way he is. In the pictures, does he look malnourished? As for the water, yes that is a water bowl. i was told by the humane society that they are fine with water bowls but now that i know they are not, I will get those bottles you hang on the cage; thank you for telling me. I will also switch out his plastic hidey, the litter pan, hammock, and the hay feeder and will also remove the string. thank you for telling me!

Spodumena said:

I've wanted to try moving the chins in a box/baking dish that they may have hopped into, but I'm terrified of them jumping out en route and falling. Chrisbradley, is the box/bath usually enclosed, or do you find your chins are pretty good about staying in an opening container while you're carrying them?

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this is what i use and recommend. yes. it IS plastic, so if yours is heavy chewer who cant control themselves even under supervision, you cant use it. but you still get the idea. i like that its enclosed and i can cover the opening to move them so they cant jump out. if you wanted, you could get a cardboard box and cut a hole in the side.

http://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/f...inchilla-bath-house-color-varies-5219310.html

Amethyst said:

A couple things about the cage, I know you said he doesn't chew the plastic, but those igloos are also dangerous because of the risk of over heating, they don't allow heat to escape. The hay holder you have is also dangerous, if he decides to jump on it he can get a foot caught and break a leg or foot. Same thing with the grating on the litter pan you are using, it's a foot trap hazard. That hammock you are using is also not chin safe, it needs to be completely fleece no straps of other material. I don't see a water bottle, but I do see a small bowl that looks like possibly has water in it? If so that is very bad, chins can get pneumonia or even drowned from water bowls, there mouth is the same level as their nose so they can accidentally breath in water. Chins don't lap water like a cat or dog. Also chins can get wet from a water bowl, resulting in wet then moldy fur, and things can fall in the bowl contaminating the water. I really hope it's just the light making it look like a water bowl. Lastly, the fleece blanket on the bottom, you need to remove the string edging, just because he hasn't chew it yet doesn't mean he wont.

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i agree with Amethyst 100% here. I have had chins who are fine and dont chew their wooden ledges much at all, and one day i will go in to say good morning, and they chewed up half a ledge in one night. bored i guess..... but i would hate for that to happen with plastic!!! take it out!

the water bowl i think worries me the most, as it seems like the biggest problem that could happen the most immediately and the most likely. it's also super easy to fix. i would get a water bottle (ANY water bottle is better than a dish!!) in there as quickly as you can. The one i use is glass, and most ppl will suggest to you to use glass instead of plastic (remember the chewing potential!). Here is the one i use in all 4 chin cages and for the hedgie too: http://www.petsmart.com/bird/suppli...ll-living-things-bird-water-bottle-14056.html it works great. rarely leaks.

as far as hay, i used to use what you've got too... so don't feel bad. it can be dangerous for little feet to get caught in, so many ppl will tell you to change it out. this is what i use: http://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/f...mall-pet-critter-bath-color-varies-23821.html its solid, ceremic, holds a good amount of hay and cant be chewed. easy to clean too!

sorry for all the Petsmart links, i guess it's obvious where i shop! :hilarious:

i hope you dont take our suggestions as pushy or mean, we are just trying to look out for your little guy and give you the best advice. Personally, I've owned a total of 8 chins over 9 years, and i like to consider myself an experienced chin owner. many of us need help in the begining! i learned a lot when i was a new chin owner from this forum and hopefully you will too! No one ever means to sound mean, so if we come off that way, sorry!

i love your wooden ledges, and you've got an AWESOME wheel in his cage! i see the chin chiller in the bottom too. You've got lava ledges in there too, my chins go NUTS over those! and it looks like you're using a Critter Nation cage. you've got a great setup so far, with the suggestions Amethyst made, you're golden!!!

chrisbradley6 said:

i agree with Amethyst 100% here. I have had chins who are fine and dont chew their wooden ledges much at all, and one day i will go in to say good morning, and they chewed up half a ledge in one night. bored i guess..... but i would hate for that to happen with plastic!!! take it out!

the water bowl i think worries me the most, as it seems like the biggest problem that could happen the most immediately and the most likely. it's also super easy to fix. i would get a water bottle (ANY water bottle is better than a dish!!) in there as quickly as you can. The one i use is glass, and most ppl will suggest to you to use glass instead of plastic (remember the chewing potential!). Here is the one i use in all 4 chin cages and for the hedgie too: http://www.petsmart.com/bird/suppli...ll-living-things-bird-water-bottle-14056.html it works great. rarely leaks.

as far as hay, i used to use what you've got too... so don't feel bad. it can be dangerous for little feet to get caught in, so many ppl will tell you to change it out. this is what i use: http://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/f...mall-pet-critter-bath-color-varies-23821.html its solid, ceremic, holds a good amount of hay and cant be chewed. easy to clean too!

sorry for all the Petsmart links, i guess it's obvious where i shop! :hilarious:

i hope you dont take our suggestions as pushy or mean, we are just trying to look out for your little guy and give you the best advice. Personally, I've owned a total of 8 chins over 9 years, and i like to consider myself an experienced chin owner. many of us need help in the begining! i learned a lot when i was a new chin owner from this forum and hopefully you will too! No one ever means to sound mean, so if we come off that way, sorry!

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No not at all, I don't take offense to it. I had thought the bowl of water was pushing it but the humane society told me i could use it -- should have listened to my gut. We're actually going out today to get him a new glass water bottle, and we're also taking out his hay feeder today and replacing it with a ceramic bowl so his little paws can't get stuck in it. The poor thing loves that red plastic hidey though, I will feel bad taking it away from him, but i have to regardless.

My husband and I take our little guy's health very seriously!

Also thank you for the compliments on his cage! My husband actually made those ledges, we got a good deal on Kijiji and we made 24 kiln dried pine ledges for 5 bucks. the guy was selling the wood for cheap!

If the chin is over a yr old its unlikely he will/should gain weight. Adults can vary from 400-1,000+ grams and be healthy. I would remove all plastic and start from there.

Chinchillins said:

No not at all, I don't take offense to it. I had thought the bowl of water was pushing it but the humane society told me i could use it -- should have listened to my gut. We're actually going out today to get him a new glass water bottle, and we're also taking out his hay feeder today and replacing it with a ceramic bowl so his little paws can't get stuck in it. The poor thing loves that red plastic hidey though, I will feel bad taking it away from him, but i have to regardless.

My husband and I take our little guy's health very seriously!

Also thank you for the compliments on his cage! My husband actually made those ledges, we got a good deal on Kijiji and we made 24 kiln dried pine ledges for 5 bucks. the guy was selling the wood for cheap!

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Good for you!!! sometimes, i think some people here dont realize how easy it can be to make your own ledges, as long as you have the right tools or access to them). I make all my own too. or rather... the husband does

here's a thought! since you already know how to make ledges, why dont you make your own hidey house? that way you can take the plastic one out. and make it however you think he'd like it!! we made our own houses too. all it takes is 3 pieces of wood, so simple!! you can make it more complex if you want to, with cutout windows or the like, but for us, we just used wooden dowels to attached 3 pieces of wood in a U shape.... flip upside down.... instant house!! i say, go for it!

Just have to chime in and say your chin is adorable and very photogenic! LOVE the second to last picture!!