Is my breeder reputable?

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Skysurfer2010

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2018
Messages
12
Location
Philadelphia
I have a deposit down on a kit that the breeder says will be ready for pickup in mid March. The breeder says it will be ready to go home around 8 weeks.

I visited the home to look around at the chinchillas first. Is it common for newborns to be housed with their mothers in very small cages? The cages were roughly 16" x 16". The other adults were caged in larger ferret nation cages and seemed to be active, friendly, and looking healthy.

Also, when handled by the breeder the kit was shaking. Is that any indication that it's not being handled daily or a possible temperament issue? The little guy was just under 4 weeks old. He was ok with being held but I noticed he was shaking since I saw his tail shaking a mile a minute when the breeder was holding him.

The breeder seemed knowledgeable, however she recommended PVC joints for hiding tunnels and had one in almost all of their cages. From the book I purchased I believe it says PVC is a no go?

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
First, yes, those are breeding cages. A lot of breeders, especially bigger breeders, use that size cage. In part because they have a lot of animals and in part because a smaller one level cage is safer with kits. It keeps mom nearby and it stops them from getting on shelves where they could fall and get hurt.

Second, most breeders don't have time to handle kits every day. I have over 200 chins. I do cage checks, make sure everyone is healthy, feed, water, and that's about it. On the weekend when I do cages, I handle every single chin. I don't have time to do that every night. It doesn't affect my kits temperaments. People who have bought from me have always commented that my chins are super friendly. I think it's more genetics and luck.

I also have PVC in some of my cages. If they chew it, I take it out. If they don't, I leave it. As long as I provide wood chews and hay, most of my chins don't bother to chew the PVC.
 
tunes pretty much covered it, but I wanted to add, you want water grade pipe (commonly comes in white). It has to be safe for drinking water so it doesn't have harmful chemicals that can leach out over time like other PVC pipe can. Also don't use old PVC pipe, the PVC pipe made before the 1980s is not safe.
 
Thank you for the info. The breeder was using white pvc. I personally don't plan on using pvc. Just wanted to make sure my breeder was being safe!
 
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