new chinchilla owner questions?

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commercialbro

New member
Joined
Dec 30, 2018
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Location
lynnwood, wa
sorry if in wrong forum! lmk and i'll repost in the right direction :) recently was 'gifted' a chinchilla as a friend of mine did not want him anymore due to the attention they require and price of upkeep. she told me he's about a year and two months old. having shown guniea pigs before, i'm a little interested in showing mine if possible.
1. does he at all look show quality? or 'rat-faced' as i've seen some be called? honestly can't tell myself, i think he's cute either way but wanted to know others opinions! pictures here
2. my second question is whether or not it's safe for him to interact with guniea pigs? like play with them outside of cage, definitely not caged together, or would they fight/hurt each other/get each other sick?
3. does he need a partner/cagemate? i have read mixed opinions of introducing two chins together and keeping them separated etc. i don't want him to be lonely during the day (currently have class from 6am to 2pm with no job :innocent:)
4. FINAL question is whether or not anyone uses the quality cage crafters 'chinchilla condo' as a full time chinchilla cage for a single chin? i'm interested in getting him one a long with ordering the chin spin since his current wheel is nooooot acceptable at all. if i do need to get him a cagemate though, i'd be getting the townhome for sure :)
thank you so so so much anyone who answers, and any advice is welcome!
 
1. I don't think he looks rat faced, they tend to have a more elongated pointy nose (like this), his looks normal, and he looks like a nice blocky/chunky chinchilla (show/breeder style). I really can't help with show quality or not, and you can't really tell just from photos, lighting and angle can make a huge difference in appearance. I would look around and see if you can find a chinchilla show to go to and have a look and ask questions.

2. I would not let the chin and guinea pigs interact, there are illnesses that can pass between them. Guinea pigs are also more passive and not as active as chins, and chins can be bullies. When I was a kid I let them out together once, and the chin just used the poor guinea pigs as things to jump on. :no:

3. Chinchillas are herd animals, but not all chinchillas like all other chinchillas. Bonding two can take time (days to months), and you should quarantine the new chin for a month in another room before intros. I have had some chins that like having a playmate but not a cage mate and even if they don't get along having another chin in the room to "chat" with can be beneficial. However if you don't have room to possibly house two, so long as you can spend at least an hour a day interacting with the chin it should be fine alone. They tend to sleep most of the day and are awake normally early morning, late afternoon/evening, and night. So really he will likely be awake when you get up, sleep while you are in class, and be waking up again when you get home. They do learn your schedule, so long as it's pretty consistent he will likely be up waiting for you when you get home.

4. I don't have a quality cage, but I had similar size cages to the condo one for a couple of my chins growing up though. Honestly the condo size does work, but bigger is always better, and those are about the minimum size for a chinchilla, and keep in mind that the wheel will be taking up space too. Most of the cages I had for the chins were more like the size of the townhouse or bigger.

I have a double Ferret Nation cage for the chins I have now, and one huge advantage of those is that the doors are the front wall of the cage, giving you access to that whole unit of the cage. Those other cages can be a pain to get things, including the chin, in and out of with those small doors. The Ferret Nation and Critter Nation cages though both require some modifying though, like replacing or covering the plastic pans so they don't eat them. The quality cages are pretty much good to go as soon as you set them up.

If interested in the Ferret or Critter Nation I would check out Ferret.com, the seem to regularly have them on sale, and the double unit cages (double the size of the condo) are about the same price or cheaper (on sale) then that quality cage condo, with free shipping in the US. Oh and another advantage of the FN or CN is that if you do get a second chin and they don't get along or need to be separated for some reason, the cage can easily be split to make two cages.
 
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