First time chin owner, how am I doing?

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Jesseman1

Active member
Joined
May 5, 2019
Messages
30
Location
Ontario
A couple months ago my parents surprised me with a pet chinchilla and a few basics to keep her happy. I had an old chinchilla cage that I used to use for my hamster, so I cleaned it up, filled it with bedding, set up some toys and let her check it out.

It’s a wire cage with three platforms built into it and a removable tray at the bottom for changing the bedding. For toys we gave her some cherry wood sticks and cardboard tubes, as well as a stick “house” and a plastic flying saucer wheel from the pet store. She seems happy enough, though she always wants out in the evening and never uses her wheel.

Am I doing everything right? The bedding I use is that recycled paper stuff, her food is a mix of pellets, hay, and dried fruits called chinchilla nature, her water comes from a drip bottle, and I give her frequent dust baths in a cat carrier with Blue Beauty. I also leave handfuls of fresh hay in her cage since google says she always needs access to it.

I’m a little worried about the coming summer, we live at the lake and it gets really hot and humid here, plus our house doesn’t have AC. I have a small window fan next to her cage, and I can bring in a dehumidifier if necessary, will that be enough to keep her cool or will I need something better?

Any tips or advice would be really appreciated.
 
If it was used for a hamster I would make sure it's actually big enough for a chin. The absolute minimum size cage is 2 ft x 2ft x 2ft, ideally much bigger, most people use double ferret or critter nations which are 2ft deep x 3ft wide x 4ft tall (not including the stand). If you want you can upload and link a pic of the cage I can help with more suggestions on making it a good chin home. (photo attachments don't always work on here so it's best to upload to a photo share site then link it into the post) Here is a pic of my cage for an example of a good set up for a chin.

Cherry wood is toxic, I would stop giving that and keep an eye on her for possible signs of poisoning. Here is a very basic safe/nonsafe wood list .

Chins should not have any plastic in their cage either, they chew it and if swallowed can cause a gut blockage. So not only is the plastic flying saucer unsafe because it's plastic it's also not stable (they have been know to flip on top of chins) and is creating plastic dust that the chin is inhaling if she does run on it. So it's good that she doesn't use the wheel, I would just toss it. Pet stores don't sell chin safe wheels, they are all either too small, plastic, or made of mesh which is unsafe. Chin safe wheels need to be at least 14" (Ideally at least 15") in diameter and solid metal, like the chin spin, silver surfer, or if you want to try a chin safe flying saucer, the metal flying saucer. I have also heard good things about the Exotic Nutrition treadmill wheel and you can try Etsy for homemade style wheels as well, which tend to be cheaper.

The paper bedding is also not the right kind of bedding, chins eat it, it's designed to expand when wet, which is exactly what happens when swallowed and will cause a gut blockage. Safe bedding include kiln dried pine or aspen shavings, or if your chin doesn't chew fleece you can buy or make fleece liners. I would also be careful with the cardboard, not all chins eat it but some do and will cause the same problem as the paper bedding.

Food should be a high quality pellet only food like oxbow or Mazuri, and unlimited hay. Hay is their primary food, making up about 70-75% of the diet (or about a pile the size of the chin or bigger), along with about 2tbs of pellets a day. Chins should not have any fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, or animal products (hide, meat, egg, milk, bone, etc). I don't know what you mean by drip bottle, but you want a normal glass water bottle (they will chew through a plastic one). You also want to make sure you are giving her purified or filter water not tap water.

You want about the dust bath about an inch or so deep, and offer it for about 5-10 minutes (or how ever long she wants to bathe) 2-3 times a week. How often depends on how humid it is and if she is looking greasy or not.

An ac is a must if you live somewhere that it gets above 70F (about 20C) chins can die if left in temps above 75F (24C) for more then a couple hours. They also need the humidity to be below 50%, ideally around 40% or below. Fans are useless unless it's pulling cold air in and actually lowering the temp, chins can't sweat and their fur is too thick so blowing air around doesn't cool them. You also don't want a fan blowing on the cage, it will can cause her to get sick. Dehumidifiers are pretty useless since, although they do reduce the humidity, most also produce a lot of heat which will raise the temp.
 
Update

I’ve removed all the bad toys as per your suggestion, and will be getting safe toys hopefully soon. I’ve also removed the paper bedding and put in a towel until I can get fleece or wood chips. I measured the cage and found it to be a 2 foot cube, so I guess I’ll have to look for something bigger. Her food seems to be ok so far, she’s been eating it for a few months now and looks fine, though I will look for something like you suggested when I next buy food for her. The water bottle is plastic, but Gracie has never shown any interest in chewing on it so I don’t think there is any concern. Is the filtered water truly necessary? We buy bottled water since we do not live in the city and filling her bottle with that rather than the tap water sounds a bit extreme to me. The cat carrier we use as her dust bath is kinda big so putting an inch of dust in the bottom would use up the jar pretty quickly, are you sure she needs it that deep? She seems pretty satisfied with the amount we’ve been putting in there.

Pictures of Gracie’s cage + bottle: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hgdqqzralpp5kna/AABaEbmQgwrLbC1ObVU1kWIUa?dl=0
 
What is safe to give as a treat? Currently we give her small bits of dried fruit as a treat and she loves it
 
Actually the towel is way more dangerous then the paper bedding, make sure she does not chew that at all. If she chew on that she will swallow string which will become tangled in her gut. Fleece is the only safe fabric because it doesn't unravel into strings like others. At this point, if you have any paper news papers that would probably be the safest quick temporary fix for the bedding, should be ok for a day or so until you can get proper bedding.

If you don't feed good food it's not always noticeable right away, things like liver and kidney damage from improper diet are not something that you will see until later in life. A chin should live 15-20+ years (some even lived into there 30s!), but fed an inappropriate diet they often don't live much past 5. When switching food make sure to do it slowly though, so you don't upset her stomach.

I would get a new bottle as soon as possible, or simply wrap the bottle in fleece so she can't chew it, you don't want her to decide to chew it one night and floor her cage. Tap water can contain all kinds of bad stuff, namely giardia, which can make her very sick. The amount in the water can fluctuate, so you may have just gotten lucky so far, likely because it's not hot out yet. Safe levels for humans to drink of various things is still much higher then is safe for a chin. Also if the tap water is not even fit for human consumption why give it to you chin? I'm sorry but that just sounds mean. You can also just get a tap filter, just make sure it's at least a 3 stage one that filters out micro organisms. I buy bottled water for us to drink, and that is what I give my chins as well. It's not like they drink a lot.

I would get a smaller dust house, I use a gallon glass candy jar, but even a small pan can work. You want the dust to be deep enough for her to dig into and completely coat herself. If you want you can just set the dust house inside the cat carrier, so you can still use the carrier.

Looking at the cage, the size is ok, bigger is always better but if you give out of cage playtime it should be fine, some aspects aren't safe though. She can get her toes caught in the mesh, as well as the mesh is hard on their feet and can lead to bumble foot. I would cover them with fleece or wood. Maybe add a fleece hammock (make sure it's only fleece with metal hardware), a metal tube to play in, maybe a clay pot. Also get her some toys. Chins teeth are always growing so they need to always have lots of thing to chew on. Hay helps to wear down the molars and chew toys to wear down the front teeth. You also want to get a hay holder, most chins will just sit and pee on the hay if it's just left on the floor, a clay pot can make a cheap holder.

Safe treats include things like, a plain cheerio, a shredded wheat, dried rose petals, dried rose hips, dried dandelion, or a few pieces of slow cook oats. Treats should be limited to one per day max, ideally about once a week. The best "treat" you can give and you can give as many as you want is chew sticks.
Yes chins do love fruit, but it's very very bad for them, it will lead to diabetes and liver and kidney failure over time. It can also cause a dangerous spike and drop in blood sugar which could lead to seizures, coma, and death. They didn't evolve to digest sugars very well.
 
I’ve already snipped off some sticks from the apple tree in our yard and given those to Gracie to chew on, she’s very well behaved in terms of chewing and only ever gnaws on wood and shreds cardboard.

My parents argue that chins drink unfiltered rainwater in the wild, so doing so in captivity should be perfectly acceptable too.

We do give her out of cage playtime for almost an hour daily, we have an open concept house with huge rooms so we chin proofed the rec room and give her free reign while we watch TV.

I think we have a box of Cheerios, I’ll start giving her those.
Google also says that dry bread is good for settling chin’s tummies, so I give her a little bit of that once in a while as a treat.
 
Actually no chins in the wild don't drink rainwater, they drink dew, and they also eat a lot of stuff that is not good for them in the wild too that shorten their lifespan. They only live 5-10 year in the wild, I am on a FB page where there are several people with chins in their 20s right now. Unless you live somewhere that there is no pollution then the rain water is also contaminated, if you are using well water then you would need to test it every single time you give the chin water to make sure it's still safe. Giving them filtered water would be much cheaper. Also treating giardia can be a lot of time and money, vet visits, fecal tests, medicine, round the clock hand feeding (if they are not eating they must be fed every few hours), hand feeding food (like Critical Care), as well as the cage needs to be sanitized regularly during the weeks of treatment, and all wood will need to be tossed out and replaced. All of that is preventable by simply making sure you give the chin clean water.

If they care so little about animals that they are ok shorting the chins life to about a quarter to a half of a normal chin's life in captivity then maybe you need to look at rehoming her. Maybe you can get a chin when you are older and on your own so you can provide it with proper care to live a long and healthy life. I'm thinking your parents have no idea what the requirements are for a chin and really should do some research (really they should have done research before getting a chin). They are much more work then a hamster, they have very specific environmental and dietary needs. They are really more of an expert level pet not a beginner pet.
Maybe you can print out some info on giardia for them to read or something? Here is a thread detailing giardia http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56&highlight=giardia Maybe the fact that you and your family can get sick from the chin if she gets giardia may help them realize how serious it is?

Another thing, you want to find a vet that treats chinchillas if you haven't already. Not all vets treat chins, or have even seen one, so it's best to know before you need one where to go. Often times when a chin needs medical care it needs it right now (and quite often in the middle of the night), you don't want to have to be calling around trying to find a vet while you chin is dying. I would also make sure you have either a credit card, pet insurance, or at least couple thousand dollars saved up in an emergency account. Just simple vet visits can quickly run into the hundreds of dollars, emergencies can easily run into the thousands. If your parents aren't going to do proper research you are likely going to be spending a lot of time and money at the vet or have a dead chinchilla.

Apple wood is good, but it needs to come from a 100% organic tree that has never ever been sprayed with chemicals. Also fresh sticks will also make her sick, you need to scrub, boil and then bake the sticks until they are dry. Here is a thread explaining how to prepare wood for a chin. http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41

I think you may have misunderstood the bread. A small piece of very burned toast, like to the point of black, can be used kind of like Pepto-Bismol for humans. It's for when a chin has diarrhea or an upset stomach, until you can get them to the vet. Bread in general has too much sugar and other additives, it alone can upset their stomach.

Cheerios are one treat that is best to only give one cheerio once a week (the slow cook oats are another). The plain Cheerios are the only "safe" ones to give, they are low in sugar but still have sugar, and are made of oats which are high in phosphorous. Phosphorous requires calcium to metabolize, so if you give too much in the diet it can pull calcium from the chin's bones and teeth. If you want to give a treat every day stick with things like rose petals or rose hips, this site http://www.fuzzieskingdom.com/herbs/treats/natural-treats-rabbit-chinchilla.html also has a lot of safe treat options, or as I mentioned before, properly prepared chew sticks.
 
I’ve switched Gracie’s bedding to Aspen as you recommended, I also saw another post mention something about rocks helping to keep chinchillas cool, so I put a piece of granite in the cage to see if that would help at all. I added the picture to the drop box link.
 
Granite tiles and stones are really only for additional cooling in an already cool room, like too help cool down after playtime or if it's a really hot day and the AC is struggling to keep the temp below 20C and you want to offer a bit extra cooling. After running around they can help cool the chin down to normal temp. They are not a replacement for proper temp, they don't do anything to cool the air. Think of it like wearing full winter gear, is laying on cool tile really going to help you feel cool?

Oh that's another thing, if it's above 20C, do not let her out, running around at that temp or above can cause her to over heat and die. Even if she doesn't die the overheating will cause brain damage.
 
What you may want to do is what I did for the bottom storage area of my cage.

I went to Joann's and got a poster board, fleece remnants, and glued it together. It prevents her feet from the wire and was reasonably priced. The glue is on the bottom and isn't reachable for her to get to.
 
Honestly Gracie doesn’t seem to mind the wire at all, in fact she prefers to hang out and sleep on the wire rather than the bedding at the bottom.
 
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