Chinchilla 'hamster' ball

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JessiKate

JessiKate

Active member
Joined
Nov 5, 2012
Messages
39
Location
Ontario, Canada
The day after my chin passed away a girl I know from my hometown messaged me on facebook to ask about chins and where she could get one. In my opinion that was a little bit insensitive considering the situation but I told her what I could anyways.

Now, her and her boyfriend have one, and she posted a picture the other day of it having it's 'play time' and literally she has a giant hamster ball for it. Now, I understand that they're little buggers to catch and you have to watch them to make sure they don't get into trouble but the whole point of free time is to let them run and jump and play!!

Does anyone else use this giant hamster ball method? Am I the only one that finds this odd and kind of cruel in a way?
 
Those hamster balls can be extremely dangerous to chins. Their feet can get stuck in the little air slits and result in a serious injury. I personally do not own one because of this risk.
 
Absolutely not!!!!! Chinchillas will overheat in those balls and die!!! The whole point for play time with chinchillas is to let them out to play in a room that has been safe for a chinchillas to play. It hurts to know people put chins in those balls. They are definitely not made for chins. :tantrum:

And yes, I do believe it is very cruel!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16152

This thread has a very good discussion on the Exercise balls, but in short, the curvature of the balls are bad for the Chinchilla's spine and a chin could easily overheat and die in them, not to mention become covered in its own urine and feces.

When playtime's over, I just bring the dust bath out, tap on it (we have the plastic bathhouse so it makes a very distinct hollow sound) and he makes a beeline for it and jumps right in--I've read on here that many people have trained their chins to return to their cages with a sound cue (alarms, voice commands), maybe you can convince your acquaintance to throw away the hamster ball and try out these different methods? Poor Chin :(
 
Some people call them Chinchilla death balls! Way to easy to overheat.
The pet shops do sell them for chins, but they are not safe!
 
it drives me nuts that they think it's a good idea to use one of those balls!

Darrell used to just run back into his house whenever he was done with this play time. His cage was on top of a toy box in my room and I would put his bath house underneath the door and leave it open and he would run around and explore for however long he wanted while I watched tv/him and when he was done he would just jump back up into his cage!! It was pretty awesome actually, so easy!!
 
People use these balls because they think the chinchilla enjoys it. I always ask, "Would you enjoy running around in a HOT ball when you are wearing a full winter coat and your feces is bouncing around with you?" The answer is usually no.. LOL. There ya go. Also, people are lazy and don't wanna clean up after the chinchilla and they figure this is a win win situation. Much better idea to have a designated play area which is chin safe.
 
It just boils down to people don't care. If it dies oh well... or the fact they are lazy and don't want to spend the time witht the chin and cleaning up after it. The only people who I've seen use ball are people who shouldn't have chins due to their lack of real interest. I doubt you will change her mind about using the ball, but good luck trying.
 
Definitely a bad idea. The balls do not have good air circulation. So, they are running, heating up and probably low oxygen inside too. The pet shop people tell the new pet owners to get the large balls for the chins. I had them tell me this at Petland. So, I don't think it's that everyone who gets one doesn't care, they have just been misinformed.
 
Dreamlite said:
It just boils down to people don't care. If it dies oh well... or the fact they are lazy and don't want to spend the time witht the chin and cleaning up after it. The only people who I've seen use ball are people who shouldn't have chins due to their lack of real interest.
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When I first got my chin, I posted on this forum including my daily routine for my chinchilla to make sure it was acceptable. I was a fishkeeper for 6 years, particularly with aggressive tropical fish such as bettas, and I know how misinformed a pet owner can become if they don't do the proper research. Tiki's previous owner gave me a ball for him to roll around in. My internet was out for nearly two weeks after I posted here, so I had no way to see the responses I had gotten regarding the ball. Granted, he never spent very long in it anyway, but I now know that if he had, it could have ended tragically. He now spends hours running around in a designated area where he can be safe, but also roam free. I just thought I would just give my two cents here, because I did this. However, I spend every moment possible with my chin and believe me, I clean up after him every single day after playtime. It isn't that I'm lazy or have a lack of real interest. If I had no interest in him, I have had several chances to give him back to his previous owner. Once I got online, I saw the responses that were in fact very helpful and immediately stopped using the ball altogether.
 
the thing that kills me about things like this, other than the obvious facts already stated by everyone here, is this - who pays between $75 and $300 for a pet and doesn't do research on how to care for it? i realize money is not the true issue if you truly want to have a pet you care about, but if one doesn't learn the proper treatment of the pet then how much can they really be said to care?

that being the case, why would someone shell out all that money for the chinchilla itself plus the huge initial expense for supplies, then not even worry if it was healthy or in danger of injury? why pay for a pet you don't intend to care for? how does this make sense?

while the ethical issues here are much more vital than the financial ones, everyone has pretty much covered those, and i just wanted to point out that from a purely logical standpoint this kind of thing makes zero sense. excuse me for the bluntness, but people can be so dumb.

Dani
 
deliamaj said:
the thing that kills me about things like this, other than the obvious facts already stated by everyone here, is this - who pays between $75 and $300 for a pet and doesn't do research on how to care for it? i realize money is not the true issue if you truly want to have a pet you care about, but if one doesn't learn the proper treatment of the pet then how much can they really be said to care?
Click to expand...

I think one of the biggest problems is that people are used to trusting pet stores, because they have all the right stuff for dogs, cats, fish, hamsters, etc. and people don't realize how different chinchillas are. So, they go to get a pet, think chinchillas are cool, and end up with so much bad information because the pet stores often do not know much at all about proper chinchilla care.
I don't think this is a very good excuse, I mean personally (probably along with most others on here) I spent a good few weeks researching chinchilla info. before I ever had one.
But lots of people aren't used to thinking in such a specialized manner about their pets.. they think "oh yeah, little rodent, of course it'll run in a ball just like my gerbil does" And the pet store has a nice big ball with a chinchilla picture on it, so they're all set to go.
I just think that people don't realize how different chinchilla care is, and this concept is often perpetuated by the pet stores and the small pet product industry in general (think of inappropriate food, toys, houses, cages, wheels..everything). So it's up to people who DO know all of these things to make sure that other owners are aware, and hopefully as many owners as possible can be resourceful enough to do some research! But the big changes will come when (if) they can ever overhaul all the "chinchilla" products and info that's given out at the big pet places.
 
deliamaj said:
the thing that kills me about things like this, other than the obvious facts already stated by everyone here, is this - who pays between $75 and $300 for a pet and doesn't do research on how to care for it? i realize money is not the true issue if you truly want to have a pet you care about, but if one doesn't learn the proper treatment of the pet then how much can they really be said to care?
Click to expand...

I completely agree. I researched chins for atleast a year before I got mine. Mind you, had I have known about this forum I would have been way more knowledgeable, I still had most basic facts down and I never would have even considered a ball!! If an animal can't get too hot, it doesn't make any sense at all to put it in a ball where it will get very hot.
 
I agree that the pet stores need to do a complete "overhaul" on their chinchilla product line. They keep selling people cages with a plastic bottom that a chinchilla can chew out of overnight. I know there may be some small ma and pop shops that do their research and provide better care and information, but I think the majority do not, so I do not sell to any pet shops. People go in and see a cute, furry animal and think that a business that carries this animal must have the correct information on them and they should, but unfortunately that is not usually the case.
 
I have seen a video once, where a girl had her chinchilla in one of these balls, and had her dog chasing it and playing with it. It was horrible, the dog did not know better, but the owner should have, poor chinchilla was being knocked all over the place.
 
death balls! My vet told me a horror story of a chinchilla that died in one. She tried telling the owner why it was a bad idea and the owner couldn't comprehend how a chin could overheat in a ball with holes in it. Hoping that person never got another chin!
A few of the chins I took in as rescues or that were abandoned at pet stores came with balls. The balls quickly went into the garbage. I have one for my classroom hamster but he's only in it for a max of ten minutes at a time and supervised.

I too do not understand how people cannot do research on the pet they want to acquire or already own. I know I've learned a lot in the 7 years I've owned chinchillas but I did research before getting my first one. Most mom and pop pet stores do a better job of stocking the right supplies and educating owners. I've talked the local one I use into stocking better supplies and recommending the right cages, even gave them a care sheet. I've given up on Petco/Petsmarts - really angers me to hear the associates give the wrong information. I've jumped into many conversations and offered proper advice.
 
I tried to inform someone on instagram about the "death ball" since he posted a picture of his chin in one. He proceeded to tell me that "10 minutes won't kill him" and then had his friends gang up on me and verbally attack me. All I wanted to do was try to help this poor chin out but instead, they made me look like a fool. I wish I could save every one of those chins that I see who are mistreated but all you can do is provide them with the appropriate knowledge and then it's all up to them.
 
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