Brittany_Lynn
I like dinosaurs :3
:cry3: *sigh* I just opened an account here because I need some chinchilla advice. I'll start at the beginning and work my way from there. It's a long story. Please bear with me.
In August, I rescued a pair of breeder chins from a woman who was downsizing her colony. They weren't in the best shape. Not very friendly. The male had hair mats. They've gotten 1000x better since then. She didn't know their ages...b/n 4 and 7 years was her guess. Their names are Rodya and Sonya, and they are standard.
Anyway it started my chin obsession. On 11-2-09 I went to an SPCA shelter where they had been given about 30 chins from a hoarder. I decided I wanted a pair of friendly boys, and from a cage of 4, after talking with a volunteer, I chose a silver white mosaic, who was named Opie but I renamed him Mork, and a Black Velvet named Orson. Mork and Orson were under 1 year old, my guess when I first got them in November was about 6 months old. The volunteers told me they were brothers, but Mork and Orson were not both sexually mature--Mork was, Orson was not.
For a few weeks everything was fine, but then Mork kept attacking Orson. Non stop. It got so bad that one day when I came home, there were handfuls of Orson's hair in the cage, and his ears had been punctured, twice. At that point I split them up, giving Mork the smaller cage.
On December 8th, Sonya had a healthy baby boy. If you are wondering, I do not want to breed them, but I am waiting for Rodya to become more social before I get him neutered. I don't want to have too many changes too fast, he still has a problem with some fur biting, but no more mats---took a long time though. Anyway, Ivan, the new baby, is so small he can get through the bars of Rodya and Sonya's cage. On New Year's Eve I found him in my living room, his back legs not working properly. Long story short, for some reason he was paralyzed from the neck to the tail for a week, but after hand feeding him and giving him antibiotics, he made a full recovery. I was really proud of him and of my care for him. But I didn't want to risk it happening again, so I put him in the small cage with mom and dad. It was the cage Rodya and Sonya had lived all their life previously in--and the cage Mork had been staying in. Now Rodya and Sonya aren't the friendliest chins, but I don't blame them, but when I put them in that small cage, whenever I would open the door they would jump into my hands. They'd gone from a 4 foot tall cage to a 9 cubic feet cage they remembered...I'd probably do the same. So for January, caging was as follows:
Rodya, Sonya, baby Ivan - smallest cage, bars no where near big enough for baby to get out
Mork - single, 4 foot tall cage
Orson - Single, 4 foot tall cage. They are cat cages which come on wheels, were on opposite ends of the room.
After a month of heart wrenching guilt at having forced Rodya and Sonya back into that tiny cage again, and after making sure Ivan was fully weaned, I kept Ivan in the tiny cage, and moved Rodya and Sonya to their 4 foot tall single. Meanwhile, I kept Mork in the bathroom as I transformed Orson's single into a double. I put the ledges in the exact middle, and covered the space between with a thick cardboard box, which had a 2 inch lip, Orson used it for his potty, and I put his marble slab on there so that he couldn't get down from the top half, and Mork couldn't get up from the bottom half.
The two halves of the 4 foot cage are each larger than the small cage Ivan is in...but Ivan is fine, he has PLENTY of room. Still too small to go in with mom and dad--can still squeeze through the bars.
So that brings us to Tonight/Today. I woke up from a nap at 10:30pm, and went into the room my chins are in, and saw Mork on the top half of the cage. I assumed my roommate had switched the two because Mork has a habit of throwing hay and poop on the floor, and roomie was getting sick of it. Then I noticed Orson, curled up in a box in the top with Mork. I poked him and he didn't run away, problem number one. I put Mork in the bottom, and found that Orson had chewed a tiny hole in the corner of his litter box, and Mork made it bigger from the bottom, and squeezed through. I covered the back corner with the marble and took Orson out... :cry3: He was in really bad shape. He had a cut on his lower lip and was drooling profusely, he was limp in my hands and didn't struggle when I dried his mouth. His right ear was full of blood, and when I looked at the space between his ears, I saw a ton of bite wounds. I believe Mork ripped some of Orson's skin away from his skull, I couldn't tell because of Orson's dark fur. I immediately called my emergency vet, and headed on my way over. Orson was breathing heavily, then, 5 minutes before getting to the emergency vet, he was loudly struggling to breath, gurgling because of the drool. I put my finger in his mouth and he didn't bite, just let the drool go around my finger. It seemed to help him breathe. Then it got worse and worse, and finally, stopped. I thought that was a good sign, but at a red light 10 seconds later I looked down in my arm and saw that he had passed away :cry3:
To be honest, and I didn't share this with anyone but this forum, I tried to give him CPR. It didn't work. His heart had stopped and I couldn't get it going again. I didn't really know what to do so I went to the vet and told them. They said they were sorry and gave me info on cremation. I had hoped they would try to shock him back to life with those electric paddles, but...no luck. I took him home so he wouldn't be alone, and I sat for a while and petted him. I cleaned him up and took care of all of his fur slips, and tried to clean up the blood on his head. He's in a towel now, while I decide if I want to bury him or cremate him.
Here's the part where I need help. What do I do with Mork? I love him, I really do, but he is so aggressive and...he has now killed the chinchilla that was his cage mate. I forgot to mention earlier, I figured out about 2 weeks into owning him, that Mork is deaf. I don't know if this is part of the problem or not. At first their fights were the result of Mork sexually dominating Orson. But this fight showed no signs of sexual dominance, only physical wounds in the head area. The only thing Orson did to Mork was bite his lip--Mork's top right lip has a small bite wound. He's otherwise fine.
I love my chinchillas, and I am hating myself for not getting a better, more solid barrier between the two halves of their cage. I cannot express my guilt enough. I am afraid that if I bring Mork back to the SPCA, that while he will find a lovely home as the only chinchilla--because I wouldn't let him go to them unless that were defined in his adoption papers--that when I get home I'll be overcome with guilt. I need some help deciding what to do with Mork. I have Rodya and Sonya and Ivan; I was going to adopt Ivan out to my sister or cousin until his paralysis. He has been so close to me that I can't now.
Rodya will be getting fixed sometime soon. I don't want Sonya to have another litter before then, but I have no place to separate them, and they're bonded so they get depressed when separated anyway. According to their previous owner, they fur bite and refuse to eat when put in different cages.
I want to do what is best for all of my animals, after having failed Orson. I appreciate any comments, except for those telling me my mistakes with caging Mork and Orson. Obviously I have learned my lesson the hard way, I can't go back and change it, and I don't need to be told by anyone beside myself what an idiot I am. I'm sorry for the long post, but hopefully you understand why I feel that all of the information is pertinent.
Thank you. Brittany_Lynn
In August, I rescued a pair of breeder chins from a woman who was downsizing her colony. They weren't in the best shape. Not very friendly. The male had hair mats. They've gotten 1000x better since then. She didn't know their ages...b/n 4 and 7 years was her guess. Their names are Rodya and Sonya, and they are standard.
Anyway it started my chin obsession. On 11-2-09 I went to an SPCA shelter where they had been given about 30 chins from a hoarder. I decided I wanted a pair of friendly boys, and from a cage of 4, after talking with a volunteer, I chose a silver white mosaic, who was named Opie but I renamed him Mork, and a Black Velvet named Orson. Mork and Orson were under 1 year old, my guess when I first got them in November was about 6 months old. The volunteers told me they were brothers, but Mork and Orson were not both sexually mature--Mork was, Orson was not.
For a few weeks everything was fine, but then Mork kept attacking Orson. Non stop. It got so bad that one day when I came home, there were handfuls of Orson's hair in the cage, and his ears had been punctured, twice. At that point I split them up, giving Mork the smaller cage.
On December 8th, Sonya had a healthy baby boy. If you are wondering, I do not want to breed them, but I am waiting for Rodya to become more social before I get him neutered. I don't want to have too many changes too fast, he still has a problem with some fur biting, but no more mats---took a long time though. Anyway, Ivan, the new baby, is so small he can get through the bars of Rodya and Sonya's cage. On New Year's Eve I found him in my living room, his back legs not working properly. Long story short, for some reason he was paralyzed from the neck to the tail for a week, but after hand feeding him and giving him antibiotics, he made a full recovery. I was really proud of him and of my care for him. But I didn't want to risk it happening again, so I put him in the small cage with mom and dad. It was the cage Rodya and Sonya had lived all their life previously in--and the cage Mork had been staying in. Now Rodya and Sonya aren't the friendliest chins, but I don't blame them, but when I put them in that small cage, whenever I would open the door they would jump into my hands. They'd gone from a 4 foot tall cage to a 9 cubic feet cage they remembered...I'd probably do the same. So for January, caging was as follows:
Rodya, Sonya, baby Ivan - smallest cage, bars no where near big enough for baby to get out
Mork - single, 4 foot tall cage
Orson - Single, 4 foot tall cage. They are cat cages which come on wheels, were on opposite ends of the room.
After a month of heart wrenching guilt at having forced Rodya and Sonya back into that tiny cage again, and after making sure Ivan was fully weaned, I kept Ivan in the tiny cage, and moved Rodya and Sonya to their 4 foot tall single. Meanwhile, I kept Mork in the bathroom as I transformed Orson's single into a double. I put the ledges in the exact middle, and covered the space between with a thick cardboard box, which had a 2 inch lip, Orson used it for his potty, and I put his marble slab on there so that he couldn't get down from the top half, and Mork couldn't get up from the bottom half.
The two halves of the 4 foot cage are each larger than the small cage Ivan is in...but Ivan is fine, he has PLENTY of room. Still too small to go in with mom and dad--can still squeeze through the bars.
So that brings us to Tonight/Today. I woke up from a nap at 10:30pm, and went into the room my chins are in, and saw Mork on the top half of the cage. I assumed my roommate had switched the two because Mork has a habit of throwing hay and poop on the floor, and roomie was getting sick of it. Then I noticed Orson, curled up in a box in the top with Mork. I poked him and he didn't run away, problem number one. I put Mork in the bottom, and found that Orson had chewed a tiny hole in the corner of his litter box, and Mork made it bigger from the bottom, and squeezed through. I covered the back corner with the marble and took Orson out... :cry3: He was in really bad shape. He had a cut on his lower lip and was drooling profusely, he was limp in my hands and didn't struggle when I dried his mouth. His right ear was full of blood, and when I looked at the space between his ears, I saw a ton of bite wounds. I believe Mork ripped some of Orson's skin away from his skull, I couldn't tell because of Orson's dark fur. I immediately called my emergency vet, and headed on my way over. Orson was breathing heavily, then, 5 minutes before getting to the emergency vet, he was loudly struggling to breath, gurgling because of the drool. I put my finger in his mouth and he didn't bite, just let the drool go around my finger. It seemed to help him breathe. Then it got worse and worse, and finally, stopped. I thought that was a good sign, but at a red light 10 seconds later I looked down in my arm and saw that he had passed away :cry3:
To be honest, and I didn't share this with anyone but this forum, I tried to give him CPR. It didn't work. His heart had stopped and I couldn't get it going again. I didn't really know what to do so I went to the vet and told them. They said they were sorry and gave me info on cremation. I had hoped they would try to shock him back to life with those electric paddles, but...no luck. I took him home so he wouldn't be alone, and I sat for a while and petted him. I cleaned him up and took care of all of his fur slips, and tried to clean up the blood on his head. He's in a towel now, while I decide if I want to bury him or cremate him.
Here's the part where I need help. What do I do with Mork? I love him, I really do, but he is so aggressive and...he has now killed the chinchilla that was his cage mate. I forgot to mention earlier, I figured out about 2 weeks into owning him, that Mork is deaf. I don't know if this is part of the problem or not. At first their fights were the result of Mork sexually dominating Orson. But this fight showed no signs of sexual dominance, only physical wounds in the head area. The only thing Orson did to Mork was bite his lip--Mork's top right lip has a small bite wound. He's otherwise fine.
I love my chinchillas, and I am hating myself for not getting a better, more solid barrier between the two halves of their cage. I cannot express my guilt enough. I am afraid that if I bring Mork back to the SPCA, that while he will find a lovely home as the only chinchilla--because I wouldn't let him go to them unless that were defined in his adoption papers--that when I get home I'll be overcome with guilt. I need some help deciding what to do with Mork. I have Rodya and Sonya and Ivan; I was going to adopt Ivan out to my sister or cousin until his paralysis. He has been so close to me that I can't now.
Rodya will be getting fixed sometime soon. I don't want Sonya to have another litter before then, but I have no place to separate them, and they're bonded so they get depressed when separated anyway. According to their previous owner, they fur bite and refuse to eat when put in different cages.
I want to do what is best for all of my animals, after having failed Orson. I appreciate any comments, except for those telling me my mistakes with caging Mork and Orson. Obviously I have learned my lesson the hard way, I can't go back and change it, and I don't need to be told by anyone beside myself what an idiot I am. I'm sorry for the long post, but hopefully you understand why I feel that all of the information is pertinent.
Thank you. Brittany_Lynn
