Brian123
Well-known member
So, I've had my first incident involving plastic
It's been two weeks since getting my two 1 year old female chinchillas, and everything has been great. I researched online, books, and here to give them the best setup and safe food/treats. Then I make a stupid mistake of placing the snack ziplock bag on top of the FN-182 cage and forgetting it
I discovered the top of the bag, the part with the thicker zip lock part, chewed away. The slider knob was still there, which is how I discovered it when it came off opening the bag. I didn't see any pieces of it in the cage.
I usually just place it there temporarily, often when letting them out, and then only placed on an extra piece of fleece to block it (ones that come to cover the FN ramps). Well, I forgot to take it down Friday night. Stupid of me to even do it.
To retrace the events:
I left Saturday morning early to a state fair while they were sleeping. I made sure they had water, food and hay, can't recall if I touched the snack bag at that point. I got back around 3pm, they were still sleeping, so I left them alone. Then at 7pm, left to go to the county fair. Arrived home around 12am, which is when I discovered the bag.
So it may have happened through Friday night, but more likely between 7pm to 12am Saturday night.
Behavior observations:
At Saturday 12am:
Everything is peachy. They had been eating, drinking, still snacking on hay, and even took treats happily. They seemed normal. Question was, who done it, white mosaic or beige, or both. Well, the white mosaic had been resting on the ledge within reach, normally doesn't rest there. Later, my girlfriend notice she was standing on that ledge reaching for the top of the cage, as if trying to find the bag. So safe to say, it was her. She also tries to chew on the plastic dust bath that I need to replace, so some chewing history.
Sunday Morning:
Things seem normal, decent food eaten. Poo pellets abound. Just still a bit active. So I let them out to observe and watch for new poo. I got the beige out for the first time using the dust bath trick. She hopped around with energy, few bounces off walls. Got her self stuck in the bathtub where I found plenty of large poo within no time. They were slightly soft if I squish it, but not mooshy, hard and dry. But honestly, I never picked up fresh poo.
The white chin finally came out and seemed to be more reserved than past playtime. Could be that it was morning and that the beige was also out at the same time influencing her. The moment she tried to come out from under the cage, the beige came back and she went back under. Once I put the beige away, she seemed to explore more finally. I cleared the beige's poo to watch for some from the white chin, but in the past, she never did much outside.
To be sure, cleaned up the top cage and closed it off from the bottom. I placed her in it, which she immediately started searching for a way down. Jumping all the ledges, running fast in circles, so pretty active. Within minutes there were some decent sized poo everywhere. Hers were usually shorter than the beige. Same consistency as the beige. They are also still transitioning to oxbow that's mixed with their old diet.
Saturday Morning Play Time Conclusion:
The both dropped good poo pellets 12 hours from the discovery of the bag, which was probably chewed hours before that. With results from both, I let the white go back to the bottom. They both happily still took treats. When the beige chin was put back in the cage, she drank a ton of water.
Here's a picture of the bag, chewed part is about 3.75" long:
Here's the poo I collected from the play time.
Left is from the white chin, who is the biggest suspect. Again, that poo is 12 hours after discovering the bag, still eating treats and some hay. Still curious and acting normal.
Right is from the beige chin mostly found in and around the tub she had trouble with during play time, since I knew it was from her. She again drank plenty of water after that playtime and checked out hay.
Next 12 hours
From what I can looked up after searching online, the first 24 hours are when trouble may appear. It's easily been 14 hours from when the bag was chewed. So I'll keep an eye on them for the next 10-12 hours, to see if they eat, drink, take treats, and repeat what I did to be sure both are pooing.
Though, at this point, I hope their behavior and poo is a good sign they are okay. If anything starts to go wrong with one, I'll be sure to take that chin to the vet at the earliest.
Still, I'm so sad I let that happen to them
It's been two weeks since getting my two 1 year old female chinchillas, and everything has been great. I researched online, books, and here to give them the best setup and safe food/treats. Then I make a stupid mistake of placing the snack ziplock bag on top of the FN-182 cage and forgetting it
I discovered the top of the bag, the part with the thicker zip lock part, chewed away. The slider knob was still there, which is how I discovered it when it came off opening the bag. I didn't see any pieces of it in the cage.
I usually just place it there temporarily, often when letting them out, and then only placed on an extra piece of fleece to block it (ones that come to cover the FN ramps). Well, I forgot to take it down Friday night. Stupid of me to even do it.
To retrace the events:
I left Saturday morning early to a state fair while they were sleeping. I made sure they had water, food and hay, can't recall if I touched the snack bag at that point. I got back around 3pm, they were still sleeping, so I left them alone. Then at 7pm, left to go to the county fair. Arrived home around 12am, which is when I discovered the bag.
So it may have happened through Friday night, but more likely between 7pm to 12am Saturday night.
Behavior observations:
At Saturday 12am:
Everything is peachy. They had been eating, drinking, still snacking on hay, and even took treats happily. They seemed normal. Question was, who done it, white mosaic or beige, or both. Well, the white mosaic had been resting on the ledge within reach, normally doesn't rest there. Later, my girlfriend notice she was standing on that ledge reaching for the top of the cage, as if trying to find the bag. So safe to say, it was her. She also tries to chew on the plastic dust bath that I need to replace, so some chewing history.
Sunday Morning:
Things seem normal, decent food eaten. Poo pellets abound. Just still a bit active. So I let them out to observe and watch for new poo. I got the beige out for the first time using the dust bath trick. She hopped around with energy, few bounces off walls. Got her self stuck in the bathtub where I found plenty of large poo within no time. They were slightly soft if I squish it, but not mooshy, hard and dry. But honestly, I never picked up fresh poo.
The white chin finally came out and seemed to be more reserved than past playtime. Could be that it was morning and that the beige was also out at the same time influencing her. The moment she tried to come out from under the cage, the beige came back and she went back under. Once I put the beige away, she seemed to explore more finally. I cleared the beige's poo to watch for some from the white chin, but in the past, she never did much outside.
To be sure, cleaned up the top cage and closed it off from the bottom. I placed her in it, which she immediately started searching for a way down. Jumping all the ledges, running fast in circles, so pretty active. Within minutes there were some decent sized poo everywhere. Hers were usually shorter than the beige. Same consistency as the beige. They are also still transitioning to oxbow that's mixed with their old diet.
Saturday Morning Play Time Conclusion:
The both dropped good poo pellets 12 hours from the discovery of the bag, which was probably chewed hours before that. With results from both, I let the white go back to the bottom. They both happily still took treats. When the beige chin was put back in the cage, she drank a ton of water.
Here's a picture of the bag, chewed part is about 3.75" long:
Here's the poo I collected from the play time.
Left is from the white chin, who is the biggest suspect. Again, that poo is 12 hours after discovering the bag, still eating treats and some hay. Still curious and acting normal.
Right is from the beige chin mostly found in and around the tub she had trouble with during play time, since I knew it was from her. She again drank plenty of water after that playtime and checked out hay.
Next 12 hours
From what I can looked up after searching online, the first 24 hours are when trouble may appear. It's easily been 14 hours from when the bag was chewed. So I'll keep an eye on them for the next 10-12 hours, to see if they eat, drink, take treats, and repeat what I did to be sure both are pooing.
Though, at this point, I hope their behavior and poo is a good sign they are okay. If anything starts to go wrong with one, I'll be sure to take that chin to the vet at the earliest.
Still, I'm so sad I let that happen to them