If you have time and don’t mind answering some questions I’m sure you’ve answered thousands of times, I’d appreciate it if you could help me out. I completely read through New Chin Owner Mistakes and researched what threads I could. The lists below is what I have fixed and what I fixed it with, what I need fixed and I am thinking of fixing it with, and what I’m unsure of. I figured instead of responding to multiple and sometimes old threads, I'd do a personal fixxer upper.
Fixed/good/in process
• Glass water bottle (yay, one thing I did right)
• Super pet wheel 12” plastic – bought 15” chin spin
• Had blue cloud (from petsmart) and couldn’t find it second time and purchased kaytee dust bath – bought 14lbs of blue sparkle dust online (will cont this practice)
• Carefresh ultra bedding – bought all fleece liners
• Plastic shelves (never chewed) – made all KD pine wood shelves
• Super pet comf-e-cube – created KD pine hut and fleece hammocks
Current mistakes and looking to switch to what I put down
• Kaytee timothy hay plus blend with marigolds (bought online) – I’d like a mix of oxbow oat hay, oxbow western timothy hay and oxbow orchard grass (are those three good and are they okay to mix together?)
• Sunseed Sunaturals Chinchilla Diet (bought online, got great reviews ) – Oxbow Essentials Chinchilla Deluxe pellets. Also, can I get a 50lb bag or will it go bad too fast?
• Treats (ALL bad) raisins, Vitakraft Dandelion Chinchilla drop (what they claim is a healthy treat for everyday, first ingredient = sugar), Fiesta dried mini fruit mix and cereals (not the good ones) – I’m having difficulty on easy, healthy, yet tasty treats. I have found uncooked pasta and plain cheerios/shredded wheat.
Things I’m unsure of:
• I use Zephyr Hills spring water (what I named Zeph after, haha) for them. Is this safe? It’s what I buy and drink so was using for them.
• Chew blox (pumice stone) – I’ve seen people mention pumice but I just wanted to make sure.
• 8 in 1 Ecotrition Snak Shak couch
• Should I weigh my chins?
• Want to use a superpet ceramic bath for a hay holder, by sitting it on a board and attaching it to a cage with bolt/washer/wing nut. Safe?
Things I've seen and haven't completely found more info on:
Read someone said 5 month old chins shouldn’t be having playtime (I don’t know how old they are, I’ve had them since January from Petsmart). I did try to find a breeder and the only one in my area that I did find closed down. I never thought of checking a forum.
Questions:
If I purchase hay, how long will it stay fresh for me? Should I only buy 40 ounces at a time so that I go through it faster? Or can I do the lbs? What about when purchasing 3 types of hay at one time?
I’m going to move the chins to a separate room. They are out in my living room with TV, dogs, and near a front door that my dog will bark at if someone is there. Plan is too move to office and hang thermostat next to cage. It’s fine if I’m not always in there right? The only reason I kept them out in the living room was because I was told that they should be around where you are at most of the time so that they can see you and the living room stays cooler. The other rooms can get a little warmer. I have central air and it fluctuates in the house from 70-75. I don’t know if it gets warmer because we can get crazy summers (I live in Alabama). My AC works decently but I want to make sure.
I’m surprised at the sureness I get from people advising bad products for chins. Like they are positive that is the best for them and you find out later that it's absolute crap. I should know better. Just because they may work in a pet store doesn’t mean they know jack about pets (e.g. girl told me pine shavings were best for my rat) and pointed out the worst kind on the shelf.
I hope you guys don’t get mad from reading all the above. A lot of it is/was bad. I know it was my ignorance and although not an excuse, I’m trying to fix it. Thanks!
Fixed/good/in process
• Glass water bottle (yay, one thing I did right)
• Super pet wheel 12” plastic – bought 15” chin spin
• Had blue cloud (from petsmart) and couldn’t find it second time and purchased kaytee dust bath – bought 14lbs of blue sparkle dust online (will cont this practice)
• Carefresh ultra bedding – bought all fleece liners
• Plastic shelves (never chewed) – made all KD pine wood shelves
• Super pet comf-e-cube – created KD pine hut and fleece hammocks
Current mistakes and looking to switch to what I put down
• Kaytee timothy hay plus blend with marigolds (bought online) – I’d like a mix of oxbow oat hay, oxbow western timothy hay and oxbow orchard grass (are those three good and are they okay to mix together?)
• Sunseed Sunaturals Chinchilla Diet (bought online, got great reviews ) – Oxbow Essentials Chinchilla Deluxe pellets. Also, can I get a 50lb bag or will it go bad too fast?
• Treats (ALL bad) raisins, Vitakraft Dandelion Chinchilla drop (what they claim is a healthy treat for everyday, first ingredient = sugar), Fiesta dried mini fruit mix and cereals (not the good ones) – I’m having difficulty on easy, healthy, yet tasty treats. I have found uncooked pasta and plain cheerios/shredded wheat.
Things I’m unsure of:
• I use Zephyr Hills spring water (what I named Zeph after, haha) for them. Is this safe? It’s what I buy and drink so was using for them.
• Chew blox (pumice stone) – I’ve seen people mention pumice but I just wanted to make sure.
• 8 in 1 Ecotrition Snak Shak couch
• Should I weigh my chins?
• Want to use a superpet ceramic bath for a hay holder, by sitting it on a board and attaching it to a cage with bolt/washer/wing nut. Safe?
Things I've seen and haven't completely found more info on:
Read someone said 5 month old chins shouldn’t be having playtime (I don’t know how old they are, I’ve had them since January from Petsmart). I did try to find a breeder and the only one in my area that I did find closed down. I never thought of checking a forum.
Questions:
If I purchase hay, how long will it stay fresh for me? Should I only buy 40 ounces at a time so that I go through it faster? Or can I do the lbs? What about when purchasing 3 types of hay at one time?
I’m going to move the chins to a separate room. They are out in my living room with TV, dogs, and near a front door that my dog will bark at if someone is there. Plan is too move to office and hang thermostat next to cage. It’s fine if I’m not always in there right? The only reason I kept them out in the living room was because I was told that they should be around where you are at most of the time so that they can see you and the living room stays cooler. The other rooms can get a little warmer. I have central air and it fluctuates in the house from 70-75. I don’t know if it gets warmer because we can get crazy summers (I live in Alabama). My AC works decently but I want to make sure.
I’m surprised at the sureness I get from people advising bad products for chins. Like they are positive that is the best for them and you find out later that it's absolute crap. I should know better. Just because they may work in a pet store doesn’t mean they know jack about pets (e.g. girl told me pine shavings were best for my rat) and pointed out the worst kind on the shelf.
I hope you guys don’t get mad from reading all the above. A lot of it is/was bad. I know it was my ignorance and although not an excuse, I’m trying to fix it. Thanks!