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  1. K

    Colony Breeding cage

    We did pretty thoroughly investigate the idea of colony breeding at one point. In my experience multiple females sharing space while breeding looks to always go badly eventually. For a single round of litters I give it some chance of working with VERY careful choices of who you attempt to...
  2. K

    Succulents safe to live with?

    If they can't eat it then I wouldn't worry about it. I did have a guinea pig eat a small cactus once. I had some started on a mat on the floor under a growlight with a wire barrier. I came back in the room with treats while they were out to find they'd managed to shove the wire apart. I...
  3. K

    cardboard

    Mine all eat cardboard. Excessive amounts can cause intestinal problems and even death. Glues may be questionable as well. Some may not eat as much of it but I really don't see a reason to throw in cardboard they will chew up within minutes to hours. The local hardware stores will cut...
  4. K

    Silver Surfer or Flying Saucer

    The flying saucer is space consuming and has a risk of breaking cage bars due to it's weight. It needs to be installed with proper support. Otherwise it has few problems I know of but I don't own any. The silver surfer fits in more cage setups but chins will chew apart the thin metal. It...
  5. K

    Chinchilla making weird noises

    Chinchillas really do make a wide range of sounds and with varying personalities they aren't always consistent about what is normal for every chinchilla. Unless it seems like there is a respiratory problem altering the sounds they make or cagemates are noisy due to fighting I've found it's...
  6. K

    chinchilla got a nibble of metal gear grease

    All products should have a safety data sheet or MSDS. Some of it may be on the container or you can generally find it online provided you know the name of the product. That will tell you acute hazards and first aid concerns. If you need that information quickly in the US you can call your...
  7. K

    Chin lost lifelong partner

    I wouldn't neuter a chinchilla. I've had rabbits and guinea pigs neutered as well as other surgeries but chinchillas stress so easily, obsess over wounds or stitches easily, and have a high risk of GI problems both from antibiotics and from not eating as well due to discomfort or stress. I'd...
  8. K

    Moving Across Country

    I really don't know why chinchilla specific carriers and basic small wire cages are so expensive. The wire spacing? The gauge is often the same. Unweaned babies do fit out standard rabbit wire spacing but I've had no issues with anything older. The floor could be a concern if you want a wire...
  9. K

    Introduction

    Lots and lots and lots of wood. Pine board houses, pine board shelves, and several times a year I am drying mulberry wood cut from our yard to refill the boxes of sticks and larger branches. Good thing mulberry grows fast. They could eat one of the 8' tall trees in a year. Large parrot toys...
  10. K

    Chinchilla biting but doesn't seem angry?

    He probably didn't realize it was hard enough to hurt while grooming you, playing, or simply being curious. If you express displeasure without causing pain or scaring them they usually pick up quickly they made a mistake. Chins are fairly vocal with each other about these things or will give a...
  11. K

    Moving Across Country

    I just use bass equipment rabbit carriers or any wire rabbit carrier if there is a local seller. I think my 3 hole one we had custom made locally 10-12 years ago but with the center designed to hold a 15lb rabbit it's a bit big to move chinchillas in a packed car. You can get any size and...
  12. K

    Dirty Chinchilla

    Even regular dust baths will eventually clean the fur. It just won't remove staining. It won't prevent them getting dirty again though. Sitting in it for only a few minutes can get their fur dirty and wet enough to stick together. The small amount of pee relative to some animals may dry up...
  13. K

    Do Chinchillas like being read to?

    I find most of my chinchillas don't really like quiet all that much. I've had a few I got older that probably were used to silence and became nervous with commotion but otherwise they seem to greatly prefer something going on. Things to see and listen to. Of course animals in general and...
  14. K

    Cool Mist Humidifier

    It gets 20% in our house in winter and I develop bronchitis in such conditions so we always run a humidifier from late fall until spring rains bring our 1800s hardwood house back to normal. My reptile and chinchilla hobbies sometimes conflict a bit too so it's a fine balance some parts of the...
  15. K

    Odd Chin Eating Habit

    I have one like that. She tosses it back in the bowl half the time. We originally thought tooth problems when we found bowls of tiny pellet bits but found no issue with her and 6-8years later she still does it. She gets irritating as she wastes pellets either making bits that get too small...
  16. K

    pulling out hay

    Not eating it and pulling it all over are kind of 2 separate problems since some will pull it out and still eat it and other times they don't eat it wherever it is. Pulling it out is more of a cleanliness and aesthetic problem that we usually solve by giving less hay so they eat what mess they...
  17. K

    Fleece measurements for bass pans

    Bass equipment lists dimensions as 34 1/2 X 22 1/2" and that's more exact than I get when sizing liners. We don't sew ours and just fold it over. All it takes is finding a bolt of fleece that matches a dimension of the pan or is twice a dimension and cut the other side to match. It doesn't...
  18. K

    Hawaii Chin Owners

    The only time I've taken chinchillas to a vet was the handful of incidents of 2 fighting and I think one cut itself on a chewed section of a silver surfer wheel before it was replaced. Most of the time though I don't even find the antibiotics frequently given with injuries necessary. Even when...
  19. K

    Bath Dust on ChinSpin

    We keep a 4' long plastic bottom guinea pig cage with the dust bath in it on top of one set of ferret nations. On top of a wooden pine dowel attached to a 2x4 chunk on each end so they can't chew it through the cage. When we clean a cage we pop them in there until we are done. They don't have...
  20. K

    Good treats/Whimzees for chins?

    The only good commercial treats I've found for much of any small animals are some horse treats and maybe some of oxbow's products but at a much higher price than any other source of treats. You have to avoid the horse treats marketed basically more toward pet owners that have fruit and...
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