Godofgods
Well-known member
Just found these fourms today, and this is naturaly my first post. Im looking for any ideas or suggestions to help improve my chins quality of life.
Back Story: I got my first chinchilla Chico, male age unknown; back around the end of 2007 or 2008. I was working at the time, most nights i didnt even have enough time to eat much less give a chin full attention unfortionitly. But i was somehow able to work it in.
I was in my apartment one night when i got a knock on my door form my brother. He was in the process of moving back to new jersey form PA, and asked if i could watch the chin for a while. At this point i had never even heard of a chinchilla much less had experence with them. But i took him in, and thats how i meet Chico. Unfortionitly for the little guy he has been takein in several times. So i have no clue who his origional owner was, or how old he is. Tho he was a full grown adult when i meet him.
Needless to say after a ~2h rid form PA to nj, in a small cage to fit in the back of car, he was not a happy chin. He would start barking like crazy if you even walked near his cage much less tried to approch him.
He came with a Ferret Nation cage that was put back together, which he lives in now. Unfortionitly, my brother didnt no he needed a chew block or chew toys so he chewed to nice size wholes in the bottem floor tray.
Since then hes gotten chew toys and what not and doesnt chew the floor anymore. He has become extremly comfortable with me. Several times he feel asleep in my lap when he was out to play. They were much simpler times lol.
Very much to my dissapointment, in june of 2008 i suffered a back injury with by september has lead me to being disabled. So since then iv had a fair amount of time to give my chins their attention needed.
You could see that Chico was a lonly chin, all by himself. So after many months of searching, i found a female play mate with her own ferret nation cage which the owner had to give up. So i took her in. Had their cages next to each other to introduce them over time. Which worked quite well. They became very good friends.
Chico always trying to hop up on her' but she would never ever let him. So i didnt have to much concern in that area when time came to put them both into chicos cage. Once together, they got along great. No problems realy.
The plastic wheels form the pet store sucked, so i got them a Large metal flying saucer wheel. Which they all seem to like. They have a custom built hut thats the full size of a Ferret Nation shelf. With a fleece liner for the shelf. And i recently added a fleece pellow as well. I switched them over to Select Series Pro rabbit food, which was suggested to me by a formar breeder. Which my chins love. I feared the transition would be bad since the old pet store food had all them little 'treats' and stuff in their, and this was plain food. But the started eating the new food and wouldnt touch the old pet sotre kind. So i was in no mood to complain!
Also switched over to Oxbow western timmathy hay as suggested by my vet. Which they also seemed to like more.
End Main Back Story lol
Begin extremly fightfull night:
Everything was normal till about october 19th 2010 i beleive. At the time i had two ferrets. And i had them out runnign the apartment that night. And they get into everything, thats nothing new. And while they were out, i heard son squelling coming form under the refridgerator. Again, not entirly unusal from them ferrets, but i ran out to check anyway.
Keep in mind, this fridge is 20+ years old. Theirs no front cover on the bottem. And it was pretty lined with layers of dust to point of being a blanket. (It was jsut to hard to get into to clean it.) But i ran out to check. I hit the breaker to shut of power to the fridge. If something was going wrong, better to have it shut down. I get down on my hands and knees to check. (Due to dust layers, u cant see under their well) And jsut then i see my ferret wlak out the other side perfectly fine. Ok... but im alread down their, so i mine as well check.
And sure enough i can jsut barley see a very small animal head with whiskers. My first thought was its probably a mouse. Theyve been known to get in on ocasion. Expect 'it' wasnt moveing much. It stayed put. And mice always run away. I get a flash light, and im laying their staring at it. (couldnt reach in to grab it, not that i would before knowing what it was) As im stareing at it, much much much to my suprise, it startes to look like a mini chinchilla!!! 0.0
So im watching it, becomeing more and more convinced it is a chin, when he finaly did the chin's classic hand across the nose manuver. Combined with the fact it looked exactly like chico, i was **** sure it was a chinchilla.
Except i had no clue where he came from! Sophie (female chin) had never shown any signs of being pregnet what so ever. Considering many months earlier, she did show sign, but turned out to be false signs. This time, no signs at all. So it never occured to me.
With the help of a friend and a good hour or two, he was able to get the fridge out enough to coax him out of hiding from under my fridge. He was soooo small. And i had no clue what to do lol. It was like 9pm or so, so not liek i could call a vet, and i didnt rly no anyong that new of chins.
When he first came out. Having no clue what to do or where he came from, I placed him in the small animal carrier i had. That was intill he very quickly excaped from it. Fit right through them bars.
So i placed him in a box (no roof) with a towel underneath. Having not expected baby chins, i new nothing about caring for them. He wouldnt drink the water. Obviously didnt eat the food.
I was worried about placing a chin of unknown oragion in a cage with my two chins. But i finaly talked myself into it figureing.. its New jersey (north east usa) theirs no way a a baby chin jsut happened to wonder up like a mouse would. Their was only one way he could of gotten here. And both my chins were extremly intent at watching when we were trying to get him from the fridge.
So under observation i put him back in the cage. Sophie ran away at first which scared me. But then came right back and starting takeing care of him. And the kit was quick to run for a nipple. Im sure he was hungry. But they all got alone fine.
I took him to the vet the follwoing day. Trying to explain how u found a baby under a fridge at a vets office when u had no idea he exsisted, is a **** of a story to get by. But the kit was fine.
The vet estimated him to be around 9 days old. Which was when my jaw hit the floor again. Im not that much of a screw up lol. I would notce a thrid chin in my chage after 9 days!! The only conclusion i could come up with assuming that estimate was accurate was he was born in the large hut. Which is possible. You cant realy see in that unless u specficly go into the cage to look. But thats a terrifying thought, and youll see why when i add the picture down below.
But that still left the mystery of how he got form the hut on the second floor, to undernearth my fridge. That was entill i came out and found him running across my floor. I was able to get him, and put him back in the cage, which is when i saw for the first time, his oh so easy excape between the bars on my FN cage. Lets jsut say now, that im so glad he out grew the ability to do that.
Its amazing hes alive. And im truly greatfull. Defenitly own my ferret Zoey for that find. Needless to say, she got an extra treat that night lol.
Of course the fun didnt last. Remember when i said that fridge was old? Remember when i said i hit the breaker? Well the fridge never quite worked right since then. And i was forced to spend 900 some getting a new fridge. So that baby cost me a **** fourtion!
It was a team effort tho. Fridge housed him, ferret found him, friend recovered him. It was an eventfull night.. And considering sophie was pregent without me knowing, he was born with out me knowing, excaped without me knowing, and the rest of the event jsut described... i could think of only one name for the little guy: Houdini
End of fightfull night. lol
Their was one after effect form that whole incedent tho. It was 9-10 days before i new houdini was alive. And as it turns out, chinchillas can get pregnet right after giving birth. -_-
Atlease this time i was preparred tho. And on Feb 7, 2011 sophie gave birth to two kits. However, even being preparred wasnt quite enough. (Sophie is in seperate cage now, so no more kits) Even with preparing the cage so they couldnt excape, they sure did. As it would turn out.. baby chinchilla can climb to!
I should have thought of such a thing. Houdini would use his wheel to fling himself up high enough, grab on the vertical bars, climb up to the under side of the shelf with they fleece lining, get in, and use it as a hammok.
So i should have thought of that. The two kits are (i think velvet black) but seem to be called standard grey, and the other is (i think of as grey) but refered to as saphire. Just liek their parents. Sophie is grey; Chico, saphire.
(houdini saphire to) And sure enough the new saphire kit, a houdini look a like, is defenitly following houdinis example. The saphire kit (names Zaeo) has excaped that cage so many times. Way mmore then even houdini did. He can climb extremly well. He would climb over the covered spots of the cage, get above, then squeeze though and hop out.
Their 5 weeks old now, and look to be extremly close to not being able to fit though anymore. And i cant wait for that day!
End of long rant lol
----
I give credit to anyone who actuly read all that. I no its not my first instenct lol. However being at home all day from disability, and with recent disaster in japan, my only source of entermataintment (ffxi) shut down for a long while, I have a lot of time to type such long things lol.
Ill add their current living arrangmetn, that i was looking for suggestiong on, in a seperate thread. This ones plently long enough.
I do find one thing ironic tho. (yes aside from allllll that). I had to Two ferrets, and two chinchillas. And i desided that was enough pets. No more for now. ... ... ... So now i have 5 ferrets and 5 chinchillas....
Back Story: I got my first chinchilla Chico, male age unknown; back around the end of 2007 or 2008. I was working at the time, most nights i didnt even have enough time to eat much less give a chin full attention unfortionitly. But i was somehow able to work it in.
I was in my apartment one night when i got a knock on my door form my brother. He was in the process of moving back to new jersey form PA, and asked if i could watch the chin for a while. At this point i had never even heard of a chinchilla much less had experence with them. But i took him in, and thats how i meet Chico. Unfortionitly for the little guy he has been takein in several times. So i have no clue who his origional owner was, or how old he is. Tho he was a full grown adult when i meet him.
Needless to say after a ~2h rid form PA to nj, in a small cage to fit in the back of car, he was not a happy chin. He would start barking like crazy if you even walked near his cage much less tried to approch him.
He came with a Ferret Nation cage that was put back together, which he lives in now. Unfortionitly, my brother didnt no he needed a chew block or chew toys so he chewed to nice size wholes in the bottem floor tray.
Since then hes gotten chew toys and what not and doesnt chew the floor anymore. He has become extremly comfortable with me. Several times he feel asleep in my lap when he was out to play. They were much simpler times lol.
Very much to my dissapointment, in june of 2008 i suffered a back injury with by september has lead me to being disabled. So since then iv had a fair amount of time to give my chins their attention needed.
You could see that Chico was a lonly chin, all by himself. So after many months of searching, i found a female play mate with her own ferret nation cage which the owner had to give up. So i took her in. Had their cages next to each other to introduce them over time. Which worked quite well. They became very good friends.
Chico always trying to hop up on her' but she would never ever let him. So i didnt have to much concern in that area when time came to put them both into chicos cage. Once together, they got along great. No problems realy.
The plastic wheels form the pet store sucked, so i got them a Large metal flying saucer wheel. Which they all seem to like. They have a custom built hut thats the full size of a Ferret Nation shelf. With a fleece liner for the shelf. And i recently added a fleece pellow as well. I switched them over to Select Series Pro rabbit food, which was suggested to me by a formar breeder. Which my chins love. I feared the transition would be bad since the old pet store food had all them little 'treats' and stuff in their, and this was plain food. But the started eating the new food and wouldnt touch the old pet sotre kind. So i was in no mood to complain!
Also switched over to Oxbow western timmathy hay as suggested by my vet. Which they also seemed to like more.End Main Back Story lol
Begin extremly fightfull night:
Everything was normal till about october 19th 2010 i beleive. At the time i had two ferrets. And i had them out runnign the apartment that night. And they get into everything, thats nothing new. And while they were out, i heard son squelling coming form under the refridgerator. Again, not entirly unusal from them ferrets, but i ran out to check anyway.
Keep in mind, this fridge is 20+ years old. Theirs no front cover on the bottem. And it was pretty lined with layers of dust to point of being a blanket. (It was jsut to hard to get into to clean it.) But i ran out to check. I hit the breaker to shut of power to the fridge. If something was going wrong, better to have it shut down. I get down on my hands and knees to check. (Due to dust layers, u cant see under their well) And jsut then i see my ferret wlak out the other side perfectly fine. Ok... but im alread down their, so i mine as well check.
And sure enough i can jsut barley see a very small animal head with whiskers. My first thought was its probably a mouse. Theyve been known to get in on ocasion. Expect 'it' wasnt moveing much. It stayed put. And mice always run away. I get a flash light, and im laying their staring at it. (couldnt reach in to grab it, not that i would before knowing what it was) As im stareing at it, much much much to my suprise, it startes to look like a mini chinchilla!!! 0.0
So im watching it, becomeing more and more convinced it is a chin, when he finaly did the chin's classic hand across the nose manuver. Combined with the fact it looked exactly like chico, i was **** sure it was a chinchilla.
Except i had no clue where he came from! Sophie (female chin) had never shown any signs of being pregnet what so ever. Considering many months earlier, she did show sign, but turned out to be false signs. This time, no signs at all. So it never occured to me.
With the help of a friend and a good hour or two, he was able to get the fridge out enough to coax him out of hiding from under my fridge. He was soooo small. And i had no clue what to do lol. It was like 9pm or so, so not liek i could call a vet, and i didnt rly no anyong that new of chins.
When he first came out. Having no clue what to do or where he came from, I placed him in the small animal carrier i had. That was intill he very quickly excaped from it. Fit right through them bars.
So i placed him in a box (no roof) with a towel underneath. Having not expected baby chins, i new nothing about caring for them. He wouldnt drink the water. Obviously didnt eat the food.
I was worried about placing a chin of unknown oragion in a cage with my two chins. But i finaly talked myself into it figureing.. its New jersey (north east usa) theirs no way a a baby chin jsut happened to wonder up like a mouse would. Their was only one way he could of gotten here. And both my chins were extremly intent at watching when we were trying to get him from the fridge.
So under observation i put him back in the cage. Sophie ran away at first which scared me. But then came right back and starting takeing care of him. And the kit was quick to run for a nipple. Im sure he was hungry. But they all got alone fine.
I took him to the vet the follwoing day. Trying to explain how u found a baby under a fridge at a vets office when u had no idea he exsisted, is a **** of a story to get by. But the kit was fine.
The vet estimated him to be around 9 days old. Which was when my jaw hit the floor again. Im not that much of a screw up lol. I would notce a thrid chin in my chage after 9 days!! The only conclusion i could come up with assuming that estimate was accurate was he was born in the large hut. Which is possible. You cant realy see in that unless u specficly go into the cage to look. But thats a terrifying thought, and youll see why when i add the picture down below.
But that still left the mystery of how he got form the hut on the second floor, to undernearth my fridge. That was entill i came out and found him running across my floor. I was able to get him, and put him back in the cage, which is when i saw for the first time, his oh so easy excape between the bars on my FN cage. Lets jsut say now, that im so glad he out grew the ability to do that.
Its amazing hes alive. And im truly greatfull. Defenitly own my ferret Zoey for that find. Needless to say, she got an extra treat that night lol.
Of course the fun didnt last. Remember when i said that fridge was old? Remember when i said i hit the breaker? Well the fridge never quite worked right since then. And i was forced to spend 900 some getting a new fridge. So that baby cost me a **** fourtion!
It was a team effort tho. Fridge housed him, ferret found him, friend recovered him. It was an eventfull night.. And considering sophie was pregent without me knowing, he was born with out me knowing, excaped without me knowing, and the rest of the event jsut described... i could think of only one name for the little guy: Houdini
End of fightfull night. lol
Their was one after effect form that whole incedent tho. It was 9-10 days before i new houdini was alive. And as it turns out, chinchillas can get pregnet right after giving birth. -_-
Atlease this time i was preparred tho. And on Feb 7, 2011 sophie gave birth to two kits. However, even being preparred wasnt quite enough. (Sophie is in seperate cage now, so no more kits) Even with preparing the cage so they couldnt excape, they sure did. As it would turn out.. baby chinchilla can climb to!
I should have thought of such a thing. Houdini would use his wheel to fling himself up high enough, grab on the vertical bars, climb up to the under side of the shelf with they fleece lining, get in, and use it as a hammok.
So i should have thought of that. The two kits are (i think velvet black) but seem to be called standard grey, and the other is (i think of as grey) but refered to as saphire. Just liek their parents. Sophie is grey; Chico, saphire.
(houdini saphire to) And sure enough the new saphire kit, a houdini look a like, is defenitly following houdinis example. The saphire kit (names Zaeo) has excaped that cage so many times. Way mmore then even houdini did. He can climb extremly well. He would climb over the covered spots of the cage, get above, then squeeze though and hop out.
Their 5 weeks old now, and look to be extremly close to not being able to fit though anymore. And i cant wait for that day!
End of long rant lol
----
I give credit to anyone who actuly read all that. I no its not my first instenct lol. However being at home all day from disability, and with recent disaster in japan, my only source of entermataintment (ffxi) shut down for a long while, I have a lot of time to type such long things lol.
Ill add their current living arrangmetn, that i was looking for suggestiong on, in a seperate thread. This ones plently long enough.
I do find one thing ironic tho. (yes aside from allllll that). I had to Two ferrets, and two chinchillas. And i desided that was enough pets. No more for now. ... ... ... So now i have 5 ferrets and 5 chinchillas....
