Bringing her home for the first time.

[kmonty0726]

I just got my chin yesterday. Her name is Ember and she will be 8 weeks tomorrow

1. She seems okay yesterday not immensely terrified but seems more scared today. I know they are more active at night. But she is awake today and I was suprised. She did let me pet her.

When we got home last night she ate some food out of my hand and hopped on my hand and let me raise it. Is this a good indication?

2. She is eating but I cannot tell if she is drinking. Should I be worried? And when is the time to worry?

I know she will be timid and it will take a while for her to get used to me. I just worry because she is my first chin and I already love her to pieces.

 

[mgonya]

She is adorable. Be patient and don't rush her. Sounds like she is comfortable with you already. My chins don't drink often but when they do it's a lot at one time. I would wait a few months before you have out of cage time and then confine her to a small area, such as a bathroom. There is a lot of good advice here, keep reading and good luck.

 

[kmonty0726]

Don't really know what happened between last night and today. But she isn't wanting to be petted much. She is slightly roaming but seems pretty tired. But I am sure she will adjust to being here in her new home. We did give her a dust bath tonight in cage and she took to it almost immediately. I don't keep her dust bath house in her cage at all times though. She has plenty in there.


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[MNChinLover]

If you can't see the water going down or her at the water bottle drinking for a day or two, try showing her the water bottle, bringing it to her by her nose. Or holding her by the water bottle. I had to bring the water bottle to one of mine he wouldn't move the first couple days, the other was out and about and drinking right away.

You may have been able to pet her easier when she was scared and more frozen, now that she is getting a little more comfortable she might be a little more active and less wanting to be pet.

Just let her get used to you, be prepared for some gentle nibbles when she starts getting comfortable with you!

 

[kmonty0726]

She has given me soft nibbles, but today it was a little harder, I had to use juice of a raisin to get her to drink a little bit, so I tihnk I still had that on my hand and she just started nibbling on my hand but bit harder, maybe she thought it was food. She did draw blood though. It did hurt persey, it was just a little uncomfortable

 

[Godofgods]

they nibble/groom as affection some times. My chins often do that on my hands. Young chins probably don't no just how much force to use and how much is to much. Also young chins and have very sharp teeth making blood drawing a bit more easier even if they don't mean to.

Also, looking at the pics im assuming thats a FN cage. I will warn you that a chin that size can still fit between a FN's 1 inch bar spacing and get out. Or (potentially worse) they can get there head through and get stuck if they are jsut a tad to big for fitting through anymore) You may want to see about fixing that temporarily until he is bigger. They are very tricky like that.

 

[kmonty0726]

I have heard of them squeezing through the bars, the woman at the pet shop who also breeds them, and breeded her mother to get her had them in FN before putting them in the store. (Not to be confused while breeding.) She assured me it was perfectly safe and only reccomended I replace or covered the plastic, even though they don't at the pet shop. So that is the reason I did not kit proof it. I had her cage all set up before she came home, since I had to drive an hour away, I called before hand, and made sure she still had them, and luckily she did. Chins go really fast around as not many people breed them, in small town areas.

 

[kmonty0726]

I am still concerned about her drinking, I know they are NOT supposed to have treats and putting a bit of juice from a raisin on the tip of her water bottle is the only successful way I could get her to drink. It is the 2nd full day she has been home. She is eating just fine. I know a new home takes time, I wouldn't be so worried if she was drinking more

 

[Smidgeyy]

I would baby proof the cage anyway... Just because they didn't get out, doesn't mean that they can't.

You can try forcing it, but I would use that as a last resort. You can soak some pellets in some water so she's still getting some, but that can get pretty messy.

Mark the bottle so you can see if it goes down at all. She could be drinking but in very small amounts.

 

[Godofgods]

I have heard of them squeezing through the bars, the woman at the pet shop who also breeds them, and breeded her mother to get her had them in FN before putting them in the store. (Not to be confused while breeding.) She assured me it was perfectly safe and only reccomended I replace or covered the plastic, even though they don't at the pet shop. So that is the reason I did not kit proof it. I had her cage all set up before she came home, since I had to drive an hour away, I called before hand, and made sure she still had them, and luckily she did. Chins go really fast around as not many people breed them, in small town areas.

i can guarantee you that an 8 week old kit of that size can fit through 1 inch bars.

 

[kmonty0726]

I stay home, I don't work. So I am here with her all the time. They had 1 inch bar spacing at the breeder and pet shop. She will not escape and I am not kit proofing when I don't need to.


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[Godofgods]

i implore you to reconsider. I had two kits almost die because of this. And one was almost triple the size of the kit in the photo and still managed to get through 1 inch spaced bars. Just because it hasn't done it yet absolutely does not mean that it wont in the future. And once they learn that it can be done they will try to do it all the time.

 

[Smidgeyy]

Godofgods is correct... Pet shops do not always have what is best for their animals. For example... Petsmart and Petco always plastic cages for their chins, no ledges, etc... None of that is good for them yet they provide them with that anyway. Just because that's the cage they had, doesn't mean it was safe.

I can guarantee that you're not going to be able to watch her every second, and that's all it will take for her to get out.

 

[kmonty0726]

Well her cage is the only place she feels safe right now, it is her new home, and its all she has, she won't escape. She has no desire to escape, she doesn't even have interest to explore the 2nd floor of her FN other than there is food up there. She is very afraid right now her whole world has been changed, and I am not adding anything new, it will just frighten her even more. She mostly stays in one little spot, especially when my boyfriend is home. She is uncomfortable around him. I am her primary care giver. She is still active at night when no one is awake but its all an adjustment. But she has no desire to escape this is her safety net right now

 

[Godofgods]

Ive had a baby chin escape a FN cage the very first day he was born.
Ive had a chin that was several months old escape a FN Cage.
Ive watch my chin who wont jump down one foot from the bottom cage to the floor suddenly decide it was a good idea to take a running start and fly out of the cage from the mid shelf on the second floor (nearly the roof)

Young/small chins can escape no matter what type of justification you can think of. They also do many many things very spontaneously. The kit may not show interest in it now, but there is absolutely nothing stopping him from deciding to suddenly do it in 5 min from now. And while it could be a harmless escape, the first time could also be his last time
If the chin is still scared inside the cage, imagine how scared he would be if he got out.

I would suggest looking into chicken wire. You just attached it to the bars on the inside. You don't have to change cages, you don't have to change anything inside the cage. And the wire will nearly guarantee that a kit cant escape one day.

Its a very simple thing that can save his life. Im not pushing this to be a annoying bastard or anything. I know how dangerous this can be, i don't want to see anything happen to the kit.