Ellie is lying funny?

[amignatowicz]

My sapphire girl has been lying half on her side lately, and otherwise she seems fine, she runs right to the door when i open it, jumps just fine, but i want to get some opinions to make sure nothing is wrong. sorry for the bad photo but if i opened the cage door she'd just get up and come over to me, so i wouldn't have been able to get a photo. any feedback is really appreciated.
thanks! Ashley

 

[tunes]

Looks fine to me. My chins lay like that all the time.

It looks like you have no bedding or liner in that cage though, and with especially with a plastic pan that is not a good thing. What kind of bedding do you use for her? Or did she just push all the shavings out of the way?

 

[amignatowicz]

i use carefresh. its a FN 142, thats one of the shelves, i try to keep bedding on it, but they always kick it out or down. i did order the bass pans, and fleece liners, so i'm waiting on them to come in

 

[tunes]

Do you have other cages that you plan to breed in?

 

[amignatowicz]

yes, i have many cages. i currently have 3 FN cages and 4 other cages

 

[Rainschins]

carefresh

I personally would stop using the carefresh because if your chins eat it it could cause inpaction...I would use either kd pine or aspen bedding or fleece liners...

 

[amignatowicz]

like i said, i did order fleece liners, they are due to be delivered tomorrow

 

[Ash]

If you're breeding, FNs aren't the best option for cages. The wire spacing is too big, and the cages themselves are huge and too tall for a pregnant female to be bouncing around in. At the very least, they need to be split in half so the females only have access to either the top or bottom section and wrapped in wire fencing. Same goes for the images of the other cages I see on your website, as far as the wire wrapping.

Also, you recommend on your website that buyers use large silent spinner wheels. They are not large enough to allow an adult chinchilla to comfortably run. The plastic flying saucers are also not a good option, as they aren't really strong enough or big enough to accommodate an adult chin.

 

[amignatowicz]

i do have the FN cages split into 2 sections, but i will look into the extra fencing, thank you!

 

[tunes]

Splitting them does nothing. If you are breeding you cannot have larger than 1/2 x 1 inch openings in the wire. Anything larger and a kit will squeeze through. You also will want to remove any wheels, ledges, hanging things, etc., so that the mother doesnt get hurt when pregnant and so the kits don't get hurt or starve because mom gets away from them on a high ledge.

The only wheel that you should use with a chin is made of metal, the same with a flying saucer.

You might want to take some time and read through the chin breeding and babies sections as well as the FAQ's regarding breeding, why are you breeding, do you understand what good breeding quality chins are, etc. It's a good place to get started for a new breeder.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I use FNs for my chins. However I permanently cover them with hardware cloth and use only 1 section for my pairs or mom's and kits. So a 3 level cage is really 3 cages for me. I agree totally with Tunes - please read the FAQ's regarding breeding