Help! Chin fell in toliet!

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sbringas

Active member
Joined
Feb 11, 2012
Messages
39
My chinchilla,Sophia,is 9 weeks old. I always play with her in my bathroom. I have chin proofed it to the best of my abilities,but forgot one very STUPID thing…. to put the toilet lid down. I know,STUPID! I feel so guilty she has never jumped so high before and ending up jumping right into the toilet. I grabbed her immediately! Nothing above her shoulders got wet. Not her ears,eyes mouth,nothing. But her back end did. As soon I picked her up my reaction was to put her wet half under the sink. I put water on her by the hand full and toweled dried her. Then I dried her with cold air from my blow dryer on a low setting. I could not get the area around her vagina to become completely dry but I did it to the best of my abilities. I didn’t want to stress her out too much. After drying her I made her dust bathe. I hope in my panic I did the correct thing. I am worried of a vaginal infection or fungus. Her personality has not changed in the slightest and she is still eating and drinking normally. Any advice?Beside check the lid next time. Anything I should look out for?Any additional steps I need to take but didn’t?Please! Input is greatly appreciated!
 
It sounds like you did the right thing in drying her the best you can. Keep offering dust maybe twice a day for a couple days.

As a sidenote, chinchillas that young really shouldn't be having play time like that. They need all their calories to grow instead of using them running around. Suggested age for play time and wheel use is 6 months.
 
Thank you for the advice! I will double her dust baths for a few days. I had no idea she was not supposed to be playing so much i thought it was an hour of play a day? So what should i be doing about her play time?
 
You did the right thing just drying her and giving a dust bath. She'll be fine. In all the years and toilet accidents I had in college nothing ever came of it.

Your chin will not get any infections or fungus from a one-time run in with a toilet. Nor will they get that from getting wet once in awhile. The fact that she is stress free and showing no signs is perfect - she's in great heath and will have no issues from it.

Didn't even have my first case of fungus until I'd been breeding for five years. It's a combination of environment and animal stress and tends to happen when you introduce an animal from an outside herd into yours and they don't mesh well (eg, everyone gets stressed out).

As a sidenote, chinchillas that young really shouldn't be having play time like that. They need all their calories to grow instead of using them running around. Suggested age for play time and wheel use is 6 months.
Look, I know this is going to ruffle some skirts but this belief has popped up recently and is not true. You are better off allowing your babies to experience their environment at the youngest age possible to become as healthy as they can be.

We're talking about a mammal that is born fully furred, eyes open and running. They are designed by nature to run, jump and exert themselves to the maximum potential from a very young age in practice to avoid predators. They are hardwired to do this and genetically adapted to build bone density and muscle mass accordingly.

Letting your baby out for supervised play time is a great way to learn about her personality and allow her to become comfortable in her environment. The more you learn about how she acts when she is healthy the easier it will be for you to see when she is not feeling well. :))
 
My chin had fallen in the toilet after we had first gotten her in a similar accident. (Toilets are always supposed to be closed in my house but I do live with all boys! lol). She only got her hind half wet, but I dried her as best I could and gave her dust baths and no issues ever arose.
 
You did the right thing just drying her and giving a dust bath. She'll be fine. In all the years and toilet accidents I had in college nothing ever came of it.

Your chin will not get any infections or fungus from a one-time run in with a toilet. Nor will they get that from getting wet once in awhile. The fact that she is stress free and showing no signs is perfect - she's in great heath and will have no issues from it.

Just because you've had no issues from it doesn't mean it's not an accident with risks nor can you guarantee that this chin will not get a URI or gastric issues - inhaling or ingesting toilet bowl water has risks and what is being discussed in this thread are the possible consequences.
Is the risk low? Probably but it is worth pointing out anyway for information so that the OP can watch for signs of trouble.

I should think that falling into a slippery, watery toilet bowl is pretty stressful for a chinchilla - the immediate response is to panic .....


Look, I know this is going to ruffle some skirts but this belief has popped up recently and is not true. You are better off allowing your babies to experience their environment at the youngest age possible to become as healthy as they can be.

We're talking about a mammal that is born fully furred, eyes open and running. They are designed by nature to run, jump and exert themselves to the maximum potential from a very young age in practice to avoid predators. They are hardwired to do this and genetically adapted to build bone density and muscle mass accordingly.

Young chinchillas are prone to over exerting themselves which can result in fitting - anecdotal evidence supports this. Watching a young kit in a full-blown fit is distressing and the kit can suffer lasting damage (recurring or prolonged seizures).


I do not allow my young chinchillas to exercise outside of their cages until they are 6 months old. They are placed in a good sized weaning cage and can build up muscle strength and bone density in a 'safe' environment.
At 6 months old or over they can begin to gradually build up their tolerance to exercise in an appropriate sized area. 5 minutes is sufficient and then build up slowly to longer periods of exercise, as long as the chin does not flake out or fit.
This is a sensible way to introduce chinchillas to exercise outside of their cage. To go straight to free range with no time limits is, imho, not sensible.
 
Young chinchillas are prone to over exerting themselves which can result in fitting - anecdotal evidence supports this. Watching a young kit in a full-blown fit is distressing and the kit can suffer lasting damage (recurring or prolonged seizures).
Do you think this could be something bred into the lines on your side of the pond?

Young chinchillas are designed to exert themselves to the edge and survive. Exerting themselves to the point of having a seizure would appear to be a defect?

Probably should start another topic on this, but I am genuinely curious now.
 
Do you think this could be something bred into the lines on your side of the pond?
No, I don't. It's not limited to UK lines.
I think it is true of any young animal in captivity which does not have the capacity to know when to stop.

Young chinchillas are designed to exert themselves to the edge and survive. Exerting themselves to the point of having a seizure would appear to be a defect?
Chinchillas are prey animals which (from reading the available literature) seem to live in crevices - they will dart into the nearest bolt-hole, not run for extended periods. Short bursts with safe hidey-holes.
I think there are many factors which come into play with young chins in captivity as opposed to those in the wild. We've bred them so far from their wild ancestors that comparisons are, frankly, irrelevant.

Taking mature, unfit chinchillas from breeder cages and giving them unlimited exercise can also result in fitting - because they are unfit. It's like taking a couch potato and putting them on a treadmill at 5mph for an hour, wrapped in a full fur coat.....there are physical consequences.
 
Taking mature, unfit chinchillas from breeder cages and giving them unlimited exercise can also result in fitting - because they are unfit. It's like taking a couch potato and putting them on a treadmill at 5mph for an hour, wrapped in a full fur coat.....there are physical consequences.

Would you say that it would be okay to let a chin younger than 6 mos. jump around a little bit in a small bathroom as long as they aren't racing around and tiring themselves out?
 
Would you say that it would be okay to let a chin younger than 6 mos. jump around a little bit in a small bathroom as long as they aren't racing around and tiring themselves out?

With the size of cages most people have, I would suggest that youngsters exercise in their cages rather than in an open area. Once they have built up their stamina & muscles and are 6 months then they can be gently exercised in a small area - it is also worth bearing in mind that chins are prey animals so putting them in a familiar, open environment can be potentially stressful. Stressed youngsters who are flighty and panic into looking for safe hidey-holes can wear themselves out .......... *shrugs*
 
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