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ChinsForLife said:
You said do primarily timothy AND alfalfa so do I do half a pound of each a month? So half and half? May get 6 months in advance if all supplies last that long.
I can get the chilldust pretty cheap from my breeder.
Temperatures around here usually don't get below 50° in the wintertime. I live in East texas so it snows like...every 4 years if that! And not alot of snow, (alot for us is 7-8 inches) we only get that much just about once every decade! For instance, when I was 2, it snowed about 6 inches of wet snow (the kind you can build a snowman with) and it snowed about maybe an inch or so about 3-4 more times when I was 6, 8, 10,(powdery, dry snow that you can't build anything with) and now I'm 13 and it snowed again this year 8 inches! It's very rare. The record temperature in East Texas is -4°! That having been said, it actually snowed again yesterday (again...the powdery kind)and we are getting a ice storm on Wednesday...about 1/2 an inch of ice! But then again, there has not been a ice storm here since my dad was a kid! (He's 35)! It can get in the 90's in the summer!! That kinda worries me...

How many baths should my chin have in the temperatures here? Usual temperatures in winter are around 50° to 70° and in summer they usually range from 75° to 85°(maybe more) of course we keep our house pretty cool in the spring but my room is upstairs and...well...heat rises!
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The reason I go with 6 months worth of most supplies is I live in the middle of nowhere, half an hour from even the nearest small town (I live so far out I can't even get delivery to my house I have to drive into town to get my mail!). So I need to make sure I'm stocked up, in the winter I can even be snowed in for days before the plow comes down my road. I'm guessing you aren't in that situation, with the pellets especially you want to use them up with in 6 months to a year of the mill date for them to be the freshest. So unless you can get the bag fresh from the mill (unlikely) then it's better to just get no more then 2-3 months worth at a time.

Yes half and half timothy and alfalfa. You can either mix it or get two hay feeders and put one in each

I was just giving you an idea of how cold it's been here, lol, most people don't live where it gets this cold. How many baths also depends on the humidity and how much you handle the chin. On average most people do 2-3 dust baths a week, if the chin feels greasy increase the number of baths, if the chin is getting dry itchy skin decrease the number.
You have to keep the temp below 70F even in the summer, or the chin will likely suffer and die of heat stroke. They can't sweat and wear thick fur coat. So if you can't keep your room that cool you will need to find another place in the house that is. You may need to run a dehumidifier as well as an AC if the humidity is too high. If the humidity is really high you run an increased risk of fungal infections like ringworm (it's a skin infection not an actual worm ;) some people get confused by that).

ChinsForLife said:
So kits eat more or less than adults?
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I honestly can't remember how much a kit eats, it's been about 20 years since I had kits (my current two I got as adults). I know they should be given unlimited pellets and I remember they go through growth spurts so they eat more some days then other, so measuring doesn't really work, but most people just keep the food bowl full. That might be a good question to ask the breeder when you go pick up the chin, they should have a better idea of how much a kit eats compared to an adult and how much you will need per month.

ChinsForLife said:
How about one of these and that same amount of alfalfa?
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...z-bag-13-in-w-x-15-in-l-x-6-in-d?cm_vc=-10005
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That sounds good, that should be more then you need, better to have more then not enough. Yes alfalfa is more expensive then timothy, timothy is a grass where as alfalfa is a legume (like beans) so the growing is different and I think alfalfa probably costs more to grow. (I could be wrong) I also think they only get 1-2 harvests a year from alfalfa compared to 2-3 for timothy.
 
Amethyst said:
The reason I go with 6 months worth of most supplies is I live in the middle of nowhere, half an hour from even the nearest small town (I live so far out I can't even get delivery to my house I have to drive into town to get my mail!). So I need to make sure I'm stocked up, in the winter I can even be snowed in for days before the plow comes down my road. I'm guessing you aren't in that situation, with the pellets especially you want to use them up with in 6 months to a year of the mill date for them to be the freshest. So unless you can get the bag fresh from the mill (unlikely) then it's better to just get no more then 2-3 months worth at a time.
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Wow! That's insane! I can't imagine it being like that here!! Ok, yeah I won't get that much then.
 
Amethyst said:
I was just giving you an idea of how cold it's been here, lol, most people don't live where it gets this cold. How many baths also depends on the humidity and how much you handle the chin. On average most people do 2-3 dust baths a week, if the chin feels greasy increase the number of baths, if the chin is getting dry itchy skin decrease the number.
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I've heard 2-3, just wanted your opinion!😊
 
ChinsForLife said:
I'll probably mix it. Could my dad build a hay feeder or do I need something that's not wood?
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Mine are wood, but just know they will chew it so it will need to be replaced at some point. How long it takes really depends on your chin. They are known to not pay attention to things then decided one night that it's time and destroy/remodel things over night, lol.
These are mine
Hayfeeders.jpg

I'm heading off to bed now, 😴 I'll be back to check the forum tomorrow.
 
Amethyst said:
You have to keep the temp below 70F even in the summer, or the chin will likely suffer and die of heat stroke. They can't sweat and wear thick fur coat. So if you can't keep your room that cool you will need to find another place in the house that is. You may need to run a dehumidifier as well as an AC if the humidity is too high. If the humidity is really high you run an increased risk of fungal infections like ringworm (it's a skin infection not an actual worm ;) some people get confused by that).
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My humidity is always between 50% - 60% and I have a AC. When I talk about the humidity, I mean outside. It's usually different in here. That's good to know about ringworm! I thought it was a worm too! Thanks!
 
Amethyst said:
Mine are wood, but just know they will chew it so it will need to be replaced at some point. How long it takes really depends on your chin. They are known to not pay attention to things then decided one night that it's time and destroy/remodel things over night, lol.
These are mine
View attachment 21280

I'm heading off to bed now, 😴 I'll be back to check the forum tomorrow.
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Ok goodnight! I'll finish typing out what I'm writing but dont worry about responding. I'm just gonna say...the hole they chewed looks exactly like the front of a chin!😂
 
Amethyst said:
I honestly can't remember how much a kit eats, it's been about 20 years since I had kits (my current two I got as adults). I know they should be given unlimited pellets and I remember they go through growth spurts so they eat more some days then other, so measuring doesn't really work, but most people just keep the food bowl full. That might be a good question to ask the breeder when you go pick up the chin, they should have a better idea of how much a kit eats compared to an adult and how much you will need per month.
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Ok! I'll do that!!
 
Amethyst said:
That sounds good, that should be more then you need, better to have more then not enough. Yes alfalfa is more expensive then timothy, timothy is a grass where as alfalfa is a legume (like beans) so the growing is different and I think alfalfa probably costs more to grow. (I could be wrong) I also think they only get 1-2 harvests a year from alfalfa compared to 2-3 for timothy.
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That makes sense...do you know of any place that may sell them cheaper? I looked into that small pet select but everyone says it's like powder...
 
I dont have a chinchilla yet but this is already soooooooooooo accurate!!
 

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If I come across someone who has owned or know someone who has owned a chinchilla before and I asked them about him/her, they always only talk about how soft they are!😍 and about their POOP😑 and how they poop all the time.
 
My parents actually weren't sure that they actually needed unlimited hay. I tried to tell them but they just said it was probably just extra stuff that pet stores want to make money off of. So I turned on a vet show (my favorite thing to watch so they weren't suspicious) and turned on an episode about a chinchilla with severe dental disease (the chin nearly died from it!) and the vet explained that the reason was that they weren't giving enough timothy hay and that made them realize how important it was!😊
 
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If you can answer soon, that would be okay and it's okay if you don't have time, I just don't know how long we will have electricity. Everything, including water, is shutting down due to the snow and coming ice storm!😕
 
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