Meet my chinchillas!

[squeeky_95]

I was 14 when I got my first chinchilla. I was looking through pictures of my new pet, and decided she looked like a Charlie.
We picked her up and brought her home. I let her play. I gave her half a grape as a treat as we didn't have raisins. We became real close.
Than, one day I came home and saw a rat in her cage. I opened the cage to see if Charlie was fine, and realized it wasn't a rat, but a kit!
Than, I found another one! It turns out Charlie got pregnant before she came to her new home.
One of the kits were smaller than the other. (if being a new chinchilla owner wasn't scary enough, having 2 new babies made it a whole lot more stressful for a 14 year old!!)
Fatty, (The bigger kit) soon died a few days later.
It took forever to get over the loss of one of my new babies, as I'm sure it was for Charlie, also.
Soon, I got Mouse! My parents picked him up for me. Charlie & Mouse soon became very close, also.
Than came along Chico! the newest edition to our little jungle.
I ♥ my chinchillas!

By the way: Charlie is now a fur chewer. Any advice? Thanks so much!



Sorry, I don't understand how to post a picture. I'm new to this. Just thought I'd post a quick one to see how this works. :hmm:

 

[ChinnyMom]

welcome to the forum! :wave3:

first thing i would do is ensure Charlie and Mouse are separated, and any other chins you have are not housed with any of the opposite sex. unless you are a breeder with experience and high quality and pedigreed breeding stock, then males and females shouldn't ever be housed together unless they are spayed/neutered.

fur chewing is most of the time from nervousness, boredom, or it could be genetic. are you sure that it is Charlie chewing her own fur or is Mouse doing it to her? perhaps give them more things to chew on (safe wood, pumice, loofah, willow, etc), change the cage around, give more attention...... those are my ideas. if it is genetic though, you will be fighting a battle against a behaviour that is in their 'programming' from birth. hopefully members with success against fur chewing can chime in!

as for treats, grapes and raisins are considered big no no's. chins should not have fruits or veggies at all, since the sugars really tax their hind gut fermenter systems. safe treats would be dried rosehips (whole or sifted), a piece of a plain shredded wheat, rolled oats (not quick cook variety), a cheerio, or even a new piece of wood to chew can be considered a treat.

you'll find great info here on this forum, and members are very helpful in a direct, no bull kind of way. again, welcome! )

 

[ErinsChins]

Welcome to the forum.

Ditch the grapes AND raisins. Safe treats include unfrosted shredded wheat, unfrosted cheerios, & rose hips. Do a search for some more!

Make sure to separate Mouse and Charlie. Male and female will breed and by the sounds of it, shouldn't be.

Charlie may be fur chewing for a number of reasons. Stress, genetics, breeding, it could be anything. Try giving her more things to chew on/play with and giving her more attention.

 

[squeeky_95]

Thanks ChinnyMom
Yes, Mouse & Charlie are separated. Charlie and Chico are housed together and Mouse lives in the cage right next to them. I do not give them raisins or grapes often at all, hardly never.
I give them seeds for treats. (If they're good)
Perhaps she could be bored, as I have school. I've been letting the chins run out and play for often. We did just relocate to a new room of the house, the dogs are in and outta there quite frequently, so I'll just have to keep the door shut to see if that's the problem. I'll keep a close eye on Chico to see if she's the culprit for the fur chewing.
I'll change the cage around and see if that helps.

Thanks so much, I'm glad to have found this website forum thing!