My first chinchilla...

[Euphoric]

So first off, my name is Myia. I have been caring for exotics for quite some time, but my first love is for reptiles!
However, I love small animals too.
I have 5 hamsters (1 syrian, 2 campbell dwarfs, 2 winter white dwarfs)

I used to work at various pet stores, I am a certified vet tech, and I am going to school for exotic research.

Well, I obviously got a chinchilla! I got a white mosaic, and I absolutely adore him as for the 24 hours I have had them!

Background info...well this may be bad. I did buy him on total impulse. You see, I also rehabilitate/therapy work with exotics, and although I never had a chin before I had degus (mini chins as they are called) as a rescue and rehab and I totally disliked them.
Well, I hope my male is different than the degus.
I do figure
1. Chins are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cuter
2. The degus weren't friendly, and though it can be hard to get him out of the cage, he does hold well even though he fidigts (One of the best pet store chins handable wise)
I did not walk into this blindly, I do have basic knowledge and care information. I am on the board so I can better my chins life!
I know impulse is never good, but I swear he will have a good forever home!

Well, I bought him the super pet three story cage...its a nice cage, I took out the tubing and only left the (Solid) ramp and little "slide" of sorts.
He has a dust bath, a large hiding area. I am pretty sure this is a good cage for him. He also have TONS of toys.

Second, I feed mazuri too my hamsters, so obviously i will feed them for my chin (In chin brand of course)

Well, I have a lot of questions

1. Do i feed alfalfa or timothy hay or both?
2. Where can I buy the a better dust besides the super pet stuff I have?
3. I am all for buying BETTER food than mazuri. If there is one better, please give me a link and I will buy it.
4. I use carefresh but I am thinking of using aspen small animal becuase of cost (If you can imagine) is this okay? Or should I just buy carefresh for him just to be safe?
5. Will he use a corner pan? He pooops like a bunny!
6. Very important...can I house him with other chinchillas?

I want a biege or black chin...is it okay to get another male? Are they territorial? I couldn't find any info. I would get a female but I worry about over breeding..or breeding in general.

Well, otherwise I also want a hedgehog...since i was a little girl....but i live in arizona and they are illegal.
I hope one day to get one because they are my DREAM pet...my friend had one and I loved it.

Well, any advice/comments appreciated, I will post pictures as soon as i can find my camera!

Thanks!

 

[Siylvat]

Well first off, welcome to chins and hedgies, and congrats on being a new chin owner!

To answer your questions...
1. timothy hay. (you can try orchard grass, and other hays for treats, but timothy is a good staple.)
2.Blue cloud and blue sparkle are generally considered the best dusts, and you can buy them online. I think some people on here supply them as well.
3. Mazuri is a recomended feed. It has been known to cause soft poo in some chins, but if it works for yours then that is good. There are other brands that are good. Oxbow, Tradition, as well as some show rabbit feeds. You should read some of the feed threads on here to get a better idea. (I feed Purina Advanced Nutrition Rabbit.)
4. I don't know much about bedding. I use fleece liners. before that I used care fresh. It seems my boyfriend used to use shavings but I don't remember what he used...
5. He may be trained to pee in a corner pan, but you will never get him to stop pooping everywhere he walks! lol.
6. You can house him with other chins, make sure you read up about quarentine first. I would NOT put him with a female, as that could cause some..er...complications. Another male would be perfect, but you would need two cages to start with, and would have to be okay with the fact that they may never get along.

Hope this helps! And again: Welcome!
...oooh, and we love pictures!

 

[Cola89]

1. Do i feed alfalfa or timothy hay or both? Timothy
2. Where can I buy the a better dust besides the super pet stuff I have? Online suppliers on this forum have great prices
4. I use carefresh but I am thinking of using aspen small animal becuase of cost (If you can imagine) is this okay? i have heard of injurys to the eye so its your call i use liners
5. Will he use a corner pan? some chins do and some dont
6. Very important...can I house him with other chinchillas?
yes after an intro

:cheer2:congrats

 

[DaphnesandFreddysmom]

Welcome I am a new chin owner myself but can help a little.

We use pine bedding and ours have used it for months with no problems. I have never used aspen for them but when I used it for my hedgies and rat it didn't quite control the odor like the pine.

You can add a pan in the corner of the cage but he may just pee and not poop in there. Mine pees in his but poops everywhere else.

As far as housing it is possible as long as you take proper quarantining and introduction it might work. You also have to be prepared for the fact they may never get along and need to be housed seperately. You can't just throw the chinchillas together in the same cage it's a slow introduction process.

I hope I have helped some. Also foods like tradition and also Purina Advanced Nutrition Rabbit Pellets (PANR). And offer timothy hay. You want to offer whichever hay your pellet is not made of (if your pellet consists of alfalfa feed timothy hay or vice versa).

 

[alli713]

Congrats on your first chin!

1. Do i feed alfalfa or timothy hay or both?
Just feed timothy. Mazuri is alfalfa based, and too much alfalfa means too much calcium which can lead to health issues in chins

2. Where can I buy the a better dust besides the super pet stuff I have?
You'll have to buy those online from someone who sells them, but for the price it's cheaper, and you can always buy toys and things at the same time

3. I am all for buying BETTER food than mazuri. If there is one better, please give me a link and I will buy it.
Mazuri is fine, but the feed at the petstore doesn't have the mill date on it so you don't know how long it's been sitting in the warehouse or store. It works, but it'd be better if you could find a feed store that sells it or buy online with your dust.

4. I use carefresh but I am thinking of using aspen small animal becuase of cost (If you can imagine) is this okay? Or should I just buy carefresh for him just to be safe?
Carefresh is fine, some chins may try to eat it, but otherwise it's okay. I use pine shavings. Both pine or aspen are fine

5. Will he use a corner pan? He pooops like a bunny!
He may use a corner pan to pee, but he will continue to poop everywhere, it's just what chins do. Get used to it

6. Very important...can I house him with other chinchillas?
You may, but many chins are picky about who they like. I have only been able to get 2 out of my 4 to get along. If you do decide to get another, it'll need a 30 day quarantine from this one to prevent any illnesses from passing. Also, you'll need to intro them slowly with cages next to each other for a week, and if no aggression, then allow a supervised playtime. There's more to it, but if that time comes, you can have done research during the quarantine period.

 

[Euphoric]

Great!
Thanks you guys.
I did go out and buy more toys and such after doing a bit of reading.

The only reason why i wanted to know if i could house more than one is because I was told there was a brown chinchilla up for adoption at one of the petstores.
I was thinking about it, and do have a cage I could quarantine him in.

But thanks again!
And does anyone know specifically where i can buy it from?
I have been looking but not seeing

 

[alli713]

What are you looking for? Feed and dust?
If so, here's the post in the classifieds section with everyone's stores on here
http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=546

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

I see you have gotten most if not all of your answers. As far as getting a second, you don't even now if you will enjoy the first... I would suggest letting yourself get to know nand bond with the first before you think about getting a second. A second means a month of quarantine, the up to a month if not more time doing intros which may or may not work and may or may not be easy. Also keep in mind that you will always have to have an extra cage and set up if you get the second...chins that have been together for years can still fight and need to be seperated. Also, you should let your new chinnie settle in before rushing him into another change. Change is hard on a chin, so take a breath take it easy and learn as much as you can to provide well for this chin before you set yourself up with too much.....just my 2 cents!!!

And welcome to c-n-h!!!

 

[Diva Chins]

1. Do i feed alfalfa or timothy hay or both?
2. Where can I buy the a better dust besides the super pet stuff I have?
3. I am all for buying BETTER food than mazuri. If there is one better, please give me a link and I will buy it.
4. I use carefresh but I am thinking of using aspen small animal becuase of cost (If you can imagine) is this okay? Or should I just buy carefresh for him just to be safe?
5. Will he use a corner pan? He pooops like a bunny!
6. Very important...can I house him with other chinchillas?

1: Mazuri is alfalfa based diet so timothy hay is required daily. Some people give alfalfa occasionally but it's high in calcium so give sparingly or it'll give calcium stones.
2: Many people on this forum sell stuff like Blue Sparkle which is second best and Blue Cloud which is number one and commonly used for show chins. Ali at CamphorChins.com sells Blue Cloud but I think she's out ATM.
3: I dunno if they have a Tradition mill in your area, but I switched my chins from Mazuri to Tradition and noticed some amazing weight gain. I'm about to switch them to PANR here soon, a lot of people like Essentia sell PANR.
4: Kiln dried pine shavings and aspen are fine. I use KD pine. I'm thinking of switching my cages over to fleece liners, but some people still prefer shavings.
5: I've only seen corner pans made out of plastic and chins shouldn't have access to plastic, but if you can find one in metal and think you can do it, more power to you.
6: Each chinchilla has a unique personality. Your chin might have a friendly attitude per say, while another male chinchilla might not. If you do decide to buy another male to house him with, have a spare cage on hand in case they don't get along. At this point I really wouldn't encourage thinking of breeding since you've never owned a chin before, wait a little while and learn their personalities, basics of chin owning, then if you still want to, research on that.

Good luck with your new guy, owning chins is great. Welcome to the forum as well.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

I would also agree that you should wait to see if you like the new chin before you get another...Be sure to read up

Just wanted to add that the superpet cage can be modified to be a good cage (if you have the same one I had it came with 3 plastic shelves a couple ramps and some little tube things) but all of that plastic needs to come out of that cage and be replaced with wood shelving...kiln dried pine is available at home depot or lowes or google simply chintastic for some premade ones...camphor chins also sells some ledges. Your chin also does not need ramps so take those out too.

 

[gella]

Since your cage is a three story, make sure that you hang a hammock or place a shelf in the middle to prevent any falls (I have hammocks stretched in my 4' cages for this reason, and have witnessed a couple falls). Are you going to be replacing the plastic shelves/ramps with pine shelves? Not only are they safer (plastic ingestion is a risk) but they are also sturdier.

Have fun with your new lil guy