New Chin Owner Mistakes

[Chinniechantel]

I am still new so there maybe more mistakes that happen while being a chin owner but one mistake that I really remember and stands out is when I gave my girl a to small of cage so she started to yelp and became nippy. I have her in a bigger cage now and now I have learned that she enjoys activities where she can hop around and sweat a little. She is very energetic but I love her so much!
Al

I hope you are just meaning she plays a lot, not that she gets hot and sweats?? A chinchilla should always be in 72 degrees or colder, and even colder than that when they are playing.

 

[kaykay]

As far as Kaytee Dust goes, it can cause problems for the chins. Laverna has an eye infection right now from using Kaytee dust, which I had only purchased until I coulf get some ordered online. It's not like you can buy anything else in ANY pet store. I have also hearad that they can even have respiratorty issues from poor quality dust. Sorry.

Some people still use Kaytee dust with no problems, it's mostly not recommended because of the price (it's EXPENSIVE) but it can still work. Any dust can cause eye infections...or they can get them otherwise, not just 1 certain brand of dust. If dust causes chins respiratory problems...then we're all gonna have some issues. Dust is a necessity. Personally, I've used Blue Sparkle and Blue Cloud...both are acceptable but I prefer Blue Cloud, however, I use Blue Sparkle because I don't show and I can get it locally. I pay $20 for 25 lbs.

 

[rach_leigh]

I am glad I found this forum too because I wanted to learn as much about chins as possible before I get my new baby boy...well he's 3, but still gonna be my baby! Hopefully I won't make any mistakes since I have been on here reading all of this! Thanks everyone!!

 

[spochins]

I feel like I'm in confession. It's good to get this off my chest........

I rescued 3 chins from an animal shelter in Maryland. The shelter provided a lot of great information. However, I still made mistakes.

One of the mistakes I made was failing to weigh the chins periodically. If I had been weighing them I would have been aware a lot sooner that one was losing weight due to malocclusion. Eventually I noticed that Sarge looked thin and took him to the vet.

The WORST mistake I made was attaching the flying saucer to the wire cage with wire clips. The chins were in the guest room. Whenever, we had company I would move the cage into an adjacent room and detach the wheel. Although there were about 10 clips securing the flying saucer, one night I heard a giant crash. I ran downstairs and found the saucer lying on the bottom of the cage.

Bella, a sweet little thing, was sitting with her arm hanging limply at her side. The next morning I immediately took her to the vet. X-rays showed that she had a multiple fracture of her humerous. The vet suggested splinting her arm, giving her pain meds, and confining her to a small pet carrier in hopes her arm would heal.

Poor Bella spent 3 weeks in the pet carrier. At night I would take her carrier from room to room with me. Before I went to bed, I placed her carrier on my night-owl son's desk so that she would have some company. She tolerated it all soooooooo well.

After 3 weeks the vet re xrayed her arm. The fracture hadn't healed. In addition, the vet told me that there was nerve damage to her arm. He suggested removing the splint to see if any sensation would return to her arm over time. I allowed her limited mobility. She would drag her arm, paw side up, along the floor. The paw quickly became irritated.

I took her to a diifferent vet to get a second opinion. She told me that amputation was an option. However, because of the geometry of the break, her entire arm and shoulder blade would have to be removed. Recovery from the operation would be extremely difficult. If she were fitted with a collar, to prevent her from chewing her stitches, she would have difficulty eating. In the end she was put down due to my stupidty.

Needless to say the flying saucer is now securely fastened to the side of the cage with heavy, metal, u-shaped bolts!

I've added all the detail in case someone else has the misfortune to have a chin break its arm. I really miss sweet little Bella!!!!!!!

 

[djeaton]

OMG! Can't believe I did this. I was trying to do all the best/right things and had read that I should replace an old plastic water bottle I had with a glass one so Sweetie couldn't chew through it. So I did. Watched carefully to make sure she found where it was and used it. Thought everything was going great...until I found out almost 72 hours later that while she was "using" it, nothing was coming out! Didn't matter how much water was in it or anything...it just didn't work for some reason. I'm so ashamed! I'll take my 40-lashes now....

 

[jmdebb]

Pet store food, and bad treats, I actually also had one of those plastic balls, but thankfully I only used it like once or twice.

Jean

 

[MandyM]

Hi, I am new to this site and also new to chin ownership. I saw on here many of you said that plastic bottom cages with plastic shelves is bad. I was wondering why? That is what my chin came with and he seems fine in it. He has a litter box which he uses so I don't have to worry about urine every where.

 

[aznmexaggie]

Hi, I am new to this site and also new to chin ownership. I saw on here many of you said that plastic bottom cages with plastic shelves is bad. I was wondering why? That is what my chin came with and he seems fine in it. He has a litter box which he uses so I don't have to worry about urine every where.

Most chins will chew plastic and if ingested, can potentially cause an impaction (blockage) of the intestines. I also know of someone whose chin chewed a hole in the plastic bottom of their Super Pet cage and escaped! They are determined critters! If you have a cage with plastic shelves, just remove them and get (or make) some wood ledges to replace them.

There is a good tutorial in the Housing section of this forum on how to make your own wood shelves: http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9311&

 

[djeaton]

As mine got older, it got to where it would chew on *everything* in the cage. We've found a way to channel that into cheap wicker baskets (she hides under a large one and chews on a smaller one under it), but we still don't leave his plastic "bath house" in there too long or she will start chewing on the edges.
Daniel

 

[meaghanh]

This is all really helpful! I am getting my first chin tonight and I am so excited! I am glad I did a fair amount of research before deciding to get one and a breeder recommended the forums to me. What a great idea and this list of mistakes is so valuable!

 

[Nervousings]

I had cuttlebone in the cage, recommended by another website. I didn't know it could cause kidney stones.

is this true?! i will take his cuttlebone out now!!! thanks!

 

[chinlover420]

i havent used one and dont plan on it, but why is the plastic ball so bad? the mistakes i was making was feeding sunseed food. my boys eat mazuri now. oh yeah and i gave them banana chips until i knew it was bad! i made a big mistake and got an 3 month old and didnt quarintine before putting them in the same room. its been a few days now everything seems fine, i did get him from a breeder who gurantees health so there shouldnt be an issue, luckly. ive had chins a little over a month now and i am sooooooo in love! im putting pics up right now!

 

[Chin_Up_Sunshine]

I really wanted chins when I was in middle school, so started reading every book I could find on them (which weren't many in small southern town and were largely full of misinformation) buying everything I could to get ready for them. I was determined! I had:
1-dog crate for their "cage" with a plastic pan which I thought would be good for easy bedding removal
2- cedar bedding from walmart
3- 2 of the balls of death

and at about that time I decided I was ready for the chinchillas (I was going to buy food once I had them so it'd be fresh (although I already had some hay cubes and a cleaned gallon pickle jar for dust baths and probably kaytee dust though it was so long ago I barely remember). I was going to have to special order them from the petstore once I'd saved up enough money. Finally I decided that since I knew they'd live 6-10 years from the books I'd read and that they required a lot of attention, that I didn't have the time to give them what they needed and I was worried about them because I knew I was going to college. So there were a bunch of mistakes that almost happened, and instead I waited until I was out of college and had the time for them.

INSTEAD when I did finally get my boys at the beginning of the month, they came with
1-a super pet cage with plastic everything (hideys, water bottles, shelves) and no clips 2-didn't occur to me for a few days that they probably weren't actually eating the hay that the previous owners were using as bedding because they peed in it (duh)
3-I knew they were used to out of cage time so let them out the day after I got them but realized how awful that was when I had to cleverly catch them to put them back (which was mostly just luck) because they didn't trust me enough to come back

 

[SmileX3]

i made a big mistake and got an 3 month old and didnt quarintine before putting them in the same room. its been a few days now everything seems fine, i did get him from a breeder who gurantees health so there shouldnt be an issue, luckly.

I got 2 from a breeder that had a 30 day health guarantee and one died a week later and the other one almost did from an illness they had to have had before I got them. I would never trust the health guarantee bc sometimes, things happen. Also, chins hide illness very well. Good luck to you but keep a close eye on them to be safe.

Mistakes I made on my first chins were in '00 and I had a male and female in the same cage. The female was older but still only months and the other was just weaned. Luckily they never got pregnant. I also gave raisins as treats and gave too many bc they looked so cute eating them. Also non filtered tap water is what I gave them. They died from a thermostat sticking while on vacation so I never got to see the reprocussions of the bad treats and water.

One recent mistake was back in July I took a chinchilla to a vet that claimed to be knowledgeable and lost him. Using a vet that isn't an "exotic" vet just bc its closer will waste your money and possibly result in death. Find a good vet right away before problems arise. Good thread, btw!

 

[Christina Noraas]

What I didn't have before joining:
-didn't have the proper bedding.
-didn't have the proper food.
-had two VERY small balls of death.
-gave various fruits
-didn't bring one to the vet when I should have.
-kept my male and female together after getting them.
-immediately put my new chins with my other chins.
-had wire shelves
-crap dust

Now has:
-wooden shelves KD pine
-separated chins.
-extra cages for quarantines if ever needed.
-5 vets to call for emergencies
-simple to read guide book for when I'm gone and something needs to be done ASAP
-Mazuri and Tradition food
-Blue Cloud dust
-fleece liner
-healthier treats
-places for them to hide (tubes and such)
-new cuddle swings made out of death balls


I'm sure that if I hadn't found this forum that more harm than good would have happened to my chins due to horrible resources I had at the time.

 

[2manypets]

I used to feed my chin a bunch of raisins every day, had her in a cage with a bunch of plastic, used kaytee hay and dust, and had one of the 12" plastic wheels (for like 2 days because she kept breaking it). Now I have fixed all those things and she is much happier!

 

[rainey]

I did everything wrong. Worst was that my oldest chin, Snoops, used to have full range of my room because I felt bad for him in his cage! He would literally grab hold of the cage bars and shake them angrily at me. Of course, he was living in the one-level rabbit cage that he came in, and I didn't realize I should have just bought him an actual chinchilla/ferret cage...
Then I got him a female companion because the pet-store owner told me that two males would never get along. She died only a few months later. It wasn't until she was deathly ill and searching for answers that I discovered this site. I wish I had known more back then.

 

[Irishsk8r66]

I just got my chin and am still learning every day...

i found out about hair rings just before my little guy turned a year old luckily

i also used kaytee dust to start and will never ever ever go back from blue cloud

i still thought raisins were ok until i read this thread which i will be stopping immediatly (hows dried papaya? probably bad too knowing that the raisins are bad)

the main thing i learned though is that asking one person or one source is never enough. thats why this forum is great because you can get a bunch of opinions. you are also able to see that you are not the only one that makes mistakes.

 

[Stackie]

i still thought raisins were ok until i read this thread which i will be stopping immediatly (hows dried papaya? probably bad too knowing that the raisins are bad)

No papaya. You want to stay away from any fruits and veggies- dried or not.

 

[Irishsk8r66]

Thank you so much about the papaya! Im glad I found out now!