Quarantine questions

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GahhItsLee

Lee
Joined
Mar 16, 2010
Messages
425
Location
Upstate New York
Ok so i plan on doing my quarantine for a month but i remember reading in one place or another that two weeks is enough? What are your thoughts on this? Like I said i plan on doing a month just to be safe but im curious if this is just something so that people who are gonna rush will do it atleast somewhat correctly or what. Also would it be terrible to take a ledge or two out of my current chinnys cage and put it into the quarantine cage? I figured cleanings would be needed but im not sure if this is ok in anyway what do you all think?
 
Pretty much everyone here is going say a thirty day quarantine is best. I don't know about the shelf though.
 
I would say probably that the feelings on two week quarantine would be negative and that it would be pointless. it has been proven that thirty days is the necessary time for a quarantine for it to actually be effective and not a waste of time. As for the shelves, i don't see why you would risk it. Sometimes even cleaning wood will not get everything off it or just soak it in the cleaning product. If you want to put a shelf in for the new chins, I would just buy them some. You're going to need them anyway for when you put them into their new cage after quarantine.
 
Im gonna start making the shelves next week and i pretty much figured that the shelve thing wasnt a good idea but i had to know for sure.
But next week im gonna go pick up a bunch of pine and attaching hardware and just make a house or two and than make ledges till i run out of wood.
Thanks anyway :)
The whole quarantine thing kind of confuses me but i get that its necessary but im not entirely sure why. What ive gathered is that chinchillas all have different bacteria and they need to have it filtered out throughout the house and get used to it and what not. Is that right at all?
 
As far as I know, the quarantine period is so you have enough time for a possible unknown disease to present itself before you expose your other chin(s). What I mean is, any chin can carry an unknown disease or parasite that may have not started showing symptoms in the chin's behavior or diet (ex: silent giardia) so when you quarantine the new chin(s) you are able to look out for symptoms and 30 days or more is usually enough time for this. After you are sure there are no diseases that can be passed onto your other chin(s), then you can start to introduce. I could be very wrong on this or I atleast think there is more to it, but I'm sure someone else can help with that.
 
If a chinchilla has a communicable disease or illness...the incubation period can be up to 30 days. To prevent illness being transferred from new chinchillas from an unknown source, quarantine is necessary. Even if a chinchilla does not show signs of illness it can be carried and then triggered by stress or small things in a new environment such as water or other bacteria present in the house that was not present in the previous home.

The reason WHY is not so much important to know and does not make it more or less important. Just do it. You're making it sound like you don't want to go through with it and like you think it's a waste of time.
 
When you go to the store for the wood, make SURE that it is marked "Kiln-dried pine". That is the only safe type for chins. :thumbsup:
 
Aspen and Poplar can be purchased too and are safe, but more expensive. Also, if you see any wood labeled "Whitewood pine" that is fine also. :thumbsup:
 
This is my understanding of quarantine and thought I could ask here to see if it's different than birds. Hope nobody minds.

New animals are housed far enough away to make sure they cannot breath the same air. Nothing from either's environment should be allowed in the same air space of the new animals so even food sources should not be stored in one or the other's room. Play area should be cleaned between them using it or not used by both. At the very least hands are washed between handlings, with birds we change completely and shower. I would imagine you might even want different dust houses or clean completely between uses too. Is there anything I missed?

We plan to get another chinchilla in the winter when it's cool enough to house a chinchilla upstairs. This means there is a whole floor between them and we would do what I listed above and I just wanted to make sure I am correct.

Sorry if I should have asked in a new thread but I thought since there were already questions about quaratine I could ask here.
 
I plan on doing the quarantine i just had no idea why it was needed i only knew that it was needed but thanks now i know. I prefer to know the why on things that im doing and i knew that kiln-dried pine was what i needed but i didnt know whitewood was ok too so thanks. And from my understanding basically nothing should be shared between the chinchillas no dust baths no play areas everything must be unshared and you shouldnt wear the same cloths to handle one as you wore for the other
 
Jazicat said:
This is my understanding of quarantine and thought I could ask here to see if it's different than birds. Hope nobody minds.

New animals are housed far enough away to make sure they cannot breath the same air. Nothing from either's environment should be allowed in the same air space of the new animals so even food sources should not be stored in one or the other's room. Play area should be cleaned between them using it or not used by both. At the very least hands are washed between handlings, with birds we change completely and shower. I would imagine you might even want different dust houses or clean completely between uses too. Is there anything I missed?

We plan to get another chinchilla in the winter when it's cool enough to house a chinchilla upstairs. This means there is a whole floor between them and we would do what I listed above and I just wanted to make sure I am correct.

Sorry if I should have asked in a new thread but I thought since there were already questions about quaratine I could ask here.
Click to expand...

Yes, those would be good practices. It's pretty much the same for all animals though birds are much more sensitive in my opinion.

Kiln dried pine IS whitewood. It is labeled differently depending on the store. Poplar and Fir can be used for purches for chinchillas as well...and houses.
 
Thank you both for your answers! Thank you Lee for letting me ask on your post.

Birds are more sensitive and I am not sure we could have had a chinchillas when we did bird rescue and raptor care. Currently we take great care not to expose Edgar to our bird though because they do carry bacteria that could be harmful since they are pigeons, doves and starlings. The lovebirds are just to little and potty trained so they are at least easy.
 
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