Christina Noraas
Christina
I am a new at owning chinchillas so of course there are expected to be mistakes and mishaps but I took the deaths to one of my first chinchillas Chip very hard; he had escaped out of my room while he was having his free running time with his cage mate Dale. My whole family turned the house upside down looking for Chip, we didn't find him until a cat who is not welcomed inside the house but manages to sneak in every once in a blue moon found him before we could. I was thankfully not inside the house when it happened because I wold have throttled the cat. But Chip had suffered from severe puncture wounds on his left side, I held him in a heated blanket all night and even got him to drink a little and eat a few of his favorite snacks, banana chips. But unfortunately after sitting up with him through out the night he passed around 4 in the morning. His cage mate often would jump onto the bed as I was rubbing him trying to keep him warm, checking on him. Dale took it very hard as well. I'm crying even just remembering it, I did take it to heart though, and I take triple precautions to ensure that the ones I have now are unable to escape.
My second mishap was Timmy a five month old baby, and he was ultimately my favorite, the one thing I hate most is that I wasn't even home when he passed. I had left to go to Bemidji to visit my dad and drop off the other baby and Dale who was not getting along with Rex our breeding male. That morning I was in such a hurry I had let every one out to play before having to be locked up inside the cage for four days. As I was running about getting everything ready Timmy or one of the others must have gotten a hold of silica gel packet that was inside my newly purchased bag. It was on my last night at my dads when my mom called to tell me that she had found Timmy inside the bath house dead, she originally thought it was from Rex because Rex was abusing Dale which was the reason for the transfer. However when I came home I was inspecting the cage to find out what could have possibly killed my poor little Timmy when I found the ripped open packet with a few gels still inside I immediately panicked and removed the rest of the chins in to their carrier and cleaned out the cage and throughly vacuumed my room. It was a valuable lesson, but I sure do miss the little guy and I pray so hard that he did not suffer.
My second mishap was Timmy a five month old baby, and he was ultimately my favorite, the one thing I hate most is that I wasn't even home when he passed. I had left to go to Bemidji to visit my dad and drop off the other baby and Dale who was not getting along with Rex our breeding male. That morning I was in such a hurry I had let every one out to play before having to be locked up inside the cage for four days. As I was running about getting everything ready Timmy or one of the others must have gotten a hold of silica gel packet that was inside my newly purchased bag. It was on my last night at my dads when my mom called to tell me that she had found Timmy inside the bath house dead, she originally thought it was from Rex because Rex was abusing Dale which was the reason for the transfer. However when I came home I was inspecting the cage to find out what could have possibly killed my poor little Timmy when I found the ripped open packet with a few gels still inside I immediately panicked and removed the rest of the chins in to their carrier and cleaned out the cage and throughly vacuumed my room. It was a valuable lesson, but I sure do miss the little guy and I pray so hard that he did not suffer.