Spinning the Fuzz

[DevnChip]

I've seen the thread where we moan about the mess our chins leave us and I have a thought. I just went thru a matt pulling experience with Chipper. He has one spot he doesn't clean very well so I give him a hand when I notice it's formed again. I got a couple good puffs out of his fur and examined them. They were just clumped, like a hair tangle at the back of the neck from a collar rubbing all day or the tangles we experience when we comb our hair in the morning. They were soft and clean and made me wonder if there was anything I could do with them other than throw them away.

Let me back up a bit. I'm a crafter and I'm always looking for the next fun craft to try that isn't a major expense and might help with crafts I already enjoy. So I looked up chinchilla fur and somehow a dog hair spinning video ended up in one of my searches. It looked a lot like the fuzz I was contemplating. Has anyone tried spinning chinchilla fuzz?

I have one cottonball's worth of cleaned and prep'd fuzz so far from two weeks of collecting (counting the matts I pulled, of course). All this time I've been tossing it! This is going to take a while with only one chin!

I also saw mention of felting in one of the threads. The fuzz might work in felting projects too. It's soft and smooth like silk but maybe it could be blended in the way silk can be. Just wanted to throw the idea out there since there are so many of you with multiple chins producing the same stuff I'm now looking at as crafting gold. I love the natural gray of my Chipper's fur and would love to have something - even a small ornament - made out of it. And I love the idea that I'm going to reuse something he's naturally discarding and have changed a chore into a treasure hunt.

Do any of you spin? Have any of you tried this?

 

[DevnChip]

Here's Chipper the friendly chinchilla. My little fuzz producer.

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

thats an interesting question and the answer is: i have no clue! ive never spun anything especially fur. if it works this can be great for chins that die everyday for their fur.

 

[alli713]

Some people do spin chin fur, much like rabbit fur. But another fiber needs to be spun along with it as just chinchilla fur does not hold together.

 

[addictedtochins]

Love the thread title "Spinning the Fuzz" I really thought it was a post about a chin and a chin spin wheel lol

 

[menagerie]

Here's Chipper the friendly chinchilla. My little fuzz producer.

Very handsome boy. Your wheel is not appropriate for chins. Chins should have solid surface wheels that are at least 15" in diameter.

 

[DevnChip]

Thank you for pointing that out. I'm still on the search to find him a more appropriate one. I got him a saucer and he ignored it. He loves that stupid, ugly, green, too small wheel. Any advice on a link to get one in the right size that is open like it would be appreciated. He loves to chew plastic so I want to avoid plastic ones.

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

Qualitycage.com sells the Chin Spin. There are also the Ed Wheel, The Silver Surfer, and the Flying Saucer. You can Google any of those and find places that sell them.

 

[Chubi32]

http://qualitycage.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_19&products_id=1802

Here's the link to take you directly to quality cage.

 

[DevnChip]

Thanks! Now I do the sticker shock whine, get over it and pick one. Just a note though, Chip has been using the junk wheel all his life and I think he likes that he can run thru it. He also climbs up between it and the cage wall and "hangs". I know he'll miss that. I must catch a picture of that before I take it out. Is there anything I can do to encourage use of the new wheel when it comes?

When I offered the saucer he searched around it for the old wheel. I left it in his cage for a couple months and he would go over to it when I was in the room and search around it and look at me. I even tried luring him onto it with his treats. The most attention I saw he ever gave it was to nibble/taste the edge. You should have seen the greeting he gave that stupid, green wheel when I finally relented and put it back. I'm hoping that a silver surfer or Ed wheel is enough like his old one that he'll take to it.

Hee! Guess this did turn into a chin on a wheel thread.

Thanks again!

 

[alli713]

If it's the metal flying saucer you bought and he won't use it, resell it on here, it will sell quickly. Then you can use some of that money to buy a normal shaped metal wheel.

 

[greychins]

I actually think that the chin spins spin a lot more freely than the petco/petsmart junk wheels do, so most chins take to them pretty fast. I even got a few chins who'd been in runs their entire life and were put in a cage with a wheel... right away one of em had figure it out and was running on it.

 

[DevnChip]

Sorry to disapoint but it's a petsmart plastic saucer. Wanted to know if he could handle it before I invested in the metal one. Even tried to lure him onto it with treats. He'd go around it rather than over it and take the treat before I could adjust my hand. Clever little devil! The saucer's blue and dusty but works if anyone likes these and could use it for another critter. Cost of postage and it's yours.

Thanks for the assurance that he'll like the chin spin. I ordered one and it's on it's way. Pics to come when I catch him on it. Now I just need to redesign the cage so it will fit. Right now he's got 14" clearance on each floor. I think I can raise the roof on my hand-built cage. Guess what I'm doing this weekend!

On the original thought, got another tuft of fluff when I cleared his cage this morning. This is shed fuzz just lying in the corners and caught on fleece. Soon as I have a cottonball's worth I can wash it and add it to my stash for spinning.

 

[alli713]

Oh, yeah those plastic ones are no good. I'm not surprised he hasn't used it. I have three of the metal ones and all 5 of my girls have been able to figure them out.

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

just a quick note: the plastic ones are also unstable so he might have thought it would tip over on him or something. but he will definatly love the chinspin so no worries there. if you ever make a blanket out of the fuzz let us know so we know how soft it is.

 

[tkc1038]

So to get back on topic, My sister is a spinner and wants me to collect all the Chin fur I can. Well I only have a small amount and will continue to collect for her. She says she can put it with another fiber and spin and make something beautiful for me... It may take me years to collect enough for a mitten but as far as the question "Can it be spun?" Yes it can.

 

[DevnChip]

Update! The chin spin came yesterday and I spent the night updating Chipper's cage. I have to say that, though I fully understood the dimensions of this thing, I was still surprised by it's size and weight. My handbuilt cage is holding it fine and Chip's delighted with the extra height and the new toy. He did make it work for me before I went to bed and I woke to reports from my husband of Chipper running in it this morning. We're all very happy with the new wheel. Thanks again for the reminder of that detail. The old wheel is hitting the dumpster today.

 

[DevnChip]

Here's Chipper with his new wheel. He loves it. He's learning what he can do with it and getting better with it every time he uses it. He even got up in the middle of the day to jump on and give it a spin! I'm loving that he has room to jump on it without hitting his back on anything.



Yes it's a powder coated wheel. Saw a note on requesting a non-coated wheel after mine was already shipped. Not too worried as Chip's cage is powder coated and he doesn't seem to do more than taste it and move on which he did with the wheel. I haven't caught him with his mouth on it since it was first put in. I'll keep an eye out and replace with non-coated stuff as soon as I suspect he's eating it. I've been observing him all weekend and I think we're in the clear on that though.

I love watching him go on this thing! He gives it a spin, then stops and sits on it for a bit, then gets it going again, then sits. Then he'll either go again and get off and flop over in the corner next to it or sit and space again. He seems to be pacing himself nicely, building stamina and learning what he can do on it. It's a blast to watch.