Travel

[Jillzukow]

Sorry for so many questions in advance lol
Like I said in my last post I just got a chinchilla about a month ago… however, I have a beach trip planned for the beginning of august and was wondering what the best approach was for it. Should I bring him with me? (And of course make sure it’s cool enough in the car/the beach house) should I get a caregiver? (Idk if there’s anyone I trust enough besides my mom and she will be with me) or are there like chinchilla day cares that could look after him while I’m gone? Sorry if this is a dumb question lol

 

[Amethyst]

How long will you be gone? If it's a week or less I wouldn't take the chin. Some chins are fine with travel but most are not, and most take at least a week to settling in to a new environment, meaning if the trip is only a week the chin will be just settling in only to be uprooted again. Traveling can be stressful for a chin so if it's a far drive that can be hard for the chin too. You would also want to know of an exotic vet near were you are going that will actually see chins just in case something happens.

If you wont be gone too long you could try getting a friend or neighbor to check in on the chin. If you set everything up so they don't have to actually open the cage that is even better. So for example get a hopper feeder that you can fill up, and then just have the person put hay on top of the cage for the chin to pull into the cage. The water bottle should be on the outside of the cage so they should be able to change out and refill the water. In that case though I would get a security camera or webcam so you can actually see the chin remotely while you are gone and make sure the person is actually coming by to check on him.

Another idea is to ask your vet, some do boarding as well as sometimes the vet techs will be willing to pet sit to get some hands on experience with chinchillas, since they don't often see them in the clinic. Depending on where you live there are also petsitting companies, I've never tried any but some do background checks and everything to make sure the people aren't criminals or anything. Most just do cats and dogs but there are some that will pet sit exotics too.

 

[Jillzukow]

How long will you be gone? If it's a week or less I wouldn't take the chin. Some chins are fine with travel but most are not, and most take at least a week to settling in to a new environment, meaning if the trip is only a week the chin will be just settling in only to be uprooted again. Traveling can be stressful for a chin so if it's a far drive that can be hard for the chin too. You would also want to know of an exotic vet near were you are going that will actually see chins just in case something happens.

If you wont be gone too long you could try getting a friend or neighbor to check in on the chin. If you set everything up so they don't have to actually open the cage that is even better. So for example get a hopper feeder that you can fill up, and then just have the person put hay on top of the cage for the chin to pull into the cage. The water bottle should be on the outside of the cage so they should be able to change out and refill the water. In that case though I would get a security camera or webcam so you can actually see the chin remotely while you are gone and make sure the person is actually coming by to check on him.

Another idea is to ask your vet, some do boarding as well as sometimes the vet techs will be willing to pet sit to get some hands on experience with chinchillas, since they don't often see them in the clinic. Depending on where you live there are also petsitting companies, I've never tried any but some do background checks and everything to make sure the people aren't criminals or anything. Most just do cats and dogs but there are some that will pet sit exotics too.

Thank you!! We will be gone for a week… my brother will be home though so he can feed him and give him water but I don’t know if he would let him run around which kind of stresses me out, he loves to run. I’m not sure what I’m going to do but Your information was very helpful!!

 

[Dragonflye]

If you are only going to be gone a week, it will be okay if your chin does not have out of cage time. This is especially true if the person feeding your chin is not as familiar with him/her as you are. I have gone on vacation plenty of times and left a pet sitter (vet tech) in charge of my animals who has only fed and watered them and all has been fine. They can survive for that long in their cage with no ill effects.

 

[Jillzukow]

If you are only going to be gone a week, it will be okay if your chin does not have out of cage time. This is especially true if the person feeding your chin is not as familiar with him/her as you are. I have gone on vacation plenty of times and left a pet sitter (vet tech) in charge of my animals who has only fed and watered them and all has been fine. They can survive for that long in their cage with no ill effects.

awesome thank you!!