World Chinchilla Domination

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I posted this as a comment... we'll see if they accept it. :))

Thank you for the entertaining read! I really enjoyed it, but as a fellow chinchilla lover, there are a few things I wanted to mention so that your little Chinderella has a long, healthy and happy life with you.

Chins really shouldn’t have fruits or veggies of any kind because of that sensitive digestive system that you mentioned. Safe treat alternatives are rosehips, a single cheerio, half a cube of plain shredded wheat, or a pinch of old fashioned oats. If you train them properly, you can even get them to believe that sticks are treats as well. Cottonwood, kiwi and cholla logs are huge favorites among my four. Most chins love apple wood too, but that seems to be hit or miss with my guys. Pretty much everything from pet stores is deemed unacceptable in my casa, and they’ve even gone so far as to throw their wood at me. At this point, I buy most of my chinchilla supplies from private sellers across the world who love chins as much as we do. They have pesticide-free wood that they bake prior to shipping. I’ve been feeding it for years and would be happy to provide you with supplier links if that sounds like something you’d be interested in.

The tails of chins don’t break off the way iguana or chameleon tails do. You could certainly break her tail, just as you could break a dog or a cat tail, but they can’t detach it at will the way that you stated in your article. When grooming chins for show, breeders actually hold their chins by the base of the tail so that they don’t get away. Can you imagine what a bloody mess chinchilla shows would be if tails just snapped off left and right? How awful!

Chins aren’t gremlins and actually can get wet. Yes, fur fungus can certainly happen, which is why you should dry them off quickly, but getting wet doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have a fungus problem. Kits are born soaking wet, just like other mammals…think about it. You certainly shouldn’t allow your chin to bathe in anything but dust, but a little accidental water isn’t a fungal sentence. I think high humidity levels would be a larger culprit in that department, especially when coupled with poor living conditions.

I’m concerned that the Orchard Grass won’t wear down Chinderella’s teeth over time. It’s just not a hardy enough hay, especially since chinchilla teeth grow 1-3+ mm each week. My guys have never rejected Oxbow timothy hay, though I recently switched to KMS Hayloft, which they seem to love as well. I feed orchard grass and oat hay (both Oxbow), but it’s mixed in or alternated with the Timothy. Any Kaytee product will be hurled at me in anger if I even attempt to offer them such a thing. It’s comical, but a total waste of money.

As for pellets, I ran into problems with Mazuri early on (loose stools), so I switched to Oxbow Chinchilla Deluxe and haven’t looked back since. From what I’ve read, Tradition is another good one, but if Mazuri’s working well for you, I’d definitely stick with it.

I got my first chin, Friskers, when I was too young to understand how to properly care for him and suffered from a guilty conscience once I reached the age of reason. I had iguanas for 10 years before getting back into chins, at which point I decided to breed for the experience. Like most people, I made a lot of mistakes, so right before my little Maia delivered her three kits, my research efforts led me to the mecca of reputable breeders in the form of a discussion forum. All of the information provided in this “comment” came from that forum, and from the mouths of people with hundreds of chinchillas, if you can imagine such a thing. My logic is that they’ve made their lifestyle breeding to show standards to enhance the species and breed out genetic defects, so they must know what they’re talking about.

My goal here is simply to share the information that I’ve learned throughout my chinchilla journey. I don’t mean to insult you in any way, shape or form and I do apologize if that’s how this comes across. As I mentioned initially, I genuinely enjoyed your article and wish you and Chinderella a healthy and vibrant life together!

Kind regards,

*Laurie*​
 
Airyn that was a really nice comment you left them! It makes me happy seeing people give out good information without being ruse, snappy, or putting the other person down :)
 
Oh my goodness that Chinchilli Day commercial at the end of the link is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. :D I could totally see my little Lulu fighting for the Chinchilla cause.
 
Back
Top