5 most basic owner mistakes?

[Riven]

What do you think that 5 most basic owner or new owner mistakes are?

Ones you made or ones you see often with new owners or mis-educated owners.

Can't wait to hear some input!

 

[VolunteerChin22]

Diet, housing choices, putting males and females together, death balls, not researching them prior to bringing them home.

 

[Stackie]

1. Feeding the wrong type of feed
2. Loading them up with unhealthy treats
3. Buying unsafe accessories from pet stores/inappropriate caging
4. Not having a vet
5. No quarantine/housing males & females together

 

[Ash]

Ditto to Stace and Christy. I can't think of too many others that wouldn't fall into those categories.

 

[GorillaJTA]

1) bad food
2) bad cage/accessories
3) spoiling with treats
4) thinking of them like little humans (Aww.... He wants a girlfriend so he won't be lonely...)
5) Not giving the animal time to acclimate and bond

 

[addictedtochins]

Yeah, feeding junk treats. I did that, they are sooo cute when eating. Also spur of the moment buying lasting about 10 days instead of 10 plus years.

 

[ticklechin]

No vet or vet fund
Parents buying a chin and not allowing the chin to go to the vet when needed
Going from 0-20 chins in a short time
Not having anyone to look after the chin when on vacation
Breeding chins after having them for only a short time-and not even having basic knowledge of chinchilla care yet
Not handling chins on a regular basis because "they dont like it"
Not having a gram scale
Not doing hair ring checks
Assuming chins wont chew plastic because they have not chewed the plastic yet

 

[pita839]

The most common mistakes have already been stated but here are a few that haven't been mentioned.

Smoking around chins
Thinking that you are going to make money breeding
Unsupervised playtime out of the cage

 

[Riven]

Great points, you guys are great! Some of them I'm so used to I kind of forget about, and since I don't smoke I'd never have thought about the smoking around chins being a problem to add in. Thanks!

 

[lauralynne]

I agree w/ everything that's been said...but wanted to add (and this falls into breeders/rescues as well)...

Allowing a chin to go to a home where the parents do not take responsibility. (For example, as soon as the newness wears off or the kid goes to college, the chin is out the door.)

 

[Claire D]

Going from 0-20 chins in a short time
.......................
Breeding chins after having them for only a short time-and not even having basic knowledge of chinchilla care yet

Can I add to this, people who decide to become "rescues" overnight even though they've only had chins for 5 mins, know little/nothing about them, & have no vet .........

 

[pita839]

I do smoke and that was a mistake I made back in 2001 when I got my first chin. He ended up getting a URI and I had no vet for him. I did find one 50 miles away and my chin was given an antibiotic and lived. As for not having a vet for my chins, when I moved from IL to PA, I was more prepared and had found a vet before I even made the move.

It's not the most important mistake made with chins but needed to be mentioned. So if you smoke around your chins, please stop, it affects them more than you think.

 

[jenjenn2005]

Just another one I thought I would add... letting chins play with their dogs or cats as well as housing them close to or with another species such as a rabbit or guinea pig.

 

[ticklechin]

Can I add to this, people who decide to become "rescues" overnight even though they've only had chins for 5 mins, know little/nothing about them, & have no vet .........

No vet and no money!