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ninteytwofox

Chin-Noob
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
20
Location
FLW, MO
Hello everyone...

New Chinchilla owner here. Me and my wife picked up our beige 6 month old female (still working on a name) from a breeder up near Columbia, MO named Jesse just this week. We are completely new to chinchillas, and enjoying it so far. I've already got a lot of advice and help searching through the FAQ's on here, and will likely need lots more advice soon.

Me, I'm Nik and I'm in the Army and stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. I've had hamsters when I was a kid but nothing else besides cats and dogs. Anyone else live in the Rolla/Lebanon area?

My wife, she is Baillie and she is from Kansas. She's had a bunch of different animals growing up and is good at taking care of pretty much anything.

I will post pictures of our little girl soon here shortly.
 
hi and welcome aboard.

oh you are going to enjoy your new little bundle of joy so much.
summer
 
hello and welcome! How's it feel to be a proud new papa?
 
Everyone, this is Roxxie

m95czo.jpg
 
And she's pretty friendly so far, too! She is still getting used to being held. The breeder I got her from didn't handle her that much, but she hasn't bitten me or anything. She's just unsure of being picked up. She has gotten comfortable enough with me to come out of her house when I put my hand in the cage, and also nibbles on my fingers now (which I take as a compliment personally).
 
Fluffy!!! She's really cute. I'm glad that you're starting to bond well
 
Thought I'd give an update on Roxxie.

We got her a new, more suitable cage. FN 181 and 183 stacked and linked together (essentially an FN 182, but those were sold out so we had to order them this way). Already got some nice shelves, fleece liners for the FN trays (two more on the way cause both mine were broke in shipment), a tube (cardboard 6" with a fleece liner, no signs of chewing yet and at first signs the cardboard will be replaces with PVC), a house (plastic igloo, I know it isn't ideal, but again no signs of chewing yet as she has PLENTY of things to chew on).

Ordered her a Silver Surfer wheel over the weekend after I was outbid on a Chin Spin on eBay.

She still isn't quite sure about being held, but is getting better about jumping on my shoulders or hands when we open the cage and play with her.

We were gone for the weekend and our neighbor watched her. We got back and there was blood on a spot on the cage. We then noticed a little on her mouth, so I picked her up to hold her and inspect, and there was a mucus-blood thing on the cage when we put her back down, and she slipped a lot of hair out by her tail as I was setting her back in the cage. I picked her up again and inspected her girly parts, and saw blood, so we are assuming she's in heat. Anything else I can look for to be sure she's in heat? "Dos and Don'ts" for while she's in heat? I've never had to deal with an animal, much less a rodent, in heat before. Any tips will be appreciated.
 
sorry, I can't offer any definitive advice, but heat would be my guess...hopefully someone will offer their help. I have a female, but have never run across any issues like this before.
 
Thank you. I've done some more research on it and it definitely appears to be heat but wanted some other owners' opinions. She is doing great and getting closer and closer to just letting me pick her up; I feel she's getting a lot more comfortable and is settling in quite nicely.
 
you're lucky...I've had my female 3 years now and although she will snuggle in my lap and let me put my hands all over her, she will not let me pick her up. I don't push the issue, though.
 
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