Should I open up the lower half of the cage or should I wait?

[woolala]

I have only one chin, and she is only 3 months old. I got her a Feisty Ferret cage and right now she lives in the upper half of it (20 W x 30 L x 20 H).

I only gave her half of the cage because she is so little and very clumsy. When she sometimes made wrong judgement about the distance between ledges she would jump and fell off and ended up on the cage floor. I don't want her to fall off and get injured since the full cage is 40 inch tall.

However, I don't think she is happy enough in her cage now. She usually sit on the highest ledge and stay motionless for a very long time, unless I reach in to pet her. And she seems to chew her fur a little (well, I can't tell if it's really fur-chewing or it's just grooming). She would run around her cage and jump on my arm when I open the cage door and stay there talking to her, and she seemed much happier when she has her 10-minute playtime in my bathroom.

She has a wooden house, a fleece tube, a hammock, hanging toys, toss toys, twigs, lava bites etc. so I'm thinking maybe she needs a larger cage?

Should I wait till she is older, or should I open up the whole cage for her now?

Oh, she is 360g in weight.

 

[FutureDVM]

I haven't really had any experience with chins that young, but I would probably wait to open the bottom part. 3 months is still pretty young, and it sounds like she may need some more time to outgrow her clumsiness.

I think it's pretty normal for chins to seem lazy and sleepy when they're in their cage during the day. They are generally most active at dawn and dusk. I know my guys tend to sleep for most of the day, but when I turn the lights off at night, they start becoming more active.

 

[Lillybabe]

My two girls have a whole FN. I opened up the whole thing when they turned 3 months because they were pretty sure footed. I also have the pans between the levels so there's no falling very far. However, I have my ledges pretty close together so that things are still safe for them. They will soon be 4 months. However, they weigh about 150-200 grams more than your girl does. I think all chinchillas sit still/nap for long periods of time. It's possible she's sleeping when sitting still. I have heard of chinchillas even dosing with their eyes open. My girls spend a lot of time during the day still. They make up for it during the night in bouncing around and crazyness. How often does she have playtime? 3 months is a bit young for playtime but if done sparingly I don't see that it is harmful especially if part of that 10 minutes is for dust bathing. I would wait a bit longer to open up the full cage especially since you said she's clumsy. The highest ledge is also a very popular lookout/nap location for chinchillas.

 

[woolala]

The 10-minute playtime is given twice a week, and the first 5 minutes is bathing time.

She sleeps in her tube or hammock during the day. The motionless stay that got me worried usually happened during night time, between 7 to 11 p.m., and that's why I thought she might be unhappy or bored ... I don't know whether she becomes more active after I go to bed though.

I guess I'll wait till she is older and heavier.

Lillybabe... your girls are less than 4 months and yet are already in 500 gram range?! Wow... I wish mine can grow that big in a month or so!

 

[Lillybabe]

What is your's eating? What color is she? Standards I was told tend to be larger. My girls are growing fast. They were in the 250 range when I first got them at 8 weeks. My girls eat probably 2 tablespoons of pellets a day, each. They also go through a good amount of hay. I constantly replace it throughout the day if it becomes low. I also have used some of the Oxbow hay blends like the Botanical, Orchard Grass Hay and Meadow Grass Hay. I actually need to get them more hay soon as they have nearly devoured it all. They are also on Tanya's broad spectrum supplement. My girls are probably most active between 2-4 am. I know because the few times I've stayed up that late they run about like crazy.

 

[woolala]

She is a white violet and I'm feeding her Oxbow (both pellets and hay). She decides she doesn't like eating hay though. She would only eat pellets as long as there is any, and once she finishes all the pellets she may proceed to hay, and of course, she only eats the softest timothy leaves and throws away the majority, or even worse, pees into the hay bowl. I have no idea how to get her to eat more hay.

 

[tcraighenry]

Ugh, it's trial and error I swear! Our baby is so danged picky. We went from Oxbow to American pet diner and she's been fine since. Except now she's gone off it again.

You might try a couple different types!

 

[woolala]

My girl ate Oxbow fine until last week. She suddenly started hating it.... very strange

 

[Lillybabe]

I would switch to a hay box that hangs on the side of the cage. Then she can not pee in it. Many chinchillas are picky about types of hay. You could try the Oxbow Botanical mix, my girls love it even though it is mostly Timothy. They haven't seemed crazy about the plain Timothy but I possibly need a fresher bag. As far as pellets go, she should have as many pellets as she wants. Most people free feed pellets and hay especially at her age. So long as she's not getting treats she should gobble as much food as her body tells her it needs. Some chinchillas are just smaller than others.

 

[rainey]

I used to have that cage....I would open it up so she has access to the lower half, but don't actually take the whole middle level out, just make it so she has a little opening to get down, and put a large shelf underneath it so there are no large falls for her to potentially have. That should make her happier, and be just as safe!

 

[woolala]

Yeah, I was thinking of the same thing this afternoon. It's time to get a hay box...

ugh... Shame! I bought a really large bag of Oxbow hay last time.

Anyway, thanks guys for the good advice.

 

[woolala]

I used to have that cage....I would open it up so she has access to the lower half, but don't actually take the whole middle level out, just make it so she has a little opening to get down, and put a large shelf underneath it so there are no large falls for her to potentially have. That should make her happier, and be just as safe!

So... when you open up your cage with the middle level in it, what type of floor did you do for the middle level?

I was considering your plan but then I realized I tiled the cage and the opening is actually in the center of the floor and thus makes tiles impossible to fit in.