3 weeks chin ownership rollacoaster!

[Beckbert]

Hi everyone.

My boyfriend and I adopted 2 chins 3 weeks ago and are now emotionally drained!

One week in, we got home to find little Gizmo dangling by her back foot from the cage bars. It was badly broken. After a week of looking after her, medicating her and numerous costly vet trips the vet advised euthanasia. In complete shock we agreed.

Now we have little Furrell on her own in the lower tier of our critter nation-esque cage. She seems ok but honestly we have no good past reference for what she should normally behave like.

This morning we got up to find she had LET HERSELF OUT OF the cage!!! Still not sure how she did that. My heart was in my mouth as we were looking for her. Dreading the worst I checked all the power outlets. No sign. Luckily she was found huddled behind the curtains asleep. Phew.

Now what?

My boyfriend would like to get a new friend for her. We have absolutely no space to have cages side by side, has anyone ever devised a way of introducing in a two tier FN or CN? Or do you think it would be kinder to just keep two in separate chin "apartments" in the cage?

Thank you for taking the time to read this

 

[Godofgods]

I'm so sorry to hear about that. That is awful any time, but especially for a new owner.

How old is the chin that escaped? Since younger chins are so much smaller, they can slip through some cage bars very very easily. Sometimes even when you think 'theres no way they can fit now' they continue to surprise you. My chins had no problem escaping the 1 inch bars of a Ferret Nation cage for the first several months of there lives.

 

[Pikaia]

Wow, I'm sorry you had such a rough first few weeks! That sounds really difficult to go through. You could get Furrell a friend and there are a few different introduction methods. There is the "cage within a cage" method, which would work without having to get another large cage. You would need a smaller cage though. Here is a link that should help.

http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13659

I honestly have never introduced two chinchillas, but there are several people here who can help with that. If the chins don't get along, you will have to house them separately. That shouldn't be a problem since you have a two level FN. You can just block it off and have two cages. You are all set.

As far as Pharell getting out of the cage, are you certain you closed the doors good on the cage? I have found that with FNs, you have to check to make sure the doors are fully latched. I have had several times where you have to gently press on the cage doors so they "latch" into place. It's just a good thing to double check.

I hope things go better here on out for you guys!

 

[Beckbert]

Thank you both for your replys.

Godofgods: we are actually not sure how old she is. The lady we got her from did not know even a 'guess' age. This makes me think she's had a few homes. Looking at pictures and videos of other chins I would say she is fully mature.

The cage we got is not exactly a FN. It's the same shape and style but it has two flap style doors. I think it's this one... http://www.cagesworld.co.uk/p/Liberta_Tower_Ferret_Cage.htm
But it has a divide in the middle which we have slid a board into and bolted down to make it into two.

Thank you for the links. We might leave it a while anyway to just let things... settle down. I guess I'm just a bit disheartened. I did soooo much research before we found them and I thought I was totally prepared for anything.

Thanks again