A chinchilla tale

[SarahKay]

I went away this weekend and on Saturday I became a bit worried because it was a lot warmer than it was supposed to be and I was afraid that the chinchillas might get a bit too warm so I called my friend and asked her to go over to my house and get some windows open for air flow. I moved home from college less than a week ago and my room is so messy that you legitimately have to tiptoe through piles of books and clothes to get anywhere, but I was more worried about the chinchillas than the embarrassment of my messy room. So I called her and sent her over and once she got to my house she said "well, I see Roo but I cannot find Zeb". It turns out the door on the side of the cage was open and the chinchilla was nowhere to be found and had more than likely been out for an entire day. I became incredibly worried because I knew that there would be a lot to search through and I had no idea how capable she was of catching a loose chinchilla. The dust bath was out, everything in my room was covered in dusty footprints and there were mounds of chinchilla poop all over the floor. She closed the door and conducted a frantic search of my horrible mess of a room, checking under the bed, behind the dresser, and even in the closet. She heard no chinchilla sounds through all of her searching so needless to say, I was very worried. Ten minutes into the search and phone call I hear "Oh, wait a minute". She had spotted him lurking behind the television and as soon as she moved towards him, he bounced right back into the cage, staring curiously as to ask what the fuss was about. I came home today to a piggy bank broken, a room even messier than I had left it, and now desperately need to vacuum but the chinchillas are happy and healthy. It was awful to have to direct a search-and-rescue over the phone, but everything turned out alright. I guess it's a really good thing I had her check, after all!

 

[Sandi]

I was crying my eyes out when this happened to me last year while we were in Mexico. My mom came over to check on the chins & house for me twice a day while we were on vacation and she called to tell me that one of the cages was open and a chin was loose. He could have been anywhere in the entire house! There were a few things that were plugged in and running. She couldn't find him on her own that day and that's why she called me. I told her about the dust trick and luckily that worked. I also found out he chewed the phone wire but luck was on our side that he hadn't gotten hurt while he was out for 15 hours!

Glad he was a good boy and jumped right back into his cage and you only had poop and dust to clean up. After a full year, we are still finding a poop here and there, lol!

 

[SarahKay]

Yeah, I was really worried when I came home today because I knew he could have eaten anything and I had multiple small appliances plugged in. Surprisingly, no wires were chewed and the only victim was the ziploc baggie of cheerios. Fortunately, the worst to come out of all of this is that now Zeb thinks he should be out of his cage all of the time since he had that wonderful day of roaming.

 

[LovinTheSmallAndFurry]

Yikes, I sure hope that doesn't happen to me....the room they're in is not chin-proofed (yet).


So glad your little man was ok!

 

[Pikaia]

Wow, glad everything turned out ok!! That is one of my biggest fears. We went away overnight about 4 months ago and when we got back, we realized one of the chins had escaped from their cage. This was before we got the ferret nations. Tribble (our little boy) was hiding underneath the bed and he also got into his dust.. Dusty foot prints all over the place, but he was safe and sound. Thank goodness!!

Now that we have the Ferret Nations, I don't worry as much. Our old cages were kinda flimsy IMO.

Get your room chinproofed and you will feel much better!

 

[Isabella Whateva]

Make sure you check out that cage door and see if there was a loose latch or something. I know some people put little locks on the cages!

 

[mishellyshel]

dont get too over confident with the ferret nations though. a month or so ago one of my chins got out and he is in a FN. i must have broken my golden rule that night and didnt press down on each cage so it was not latched properly. i came down in the morning and the door was open and my heart drop. he was found quickly and not sure how long he was out but couldnt have been more than 6 hours. So much could have happened but luckily did not. it was a careless mistake on my part due to a migraine headache and too strong of meds but it could happen on any given day.

 

[Shooper]

Now that we know everything is ok....that is a funny story!
Chin 100.00-500.00
Cage 0-1000.00
A friend to dig through rubble to find your chin- priceless!!

 

[CrissysChins]

Shooper, Could not have said it better myself :rofl:

 

[Chub_Chub]

Now that we have the Ferret Nations, I don't worry as much. Our old cages were kinda flimsy IMO.

Major selling point for me on the FN! I have a Superpet cage that is used temporarily when I get a new chin, and I have a chin who I actually saw wall surfing so hard in there, the door popped right open! Now we have to keep the doors extra secure with pear clips.

 

[Chin_Parent]

My chinchilla's gotten out a couple times at night, and though i was convinced for a while that he'd learned how to open his feisty ferret, I think it was just me being forgetful. We'd wake up to a chinchilla darting over our legs, and find little piles of poop at the foot of the bed (I think he may have cuddle with us a bit, lol).

He never got hurt, and didn't even seem to harass the cat, who he's usually very aggressive towards. No chewed cords or anything. He seems to be very selective and only chews what is edible and safe for him.

 

[SarahKay]

Yeah, I honestly think this was a case of me being forgetful because I don't usually use the side doors on my cage so I don't have to check that they're closed but I had used it to get to the chin that day.
I do have a superpet and I don't think it's flimsy at all but I know I have to double latch the bars (I don't know how to make this make sense) and I did replace all plastic connectors with thick metal wire.