a few questions

[shawna44]

ok so im sorta a new chinny owner. ive had one before when i was younger and she bonded with me instantly, and was just the best chin ever but i sold her because i got busy with school and was not giving her alot of attention and thought she needed better.
well recently ive been wanting another one and came across two for a great deal and they seemed to be playfull and fun.
well once i got them home i noticed one would run up to me and let me pet it and love on it while the other seemed to want nothing to do with me and would barly let me pet it. what can i do to make the other trust me more?
and also you notice i call them it, well becuase i was told they were two females but im not so sure. they sometimes look like they were humping, not sure since ive never seen two bread before. but i no how to sex them but they wont let me hold them without getting freaked out and im sure if i try and sex them right now they would hate me forever. is there a way to sex them that wont freak them out or do i have to give it time before i sex them.
sorry this was so long you guys and im sure some of it doesnt make sence, sorry :/

 

[Dolyphinm]

Well you need to sex them now and if they are opposite sexes be prepared for babies. The longer you wait to sex them the longer a pregnancy watch would have to last if they aren't both the same gender. Sometimes they hump for dominance and also chins breed in an instant so there could already be a possible pregnancy. You need to just grab them both and check.

For the skittish one to get used to you you need to give it time. Chins are prey animals and need time to adjust to new surroundings and new people. Try just sitting next to the cage and maybe reading to them out loud. Then move onto holding your hand in the cage not moving with maybe a chew twig or a healthy treat like rolled oats or a rosehip. And just let the chin get used to you. Eventually it will become curious and jump onto your hand. Don't move it right away. It takes time.

It may take a month it may take a week, it may take months for the new one to get used to you. Just remember patience is a virtue in all aspects of life, especially pet ownership and chinchillas.

 

[ChinnyMom]

i agree, sexing them immediately is very important, and even if the seller has told you what their genders are, you should always check for yourself. the bit of stress caused by holding them to sex them will be minor and short lived compared to the issues that can potentially arise from pregnancy/kits.

 

[Chintastic!]

Believe me if a hair ring check doesnt scare them for life nothing will. Best to sex them now then wait. If you can you could just grab the base of the tail and lift up so that you can examine their parts. Or have someone take a pic and post it if you're not sure.

 

[shawna44]

im pretty sure i can sex them myself i just didnt want to scare them from ever trusting me. and i usually sit next to the cage with my hand in there so they can check my hand out. the skitish one likes to nibble pretty hard when it does come check me out. as for the other one all it cares about is play time, even with the dog!! i have an extra large ball for them to run around it, one at a time of course, and the curious one always chaces the dog its so adorible.
as for the lady i got them from she was told they were both females had them less than a year and never checked herself. so im hoping they are two females becuase i have no idea how to care for a baby nor the room, i could have gotten a breading pair but i was worried about it.
if its possible that its a female and male what are the signs of a pregnancy?
sorry for the long messages again i just get excited when talking about them and learning better ways to care for them.
oh and another thing on another post i saw someone talking about an alternative to bedding. and im using cedar chips right now and they seem to eat those, are they harmfull at all to them? of and my boyfriends grandma gave them rabbit pallets while i was at work and they seemed to love that is that ok for them to eat?
oh and one last thing the dust bath.. ive gotten so many different answers about how long to keep it in there. i give them a scoop a night and then dump the rest when they are done with it but i leave the bath in without the dust cuz the skittish one likes to hid in it, is that ok? and should i leave dust in it all the time or how often should they bathe?

 

[shawna44]

and ok treats.. i was just cutting up celery and carrots and using those to get them to come near me and feeding those to them every other day along with normal food. is that ok? ive seen ppl talk about fruit seeds and nuts but not vegetables and how much they can consume and if it would be wise to use those as a treat instead of the other things ppl mentioned?

 

[shawna44]

oh and another thing i saw the huge argument over tap water, and my boyfriend has well water, would that be ok to give them, or his fridge has a filter on it would that be alright to use instead of buying a whole new filter system? they have birds they give the well water to and they never have any issues, do you think that they would be harmed by the same bugs that the chinchillas would. and another thing if i was to seperate the two if one if a male permanatly do you think that it would make the chinchillas depressed since they have been together for a year?
again sorry for so many questions. but any advice would be helpful.
and if you guys can think of anything else please anything would be wonderful.

 

[tunes]

No fruits, no vegetables, no seeds, no nuts. Take a read through the various forums, diet and nutrition, etc. and you'll get some good ideas on what is safe to feed and what isn't.

Tap water here in the states apparently is not the same as over in England. It's pretty cheap just to buy gallon jugs of reverse osmosis water at Wal-Mart if you have one nearby.

Regardless of whether it makes them depressed or not, they need to be separated if they are not same sex. You can give them stuffed buddies to cuddle with, but they will get over being separated.

 

[muzzyj]

im pretty sure i can sex them myself i just didnt want to scare them from ever trusting me. and i usually sit next to the cage with my hand in there so they can check my hand out. the skitish one likes to nibble pretty hard when it does come check me out. as for the other one all it cares about is play time, even with the dog!! i have an extra large ball for them to run around it, one at a time of course, and the curious one always chaces the dog its so adorible.
as for the lady i got them from she was told they were both females had them less than a year and never checked herself. so im hoping they are two females becuase i have no idea how to care for a baby nor the room, i could have gotten a breading pair but i was worried about it.
if its possible that its a female and male what are the signs of a pregnancy?
sorry for the long messages again i just get excited when talking about them and learning better ways to care for them.
oh and another thing on another post i saw someone talking about an alternative to bedding. and im using cedar chips right now and they seem to eat those, are they harmfull at all to them? of and my boyfriends grandma gave them rabbit pallets while i was at work and they seemed to love that is that ok for them to eat?
oh and one last thing the dust bath.. ive gotten so many different answers about how long to keep it in there. i give them a scoop a night and then dump the rest when they are done with it but i leave the bath in without the dust cuz the skittish one likes to hid in it, is that ok? and should i leave dust in it all the time or how often should they bathe?

These balls are DEATH balls. Do not put your chinchillas in them. Chinchillas are highly susceptable to overheating, and these balls get very hot for them. Also, they can get toes and legs caught in the ventalation holes which will can break >< Ouchy.

Cedar chips are not good to use with chins, I believe it can affect thier respritory system. Pine and Aspen are chin safe, espcially if thier eating it, I would recomend Pine.

We'd need to know what type of rabbit pellets they were fed. What are you currently feeding them...it sounds like you could really use some guidance. I would highly recommend doing some research in this forum. The health, hygiene, housing, diet, and breeding section are all applicable to you with your current situation.

 

[greychins]

Even though the lady said she had them for some time and said they were both females, I would check. I still have the female (out of a male/female rescue situation) where the lady assured me that since they were brother and sister they wouldn't mate. Ok, I realize, not exactly the same thing as your situation... but the point is, this lady had had both chins for several years and the chins never had babies. Well, now the female has gained over 100 grams and we're on baby watch... So even if they never had babies for her doesn't mean it couldn't be a male and female and it still couldn't happen at any time.

As for signs of pregnancy, there really aren't any that are super obvious. For inexperienced breeders, the way to tell they are pregnant... is when you see kits (babies) in the cage. Usually they gain weight, they may become less active, their moods may change... but other than gaining weight, none of this has to happen, and often the weight gain isn't super noticeable (without weighing her all the time) until shortly before delivery.

Cedar bedding is bad. You need to switch to something like pine, aspen, fleece liners, or some people use carefresh. I personally don't like carefresh, and if your chins are eating the cedar, they might eat the carefresh, which could cause an impaction. But you definitely want to get rid of that cedar bedding. No newspaper either, while we're on the subject.

A rabbit pellet or even a few probably would do no harm in the long run. However, there are plenty of safe treats out there, so I wouldn't continue to give rabbit pellets. With the exception of a rabbit food or two that are ok to use as their actual diet (I don't know the names off the top of my head, someone else needs to chime in here), all they really need is a good chinchilla food and hay.

I typically leave the dust in the cage for 10-15 minutes. If they haven't dusted by then, too bad, they have to wait until next time. I personally wouldn't dump out the dust if I were you - you will go through it waaay too fast. We re-use our dust several times before it gets dumped.

What is the dust house made of? If it's plastic, I wouldn't leave it in there - they could eat the plastic and become impacted. With your one chin wanting to hide, I would suggest getting a wooden hidey house instead of the dust house, if it is plastic. On that note, anything plastic in the cage (like shelves for example) have to go.

No fruits, veggies, nuts, or seeds. Chins are hindgut fermenters and can't handle natural sugars like fruits and veggies have. Eating those can cause bloat. The nuts and seeds have too much fat, also a problem. Stick to the safe treats and you will have no worries.

The chins will be fine if they need to be separated. I cannot tell you how many times I get male/female pairs in as rescues while their owner repeats over and over and OVER that they can never be separated, they will "die" or something just as dramatic. I always separate them, and no one has died or become depressed yet. They've all been fine. Typically, when they come here, the chins are coming from a cage with a chewed up plastic shelf or two and no chew toys... and then they come here to larger cages with plenty of shelves and plenty of chews and stuff to do... and so I separate them into cages like that and they explore, jump around, that sort of thing, and they seem no worse off.

 

[shawna44]

the house is plastic and i was reading that some chins dont chew plastic and these ones seem to care less about plastic. they are weird they refuse to drink from the water bottles they will only drink from a dish with water in it. and they have a house thats on the outside on the cage that has a huge hole they jump threw to get to it. its actually a rabbits cage but its really really big. im thinking about getting a cage that can be used as a four storry cage or two two story cages. but right now they are a little pricy. they seem to love the cage they are in tho and im working on getting some new bedding but money is tight right now. where can i find the linings at? or do i have to make one?
and also they dont seem to rele chew at all i have wood blocks for them to chew on and they do a little but not much is this normall. they dont chew plastic at all and hardly on the wood.