advice for the first week with my chins

[kylonyoda]

hello their people, i will be picking up my 2 chinchillas tomorrow kylo and yoda, they are both brothers and around 6 months old.

hope that works to show you my setup, any advice welcome on that.

my main question is how should i go about the first week with them i am told they are nice and calm and really friendly, i have been to see them already and they are lovely, i just wanted to get everything sorted before hand, i do also have a 14" solid metal wheel on its way to go in. thanks and look forward to replies.

 

[Amethyst]

The pic is a little small, so I can't see fully see but you want to make sure any fabric things are all fleece, straps and all. Also you want to make sure the stuff in the cage is a bit more over lapping, a fall of more then a foot can seriously injure or kill a chin. I can't see the food bowl, water bottle, or hay holders, but you don't want any plastic in the cage. Also with two chins it's advisable at least have two food bowls and two water bottles to avoid guarding or squabbles over resources.

As for the first few weeks or so let them come around to you, don't force interaction, it may take them a day it may take months. At the same time don't try to be too overly cautious, do what you normally do and plan to do, vacuum, feed, do cage cleaning, etc, so they get adjusted to the new life all at once as they settle in. Hopefully that makes sense. Most chins take at least a week to fully settle in though, so don't be put off if they are skittish at first. Though they could be like my current two, I had them out playing within a couple hours of being here, every chin is different. I don't advise out of cage play time until you can catch the chins to get them back in the cage though, chasing them will hurt your bond. Work on just bonding with them, talking to them, reading to them, singing to them, or just sitting by the cage so they get use to you. You can also try hand feeding them pellets or individual strands of hay, some chins like specific parts of the hay like the seed heads for example, or giving them treats, one treat per day but some treats can be broken up to get several pieces from one treat (a few pieces of crushed rosehip = one rosehip, or a cheerio broken into pieces is still one cheerio for example). A real strong bond with chins can take months to years sometimes, like becoming close friends with another person, so it's not something that happens over night.

 

[ticklechin]

Whenever you have two chinchillas is advised you have a second complete cage set up in reserve-chins who have been together peacefully can turn on each other at any time, even ones who are related so to prevent panic on a sunday evening that is also a holiday and two fighting chinchillas, have that ready.

 

[kylonyoda]

Whenever you have two chinchillas is advised you have a second complete cage set up in reserve-chins who have been together peacefully can turn on each other at any time, even ones who are related so to prevent panic on a sunday evening that is also a holiday and two fighting chinchillas, have that ready.

the cage has a divider you can put in for separation

 

[tunes]

Well, I won't be showing my chins that cage anytime soon, that's for sure. They would eat me while I sleep! It's very nice and they should be very happy there.

 

[kylonyoda]

Well, I won't be showing my chins that cage anytime soon, that's for sure. They would eat me while I sleep! It's very nice and they should be very happy there.

thanks ive ordered some more bits to finish it up, will have a solid metal wheel and some more anti pill fleece bits,