Hi!
I just discovered this forum about a week ago and it is really great. I've been googling stuff and reading other forums but I like how everything is contained here in one place.
I have some quick questions about my new chinchillas although this post ended up quite long. Just to warn you.
So background... I got two 3 month old female chinchillas about 2 weeks ago from someone on craigslist. One is a hetero biege (grey) and one is a **** biege (white). My girlfriend and I just named them Lily and Penny this weekend and they are settling in nicely.
The person who was breeding them had been handling them since they were born so they are both pretty friendly, although the white was the runt and is a bit more skittish. However, the grey one would climb onto my hand and then jump onto my shoulder pretty much from the 2nd day that I had her. Both of them came to the door of the cage when I came home and would stand up against the cage door. When we had company over for my girlfriend's birthday, the grey one would even jump up onto strangers.
After having them for about a week, I noticed that the grey one was jumping around a lot and chewing on the bars of the cage. They are currently in a modified rat manor cage that I got from petco although I will be switching to something larger when they get bigger. I assumed she was bored as my order from chinworld had not come in yet with the new wheel and I noticed that she would jump onto my shoulders and climb onto my arms to try to jump down to the kitchen counter that runs next to their cage.
However, after the first week, the grey one has become less social, seems to sleep more and a bit more skittish in the cage, and does not really climb onto my hands or jump onto my shoulders from her cage anymore. However, the poop for the grey one and white one look normal and they are both eating and drinking fine.
A few things have changed in their environment almost at the same time (all about a week ago) and I was hoping you would be able to help me narrow it down what caused the behavior change in the grey chinchilla the past week.
1) The food:
After having them for a week, my order from chinworld came on that Friday. I had order them a flying saucer wheel, as well as Mazuri feed and blue cloud dust. I was trying to do a gradual switch over from their original feed that I got when I picked them up to Mazuri. The original feed had raisins and dried bananas in it that I would pick out so they just had the pellets but since I was running out of it, I was only able to mix it and the Mazuri for about 4 days before I ran out and have to switch exclusively to Mazuri, which was probably on last Monday or Tuesday. Their poops didn't seem to change too much (maybe gotten a bit bigger) and after a day or two of switching exclusively to Mazuri, they went back to eating their food like before. They had have timothy hay the whole time in their cage for them to eat at their leisure.
2) The flyer saucer wheel:
After about a day, the grey one figured out how to use the flyer saucer and now runs on it a pretty decent amount. She no longer chews on the cage, but instead on the pine ledges and apple sticks that I ordered from chinworld. However, I am wondering if she is tiring herself out with the wheel, which is why she is no longer jumping to come out of the cage at night when I come home and is sleeping more.
3) No water for about a 24 hour period a week ago.
Right after I rearranged the cage and added the flyer saucer wheel and the new ledges, their old water bottle wouldn't stop leaking so I purchased a super pet chew proof water bottle from petco. I didn't realize until the next evening when their water level had not moved that the design of the bottle was preventing them from getting any water from the bottle. I quickly gave them both water and they both gulped it down. After reading reviews on petco that stated that you had to cut off the lip inside the water bottle or else the bottle would not dispense any water after whatever was left inside the sprout was gone, I fixed the water bottle following the directions online and they are able to drink from it effortlessly now. I read on chincare.com that they should be fine going without water for up to 24 hours.
4) Strong smell of lilies in my apartment:
For my girlfriend's birthday, she got a lot of flower and the apartment smelled pretty strongly of lilies until I threw some of them away so we only have a small vase of them. Although the smell is not as strong, I still notice it when I come in the door and I wonder if the smell is stressing them out in some way. I do notice that when I let them run around in the hallway outside my apartment versus inside my apartment in a cardboard playpen that I built, they run around more outside and jump onto my arms and climb onto my shoulders more. However, I have only used the playpen twice so that might also be a factor.
So my question is what do you think might be causing the grey one to become less outgoing and more jumpy?
Do you think it is because she has plenty of stuff inside her cage to occupy her that she is no longer bored and tries to come outside the cage to play or do you think the food change, no water for a day or strong flower smell is stressing her out?
Do you think I should only give her access to the flyer saucing wheel at night so she doesn't wear herself out running on it?
Let me know what you think and sorry for the long post!
Thanks,
Xiaosong
I just discovered this forum about a week ago and it is really great. I've been googling stuff and reading other forums but I like how everything is contained here in one place.
I have some quick questions about my new chinchillas although this post ended up quite long. Just to warn you.
So background... I got two 3 month old female chinchillas about 2 weeks ago from someone on craigslist. One is a hetero biege (grey) and one is a **** biege (white). My girlfriend and I just named them Lily and Penny this weekend and they are settling in nicely.
The person who was breeding them had been handling them since they were born so they are both pretty friendly, although the white was the runt and is a bit more skittish. However, the grey one would climb onto my hand and then jump onto my shoulder pretty much from the 2nd day that I had her. Both of them came to the door of the cage when I came home and would stand up against the cage door. When we had company over for my girlfriend's birthday, the grey one would even jump up onto strangers.
After having them for about a week, I noticed that the grey one was jumping around a lot and chewing on the bars of the cage. They are currently in a modified rat manor cage that I got from petco although I will be switching to something larger when they get bigger. I assumed she was bored as my order from chinworld had not come in yet with the new wheel and I noticed that she would jump onto my shoulders and climb onto my arms to try to jump down to the kitchen counter that runs next to their cage.
However, after the first week, the grey one has become less social, seems to sleep more and a bit more skittish in the cage, and does not really climb onto my hands or jump onto my shoulders from her cage anymore. However, the poop for the grey one and white one look normal and they are both eating and drinking fine.
A few things have changed in their environment almost at the same time (all about a week ago) and I was hoping you would be able to help me narrow it down what caused the behavior change in the grey chinchilla the past week.
1) The food:
After having them for a week, my order from chinworld came on that Friday. I had order them a flying saucer wheel, as well as Mazuri feed and blue cloud dust. I was trying to do a gradual switch over from their original feed that I got when I picked them up to Mazuri. The original feed had raisins and dried bananas in it that I would pick out so they just had the pellets but since I was running out of it, I was only able to mix it and the Mazuri for about 4 days before I ran out and have to switch exclusively to Mazuri, which was probably on last Monday or Tuesday. Their poops didn't seem to change too much (maybe gotten a bit bigger) and after a day or two of switching exclusively to Mazuri, they went back to eating their food like before. They had have timothy hay the whole time in their cage for them to eat at their leisure.
2) The flyer saucer wheel:
After about a day, the grey one figured out how to use the flyer saucer and now runs on it a pretty decent amount. She no longer chews on the cage, but instead on the pine ledges and apple sticks that I ordered from chinworld. However, I am wondering if she is tiring herself out with the wheel, which is why she is no longer jumping to come out of the cage at night when I come home and is sleeping more.
3) No water for about a 24 hour period a week ago.
Right after I rearranged the cage and added the flyer saucer wheel and the new ledges, their old water bottle wouldn't stop leaking so I purchased a super pet chew proof water bottle from petco. I didn't realize until the next evening when their water level had not moved that the design of the bottle was preventing them from getting any water from the bottle. I quickly gave them both water and they both gulped it down. After reading reviews on petco that stated that you had to cut off the lip inside the water bottle or else the bottle would not dispense any water after whatever was left inside the sprout was gone, I fixed the water bottle following the directions online and they are able to drink from it effortlessly now. I read on chincare.com that they should be fine going without water for up to 24 hours.
4) Strong smell of lilies in my apartment:
For my girlfriend's birthday, she got a lot of flower and the apartment smelled pretty strongly of lilies until I threw some of them away so we only have a small vase of them. Although the smell is not as strong, I still notice it when I come in the door and I wonder if the smell is stressing them out in some way. I do notice that when I let them run around in the hallway outside my apartment versus inside my apartment in a cardboard playpen that I built, they run around more outside and jump onto my arms and climb onto my shoulders more. However, I have only used the playpen twice so that might also be a factor.
So my question is what do you think might be causing the grey one to become less outgoing and more jumpy?
Do you think it is because she has plenty of stuff inside her cage to occupy her that she is no longer bored and tries to come outside the cage to play or do you think the food change, no water for a day or strong flower smell is stressing her out?
Do you think I should only give her access to the flyer saucing wheel at night so she doesn't wear herself out running on it?
Let me know what you think and sorry for the long post!
Thanks,
Xiaosong
