Care for a young chinchilla (9 weeks old)

[kenko]

Hello! First-time chinchilla owner-to-be here, hoping to learn as much about chin care as I can before the fuzzball arrives in my house in about 2 weeks!

My understanding from reading the archives here is that a young chinchilla (my guy will be about 9 weeks old) is not to have food treats or engage in excessive exercise (playtime exceeding 5 minutes; a wheel in the cage) until he/she is about 6 months old. However, I've read a lot of bonding advice that suggest that the owner should "offer the chinchilla a treat until they come to you" or "let the chinchilla get used to you through playtime." Barring these methods, what is the correct way to bond with a young chin?

After my initial research, I was leaning towards getting a Critter Nation cage for my guy, but after reading more of the threads here, I've changed my mind and am now thinking about getting the Ferret Nation (already ordered the Bass pans, and researching wood ledges to swap the plastic out with.) Since my chin will be just weaned, is there a high probability that he will easily pop out of the cage? I've read some threads here that suggest that "8 week chins should be fine" in a single-story FN, but I understand that each kit grows at his/her own pace.

I'm absolutely planning to baby-proof the cage with mesh if he is indeed too small for the FN wire spacing, but it would be super nice if I didn't have to Is there a set weight at which young chins become too big to fit through the FN wires? If so, I'd ask the breeder to weigh him for me before I run out for kit-proofing supplies.

If there's any insight anyone can offer me regarding these questions, or other tips or advice about the care of a young chin, I'd really appreciate it! Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Cuddlebug]

No treats and limited exercise is correct. Also, no run around balls, EVER!. Even though playtime is not good, you can still handle the little one. Start by putting you hand in the cage and just letting him come to you. Once he has been climbing on your hand and arm without darting off the minute you move a muscle, you can begin to try lifting him up. It can take anywhere from hours to weeks before he gets to this point. Follow his lead. He will probably jump off when you try to lift him up. That is ok. You can actually make a game of it. I do elevator rides with the kits. They jump in my hand at the bottom and I slowly lift them up and let them hop off onto an upper shelve. Kits seem to think this is fun and will run round quickly to do it again. By the way, you can hold them and I recommend holding the little ones as often as you can. You will not need food to get him to do any of this. Just time and patience.

I would use the hardware cloth on the Ferret Nation cage. Young kits can get out of them. You would be surprised to see how small a hole a 9 week old kits can get into. There is no set weight or age at which they are too big to squeeze through the bars. It depends on their age, weight and build. I would also limit him to the lower part of the cage and keep the shelves closer together for a short while to limit the distance he can fall if he misses a jump.

 

[kenko]

Thank you for the information!

 

[Godofgods]

I would use the hardware cloth on the Ferret Nation cage. Young kits can get out of them. You would be surprised to see how small a hole a 9 week old kits can get into.

I can not reiterate that point enough. I almost lost my first kit due to him slipping out of the FN cage (before i new he was even born). I still get scared when i think about about it.

You would (will) be surprised at how easily they can slip through FN cage bars at a young age. Their have been a few times where i thought 'no way they can fit now' ... and sure enough, they love to prove me wrong.

At 9 weeks old tho, you likely wont have to put up with it for too long. (compared to those first 9 weeks of their lives lol)

The one other thing i would like to mention is that even when they start to become just a little to big to fit through, they still might try. And get stuck in the bars while trying. So its a very hard call to make as to when you feel its time to remove the protective barrier form the cage. And kits can climb pretty well too. At least my kits had no problem climbing the walls of their FN cage. They would climb up and over the protection i had up, in order to slip out of the cage. So its not safe to just protect the lower portions.

I don't need to scare you or over whelm you or anything. I just don't want to see something bad happen to the chin! :kiss:

 

[kenko]

I will definitely be investing in the hardware cloth, thank you for the advice! Mips is a ebony--I've read that they take a little longer to grow to their full size (can anyone confirm this for me?) so if that's true, I may be looking at a kit-proofed cage for awhile, haha!

 

[jbcstratton]

I could be wrong here but isn't the only difference between critter nation and the ferret nation, bar spacing and horizontal Vs. vertical bars?

 

[kenko]

I could be wrong here but isn't the only difference between critter nation and the ferret nation, bar spacing and horizontal Vs. vertical bars?

That is my understanding as well--although according to the Midwest website, there's a teensy difference in the actual dimensions.

I've decided to go with the FN because it was suggested that in the long run, the wider bar spacing will allow 'scritches' on the fly, and I've read some posts that seem to suggest that the FNs are slightly more sturdy--since Ferrets are larger and more energetic critters than many other small pets, that would seem logical. One member also seemed to have an issue with the Bass pans fitting so snugly on the CN that she sometimes has trouble removing them for cage cleaning--according to the website, the FN is one inch wider than the CN, which could lead to FN-sized pans being a hair too big in the CNs.

 

[paula1101]

I have both, and whatever differences there may be with the cage sizing, they are not really visible when sitting side-by-side.

I prefer the ferret nations because they are sturdier for holding pine shelves. The bolts can snap the bars of the CN sometimes when chinnies ricochet around and springboard from one ledge to another - not a major thing but annoying, definitely. I have three CNs I'm changing out for FNs this weekend. They do allow better access to your chinnies, easier to stick your fingers in for scritches, hand in treats, etc.

I do have two babies that I was chinsitting (owner has now asked me to keep, darn, lol!) and the smaller of the two constantly got out of a FN - so I jerry-rigged it with grids from a guinea pig cage to prevent him from getting out. He never got hurt but it did worry me greatly that he might, so hardware cloth is a great idea, although I'm sure it'll be a hassle to put on.

 

[Pookinaround]

I think that I invented a few new curse words the last time I baby proofed a FN! Personally I like the CN much better and NO NEED TO BABY-PROOF YAY!!! I have noticed my chins like to use the horizontal bars to climb which they seem to have a blast doing. I have the same pans in both FN's and CN's and there is no difference size wise.

 

[Godofgods]

I have noticed my chins like to use the horizontal bars to climb which they seem to have a blast doing. QUOTE]

Mine use the vertical bars of the FN cage to climb! 0.0 lol