Decisions, decisions

[mandoochilla]

Hello everyone! I am a new chinchilla owner and will be making my introduction post later. I have a few questions about my 3 month old female chinchilla (Ichi)--please bear with me. D:

1) I have read that chins tend to pee in one spot--Ichi pees everywhere. Is this normal? We've tried adding a 'litter box' with some bedding + soiled bedding.

2) She seems to hate her cage when she's not sleeping...She seems bored and stays in one spot, making sounds, which to my understanding, isn't anything good. Also, getting her out of her cage is never a problem as she always seems to be poking her head out in all corners as if looking for a way out. Everytime me or my roommate walks into the room she just charges the door--I thought this was a sign of love but alas! I don't think this is the case. :cry3:

2a) [lol 2a] Because of her boredom, my roommate and I bought her some toys and willow sticks for her to play with and take her out for ten minutes of play time 2 or 3 times a day. Is this play time okay seeing as she's not yet 6 months old? Would it be okay to increase it?

2b) We are considering buying a larger cage (ferret/critter nation) or perhaps even introducing a new friend for her. Which would be the better move? Is introducing a new chin somewhat of a stretch? Would getting a bigger cage do anything for her boredom?

3) Is she even bored?

Sorry for the many questions, hopefully some of them can be answered and thank you for reading!

Attached is a picture of her in her current cage.

 

[Shooper]

I think a bigger cage will allow more room for hanging toys, swings ledges or whatever else you get. As far as getting another chin...there is no guarantee that they will even get along and you may end up with two seperate caged chins.

 

[Godofgods]

I would suggest the cage route. Ive personally never like wire/metal grated floors like that. But there is not a lot of room for her to move around in that one. Plus not only would it give more room to move around, but when she comes of age you would have room to get a proper wheel, or even another chin if you ever did decide on that.

 

[caitlinlovesgus]

I think that cage is perfectly fine, besides the fact that the ledges are wired. But when it comes to the size its perfect. I have the critter nation cage myself, but thats because I knew I was going to add 1 or 2 more chins eventually.

 

[ashleynicol3]

I would think the wire floor would be hard on her little feet, but other than that, it looks OK. My chin has a double Ferret Nation all to himself and he does use every bit of the space, but he still sits around sometimes and stares into space. I don't think he's bored or lonely... Maybe that's just how they are? Sometimes we just want to lay around and do nothing too, after all.

I gave my chin a wheel a little before he was six months old and he seems to like it. He only uses it at night/in the evenings. If you did get a bigger cage, you could give your chin a wheel so she could run a bit if she felt like it.

I struggle with thinking my chin is bored or lonely or sad too. I don't think they really feel that way, I think we are just projecting human emotions onto them. As long as you give her plenty of attention and let her out to stretch her legs a bit, she should be fine.


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[ashleynicol3]

Also, my chin doesn't really pee in the same spot. He usually pees on the top level of his cage, somewhere on the floor. He doesn't pee on his ledges and he doesn't seem to pee in the bottom level much. I think your chin is normal. I've never tried to give my chin a litter box. I use fleece instead of bedding. Maybe you could put a layer of fleece over that wire floor if you decide to keep that cage.


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[e.murphy518]

I personally would opt for getting a Ferret Nation, the cage you have is not terribly small but the wire shelves and floor worry me because it could potentially hurt their feet or even get toes caught. I also like to spoil my chins and I think if I had to be in a cage all the time (except play time) I would want it to be as large as possible! With more space you can put lots of shelves and hammocks and hanging tubes that she can hop around on and entertain herself by exploring. Also, there will be more room for hanging toys and when she is old enough, a wheel. Also with a larger cage, if at some point in the future you want to try to go through introducing another chin to her, you will have more than enough space for both of them to share the cage or if it doesn't work out you could separate the levels and they will still both have a lot of room. Plus FNs are SOOO fun to decorate and re-decorate, and then re-decorate again! I love mine, FNs are the best possible cages in my opinion