Everything I need for my chin.... help please! :)

[chris1858]

So I'm getting a chin this week. I'm pretty sure about everything I need to buy, but can you guys help me complete my list? Brand names would help also! Greatly appreciated

-Cage
-Timothy Hay (What brands are good? I heard Oxbow)
-Pellets (Oxbow brand pellets also? Any other good brands?)
-Blue Cloud or Blue Sparkle

And please help me with other specific things! What snacks? Toys? Etc? Thanks so much!

 

[Snickers]

Bedding - shavings, fleece, aspen
Water bottle
Wooden ledges
Hammocks
My chins loves tunnels made with pvc pipe with fleece on the outside
Wood - Ronda sells different types of wood

I would just look under supplies for sale

I do sell Blue Cloud dust

 

[greychins]

Cage - I like the Ferret Nation's, but for ease of attaching shelves and everything... I like the Quality Cage cages. They look very different, so it's really personal preference as to which you prefer. Heck, even the Martin's cages are good. I'm really not picky - and the chin room shows it - we have a little of everything here.

Timothy Hay - Oxbow is good. Really, as long as you can find Timothy, it's good. I like to give a variety of hays - we actually get our hay in bales (and it's a grass hay mix) but when I used to buy the individual hays, we used to give Timothy and other hays to sort of add variety. There are other brands of hay that are good... I think American Pet Diner and Kleenmama's have hay as well...

Pellets - Oxbow is good, again. Also, Tradition, Shoots, Mazuri (what we feed here), Purina Show Chow, Nutrena Naturewise... there are probably others that people can chime in about too, but those are some good ones.

Dust - if you're not showing, then blue sparkle works just fine. We show our chins and we actually usually have a bag of each here... but the blue sparkle aggravates my asthma less than the blue cloud, so that's mainly what we use (the blue sparkle).

As for snacks and toys... we use a lot of cheerios and shredded wheat. Those are their main "treats." We buy toy parts in bulk and we have a table saw so we cut down and use a lot of our scrap wood to fill up the toys we have. But the stuff we mainly use are pine blocks, willow balls, willow wreaths, grapevine wreaths... all sorts of stuff. Depends on what people have for sale and what I feel like when I'm browsing people's chin supply websites and buying supplies...

Like Snickers said, a hammock and/or a tube is a good thing to have. We have hammocks in every cage (two in some) so all the chins/rescues can have their own if they want, and most of the chins like them. We have a few tubes and the chins love those as well.

A hidey house is something else you may want to consider.

 

[chichitotoro]

SHOPPING LIST! lol

- Nest Box
- Wood based litter (to put in the bottom of cage, for when they pee. Lyk cat litter helps the odour. But personally i prefer newspaper as i clean the cage often so newspaper soaks it up for a while but i can see when it is too dirty. Nd i find it is easier to clean with. But if u aren't planning to clean their cage out often they wood litter is better)
- Timothy Hay
- Chinchilla Pellets
- Sturdy food bowl (heavy so if they run around won't tip over)
- Water Bottle
- Mineral stone (optional)
- Vitamin Supplements (optional)
- Bottle Brush (to wash bottle)
- Dust Bath
- Chinchilla Dust
- Large Tubes and Wooden toys
- Gnawing Sticks or chews (i find they really like willow sticks)
- Chinchilla treats (anything natural from raisins to nuts. You can buy bags of leaves, berries, dried dandelion stuff... special treats for chinchillas in a bag basically! only 2 a day though!)
- Cage disinfectant (for you to clean cage, especially where they pee. Make sure it's safe for them too)
- Book on chinchillas (if u need it...)

This is a list i got when i was a about to buy my chinnies... it came with them. Hope this helps!

 

[2manypets]

- Nest Box
- Wood based litter (to put in the bottom of cage, for when they pee. Lyk cat litter helps the odour. But personally i prefer newspaper as i clean the cage often so newspaper soaks it up for a while but i can see when it is too dirty. Nd i find it is easier to clean with. But if u aren't planning to clean their cage out often they wood litter is better)
- Timothy Hay
- Chinchilla Pellets
- Sturdy food bowl (heavy so if they run around won't tip over)
- Water Bottle
- Mineral stone (optional)
- Vitamin Supplements (optional)
- Bottle Brush (to wash bottle)
- Dust Bath
- Chinchilla Dust
- Large Tubes and Wooden toys
- Gnawing Sticks or chews (i find they really like willow sticks)
- Chinchilla treats (anything natural from raisins to nuts. You can buy bags of leaves, berries, dried dandelion stuff... special treats for chinchillas in a bag basically! only 2 a day though!)
- Cage disinfectant (for you to clean cage, especially where they pee. Make sure it's safe for them too)
- Book on chinchillas (if u need it...)

This is a list i got when i was a about to buy my chinnies... it came with them. Hope this helps!

Do not give any kinds of fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.
No mineral stone.
No vitamin supplements.
These are all bad for chins.

 

[danilinn]

Is it true that water bottles should be glass? I've heard that Lixit is the best. Also, I read somewhere else on the forum that cat litter is bad. Wouldn't it be better just to use shavings ankd scoop the peed-on parts out daily?

 

[Godofgods]

Is it true that water bottles should be glass? I've heard that Lixit is the best. Also, I read somewhere else on the forum that cat litter is bad. Wouldn't it be better just to use shavings ankd scoop the peed-on parts out daily?

Chins have been know to chew holes in plastic water bottles, so most people will use glass types.

While iv never looked at cat litter specifically, i would imagine its bad. They use a lot of chemicals and what not in those litters to help with smells and other things. Which would be hazardous if a chinchilla were to ingest.

Even shavings must be looked at. Only certain kinds are acceptable. Kiln dried pine shavings, and Aspen shavings are decent choices. Cedar shaving are absolutely a bad choice tho. And of your chins stick to certain areas, your able to just clean out the soiled areas.

 

[greychins]

I'm going to second the glass water bottles. We have a few plastic ones here, mainly for use in emergencies or if we need to hook up additional bottles, but for the most part we use the ryerson glass bottles (and some edstroms w/guards). I got so stinkin tired of buying bottle after bottle after bottle only for it to get chewed through... don't have that problem with the glass ones! (only, we've dropped and broken a few... but still less expensive than replacing the plastic ones all the time)

Cat litter is bad for chins. Don't use it. I can't remember specifically what's in it that's bad, but it has something to do with harming their respiratory system. Also... they could eat it, and that wouldn't be good. Now, I've seen some pelleted wood cat litter - that would be fine, but the clumping carbon stuff - bad. Stay away.