For Those Thinking of Getting a Chin

[chinchillachris]

Hi All,
I had some free time this afternoon and decided to put together a little checklist of sorts for all of you who are thinking of buying a chin. This checklist lists all the supplies that you will need to have on hand before you bring home your chin. It also lists the price of every single item in the checklist and gives an approx total amount. I made the list because I wanted to show anybody whose thinking of getting a chin what they'll need to have ready for their chin, and what the initial "start up" cost of owning a chinchilla is. So, if anybody is thinking of getting a chin, please take a look at this list. OR, if you know anybody who is getting a chinchilla or wanting to buy a chinchilla from you, maybe you can pass this along to them just so they can have a rough idea of how much they'll have to spend in initial costs. Hope it's helpful! Please let me know if I've made any errors. THE DOCUMENT IS ON GOOGLE DOCS. TO ACCESS IT, USE THIS LINK: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8hR3kuQpKEDTGNXV2xSbWFiOWs/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Amethyst]

I see a few things I would change on that list. The cage you suggested is good, but you might want to add that modifications need to be made to make it chin safe (covering with fleece or replacing the plastic pans with metal one or wood, remove the ramps, etc.) . Also rather then just suggesting one cage give the measurements so people have a better idea, roughly 2'x2'x2' is the min for one chin. The hay you suggest is a cheap brand, vitakraft is not a good brand for any of their products. I wouldn't suggest carefresh as bedding, pine or aspen bedding would be better since neither swell when/if ingested. The food and hay rack you suggest is plastic, therefore not a good idea. I wouldn't say the pumice stones are required, not all chins like them, however wood chews are required, probably just change it to pumice and wood chews are required to wear down the teeth. Lastly I can't think of any petstore chinchilla treats that are actually not sugary, fat filled, and/or dairy junk food, if you want to mention treats suggest healthy ones (rose buds, rose hips, slow cooked oats, stuff like that) a lot of people see a chinchilla on the label and assume it must be safe.

 

[akane]

A single level fn or cn is plenty big enough for a pair. I've got a 2 pairs, 1 mother with triplets, and a single pregnant mother in my single level cages. I did setup a double for my 2 young females but I will probably turn it back in to 2 singles when I wean the trips. Buying or building shelves, tunnels, and hammocks that hang can increase space. I agree you should mention modifications. Any plastic should be replaced and any wire ramps should be replaced or covered in a safe material.

Many use rabbit pellets from the feed store which are much much cheaper than oxbow. I was spending $17 on 50lbs of nutrena 16%.

Hay is also a ton cheaper at other online sites or locally. Locally I get 50lb bales of organic hay for $10 and online I can ship it from places like kmshayloft or fosterandsmith for oxbow at about $1-$2 per pound. Any grass hay and early cut grain hays are suitable not just timothy. Timothy actually is one of the most common causes of allergens in both pets and people so we never use it. We use bluegrass and orchardgrass.

I would add chew toys or wood to the list. Chinchillas need twigs and branches or other types of chewable items not just hay and pellets.

A house or hiding place would also be a good idea. Many get stressed in a big open cage. We provide T junction pvc pipe to those that don't or can't have a wooden house.

 

[ticklechin]

Vet fund, money needs to be put aside or available for a vet visit if needed at any time.

 

[chinchillachris]

Hi Everyone!
Thank you guys for the advice! I changed around a few things that you guys suggested, such as:
*I changed the Vitakraft hay to KMS Hayloft Hay and put a note that says you can also substitute Orchard or Bluegrass instead of Timothy
*I took out my Carefresh suggestion and instead suggested to use either pine or aspen as bedding
*I added in wood chew blocks as a necessity
*I added a note at the bottom strongly suggesting that people make a couple hundred dollar vet fund
*I added in a disclaimer under the food section where I said that there are many other brands of food that you can buy which are cheaper than Oxbowand still high quality
*In the paragraph under the total price, I told people what type of treats are healthy and good for a chin
*Lastly, I changed my cage suggestion from a CN cage to a Ferret Nation Cage (I did this because I remembered that the CN bars are very fragile compared to the FN bars, and cause a lot of headaches for owners who try to mount wheels and ledges to them). I then told people to replace the FN pans with fleece or Bass pans, cover the and cover the ramps in fleece. I also said that any 2x2x2 chin-safe cage is suitable for a chinchilla.

So anyway, thank you all for responding! HERE IS THE LINK TO THE NEW AND REVISED VERSION: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8hR3kuQpKEDWHdtOVV6U1FvNVk/edit?usp=sharing

 

[saphire]

I would also include links of different chin stores, rescues on the forum that sell chin safe products. You can see links (Banners) at the top.