Fostering chins

[hkkjstwcl]

Hi. Since chinchillas arrived in my life in June this year, my chin babies have brought me so much happiness. I have 8 chin babies and youngsters, so I don't think that I can increase the number any more. But, nowadays, I developed this desire to help chinchillas in need. I looked around humane societies around Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia, but there are only few, and they run about $70. Also, most of them are not neutered, but once somebody adopt them, they must be neutered. I don't want them to go through that.
Recently, I found a free chinchilla on Washington DC-craigslist. The owner's son might deliver the chinchilla to me this Friday or Saturday.
They don't know if the chin is a male or female, and how old the chin might be. She has been feeding the chin mostly Alfalfa hay, pellets, and bad food. I emailed her to stop feeding those treats (popcorn, peanuts, pistachio, pancakes), and she said that she dind’t know, and she would stop. Then, she seemed to have decided to give the chinchilla to me.

My chinchillas are extremely happy. I let them run around in a safe room every day for 30 minutes at least. They are so fit! They live in multiple chinchilla hotels with wheels, and they get to be switched around often. They eat healthy food, such as Timothy hay, Bermuda hay, Orchard hay, and pellets. I buy apple twigs and healthy treats cookies, and hung toys from Stacey, and nice fleece nests and healthy treats, and cookies from Alli. They are on this forum and are awesome people who know a lot about chins.
Some of my chins were so out of shape when they arrived to my place. One of them smelled like cigarettes for weeks and was coughing a lot. The other white one had diarrhea stains under his tail and stunk like hamster or something. I bought them from some people whom I met online. My chin babies that I bought from breeders, such as Abby in Fredericksburg Va, Bill in Baltimore, MD, and Sandy in Big Apple Chins, NY(NJ), are just so healthy and well-treated to begin with.

So, my point is that I feel like I start foster care for chins and make them healthy and more friendly for their future permanent adoptive parents. I am thinking of giving them away in about 3 months. They will come with a cage and instruction about how to take care of chinchillas.
I am worried about my babies, since this new comer might make them uncomfortable, and could give them something that they wouldn't want to get.
So, what do you think? I am not going to let the foster child to play with my babies, and he will be caged alone. He may be able to see my other chins here and there. He will be held and played by me and gets lots of attention and good food.

Please give me any advice about fostering chins.
Also, does anybody know how to figure chins ages out? I am confident about telling their sex.
Any information would be appreciated! Have a nice day!

 

[tunes]

You would absolutely have to observe a 30 day quarantine any time you bring a new animal in the house, especially out of a questionable situation. That means NO contact with your own chins for 30 days. You need to do this to make sure there are no illnesses coming in. Keep them in a completely separate area of the house.

Don't give them away, charge a price. Giving them away makes every nut job in the world come out of the woodwork. If they aren't willing to pay a small fee, then they don't need the chin.

You can't tell the age of a chin without a pedigree.

 

[saphire]

wow, nice project you got there.

Don't forget that new chins coming in must be quarantined. So another room would be an alternative to keep your rescues in. This way you would not have to worry for your babies accepting.

Good Luck

 

[Stackie]

Make sure you have a completely separate room to keep any new chins away from your chins. They will have to be in strict quarantine, especially being rescues, as most of the time they come from living conditions that are not ideal and may be harboring illnesses. Even after a quarantine period is up, I personally would still not allow them any interaction with my own pet chins.

You must also make sure you have enough funds to provide any necessary veterinary care for these foster chinchillas, while still having enough money left over in case any of YOUR chinchillas need veterinary care. It is not fair to the chins you currently have if you spend all of your money on fosters. You may take in a chinchilla that turns out to have malo and will have to spend hundreds, maybe even thousands on veterinary care and devote a lot of time and attention to hand feed and keep him comfortable.

There is no true way to determine a chinchilla's age if you do not know their birthdate.

Those are only a few points. I have taken in a few rescues here and there, so I can not give you advice as a full blown rescue. I do know that you have to make sure you will be able to provide for the chinchillas you already have as well as being able to provide the rescues and it can be very taxing.