Found Chinchilla

[Duskeva]

Okay, so long story short I am the brand new owner to a chinchilla. He (she?) was found running the streets down in Los Angeles and brought to the petstore I work in. He's just a tiny little thing, Im guessing maybe a couple months old?

Anyways, I currently have him set up in my spare Martins R-685 with aspen bedding, oxbow chin food, and some timothy hay. He has been eating and drinking well, and seems properly active, but like I said, I'm brand new to all this.
One thing that I did notice is his nose seems to be a little dry and scabbed over. Should I be concerned or...?

Is there anything I should be looking out for? Anything I should be doing differently? Is the cage okay for now? If not, what do you recommend? Absolutely any information you guys have I would love for you to share with me. I've also uploaded some pics. Let me know how he looks.

 

[Snickers]

I can tell you that it is a she. The cage is probably fine for now. Do you have a water bottle? Can't tell on age. Glad you were able to bring her home.

 

[Duskeva]

Yeah she has a water bottle, but doesn't seem to be drinking very often, but she does drink.

 

[Anfsurfer]

Wow, what a story??? Are you planning on keeping her? She would probably LOVE a dust bath if you haven't let her have one yet.
I think you did a great job with everything. That's so nice of you to give her a home.

 

[Duskeva]

Wow, what a story??? Are you planning on keeping her? She would probably LOVE a dust bath if you haven't let her have one yet.
I think you did a great job with everything. That's so nice of you to give her a home.

She did get one, I grabbed some blue cloud and put it in a glass dish for her. She about flipped out and went crazy with it. She is super adorable and we do plan on keeping the little girl.

 

[Dolyphinm]

Definitely a she. The cage from what I see on Martin's website, you should provide some flat surfaces for her to rest her feet on and also be careful because wire shelves can be a hazard. Chins have been known to get feet caught between and then break legs. I would cover the shelves with kiln dried pine or poplar from a local home improvement store for a fast fix. Make sure her poop is more of pellet of a glorified tic tac. If its green at all and runny a vet visit should be in order.

Is her nose like scabbed over or does it seem more like dried mucus? The mucus would be concerning that she has a respiratory infection and that needs immediate vet attention as they can go down hill fast from those and I mean fast as in a day the chin can be dead. Sorry to be blunt with that but many people don't realize how fast it can be.

She seems small size wise so it's possible she is young. Thank you for taking the time to find out about her proper care.

 

[Duskeva]

Definitely a she. The cage from what I see on Martin's website, you should provide some flat surfaces for her to rest her feet on and also be careful because wire shelves can be a hazard. Chins have been known to get feet caught between and then break legs. I would cover the shelves with kiln dried pine or poplar from a local home improvement store for a fast fix. Make sure her poop is more of pellet of a glorified tic tac. If its green at all and runny a vet visit should be in order.

Is her nose like scabbed over or does it seem more like dried mucus? The mucus would be concerning that she has a respiratory infection and that needs immediate vet attention as they can go down hill fast from those and I mean fast as in a day the chin can be dead. Sorry to be blunt with that but many people don't realize how fast it can be.

She seems small size wise so it's possible she is young. Thank you for taking the time to find out about her proper care.

I already made absolutely sure that its scabbed and not mucus. I know how fast little ones can go downhill from something like a URI. Thank you for your concern.

About the poop, what do you mean by "glorified tic tac"? I think they look alright from what normal chin poops are. No green at all and a nice shape to them. Not too hard either.

I'll head to the home improvement store tomorrow and fix the cage up. Thank you!

 

[javachin]

Bigger than a tic tac, is what I think they meant. So if its about tic tac sized, that is on the small side and you want them a bit bigger than that assuming they're full grown. Babies have smaller poops but that's normal. Good luck!

 

[3CsMommy]

Def. not a boy (I see those daily and they don't look like that ), and a little on the small side, but close in size to my little male, who is fully grown, just itty bitty. A postal scale with a gram setting can give us a better idea of health, as well as letting you keep a running record of her weight as she recuperates from her "vacation" to LA. Just like with newborn puppies. Ideally she'll be about 500g or more when she's done growing, just to give you a sort of jumping-off place.

If you can find some, I'd get a packet of Critical Care to have on hand just in case. And the hammocks and such at your store aren't safe for chins, so if you want, you can stop by the fabric section of Walmart or somewhere with material for some fleece. It's a good "in a pinch" cover for wire shelves, or you can tie a couple pieces together (like the fringy baby blankets) for a hammock or a little bed/cushion for her to sleep on. They like to cuddle.

You are an awesome person for taking care of her on the spur of the moment like this! I'd be tempted to name her Surprise, considering how she got to you.

 

[Jenn]

I'm so happy you were able to give this little girl a proper home after she toured the city! She is so lucky to have been found!

Sounds like you are already doing so many things right for this chin. Don't forget wood sticks, like apple sticks for her to chew on. My chin doesn't seem to drink all that often, at least that I notice, but I do have to fill the water bottle fairly often. Supply unlimited hay as well. And as long as she is eating and pooping -everywhere and all the time, then she is probably in great shape. Good luck!

 

[Godofgods]

so glad someone was able to bring her in so she can be taken care of. I am courios as to how they cought her tho if she was running the streets. These guys are fast and usaly not in the mood to come exploring up to strangers. (maybe a guilty persons way of surrendering the animal?)

Id like to also point out, if she was runnign the streets in LA, she might be a bit tramatized from the experence, and theirfor might take a good while to adjsut to her new envirnment and new ppl. Either way, its a good thing she was found!

 

[amignatowicz]

as long as she is drinking some, i wouldn't worry. my chins don't drink a lot either, maybe one 24oz a week with 2 in the cage.

Yeah she has a water bottle, but doesn't seem to be drinking very often, but she does drink.

its so great of you to give her a home i'd put some wooden shelves in for her to jump around on, and there are some great sites on here to buy treats/accessories to add to her cage. http://www.camphorchins.com/ is one that i order from often, allison is a sweetheart and can provide pretty much anything you'd want to add to the cage. my chins LOVE her stuff. hope i helped!

 

[Duskeva]

so glad someone was able to bring her in so she can be taken care of. I am courios as to how they cought her tho if she was running the streets. These guys are fast and usaly not in the mood to come exploring up to strangers. (maybe a guilty persons way of surrendering the animal?)

Id like to also point out, if she was runnign the streets in LA, she might be a bit tramatized from the experence, and theirfor might take a good while to adjsut to her new envirnment and new ppl. Either way, its a good thing she was found!

I would also think the same thing if it wasn't my coworker that found her. She had just let her dog out to the back yard and Mr Terrier ran out, found her and had her cornered. I honestly doubt the girl I got her from would lie about all this. Shes very trustworthy.

Onto the hammock comment, I have rats that I keep as well, so I'm a regular when it comes to making nifty hammocks for them. I have plenty of fabric so until my boyfriend can make then levels for her i'll be sure to do that.

What about cages? Is there one people recommend over others? Does Martins make good chinchilla cages? The mesh flooring is only like a 1/4th of an inch. is this still not safe? Should I consider making a cage?

 

[Dolyphinm]

Bigger than a tic tac, is what I think they meant. So if its about tic tac sized, that is on the small side and you want them a bit bigger than that assuming they're full grown. Babies have smaller poops but that's normal. Good luck!

That's exactly what I meant by glorified tic tac size wise.

And I'm also sure she'll appreciate a nice dust bath after the romp she had around LA :thumbsup:

 

[Godofgods]

Iv been thinking about this quite a bit and theirs some things iv been wondering about this story. Not the one the OP said don't get me wrong. But the ppl that brought this chinchilla into the pet store. Obviously I'm very happy the OP is able to take care of the chin, so thank you.

They said they found the chinchilla running the streets in LA. As i mentioned before I find that in itself odd. As I'm sure everyone knows, chins are super fast. And outside with nothing to cage them in, i don't see catching them being an easy task. Plus i wouldn't expect a chin to come walking up to strangers on a street.

I also don't see how they could survive the climate of LA. Now granted i live in new jersey on the east cost, which is about as far away in this country as you can get, but from what iv heard and iv been able to find, LA has a fairly high climate. Some of the info i found said highs in the winter can even reach 70 degrees. And with it being Aug-sept right now, that temp can get much much higher (80-100). Plus maybe rain. The pictures seem to show the chin looking in pretty good shape. A lot better then i would expect a from a street chin.

I also would imagine their diet to suffer greatly on the street. Even more so considering how sensitive their digestive systems are. Yet as far as we know, their are no major issues.

It doesn't seem to add up to me. Considering it all, I'm more inclined to lean toward the idea that they were surrendering the chin or perhaps some other reason.

In the end, i guess it doesn't relay matter at this point. It was just something on my mind, so i thought id see what others thought.

And again, I'm very glad the chin is safe and healthy. And now has someone to take care of her. I'm always glad to hear that their are still decent ppl out their. I hope you have a great time with your chin!!

 

[caiti]

That's awesome that you're taking so much time and energy to make sure this little girl gets a good life! Everyone's given you good advice and I would just say to read through the site, the FAQs and the search function is especially helpful. Good luck!

 

[greychins]

I'm not sure what type of fabric is safe for a rat - we always used all sorts of things for ours, because they never chewed the way chins do - but for chins, the only safe fabric is fleece, so that's what you'll want to be making her hammock out of.

Martins does make good cages...or I should say, good shells of cages. We don't have any here, but plenty of our adoptive homes have bought a cage from them, taken out the wire levels, and put in their own (or had us put in) wooden shelving. The cages themselves are fine - sturdy and nice, but wire shelving in general can be hard on their feet. Even with the small bar spacing, as you noted, technically it is safe. But... I wouldn't want to stand on wire all day. I have one cage that has wire levels that I use as a spare chin cage if we are filled to the gills with rescues... and the chins are always in the hammock or on one of the small wooden ledges in the cage... they practically never stand on the wire... so I imagine it's just not comfortable.

You could make a cage, as you noted, it's not all that difficult. I even made a cage once, and I'm hardly all that handy, so it's very do-able.

 

[danilinn]

godof, i think someone let this little one out (i hope, accidentally, but not everyone is as kind-hearted as Duskeva). we ended up with a white mouse as a tenant last year when i found him hanging out on our kitchen counter one night. we both jumped, froze, then i held out my hand and when he stretched forward and sniffed my hand twice, i realized he was probably no field mouse. he didn't want to be caught, so we put down food for him every night to keep him out of the cabinets.
the dog who cornered her is probably the reason she has a good home now; otherwise it's hard to see catching her outside.