General Questions

[MinatoandChili]

Hi everyone, I’m getting a new chin towards the end of July. He’ll be around 8 weeks old when I get him so I had some general questions about health and diet (simply because I’ve had an adult chin but not a baby until now). If you guys could answer some questions, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Could I feed him regular Oxbow Essential Adult food? Or is the food for 8 week old chins more different? I’ve been debating whether to buy Oxbow Essentials or Science Selective, I’m just used to Oxbow since my last chin LOVED the pellets.

Same goes for hay, although I’ll be choosing the Oxbow Timothy Hay and I imagine that one is fine. Would that Hay be fine?

I’ve read that for baby chins that are ready to go home at 8 weeks, there’s not too much of a difference from adults chins. Could anybody help me figure out any other important details?

 

[Amethyst]

For kits under 6 months they can have unlimited food, Oxbow Essentials is fine, it's considered to be the best chinchilla food, and there is no baby/young version for the chinchilla food like Oxbow has for the rabbit and some of the other rodent foods, it's just one food. If the breeder you are getting the chin from feeds Science Selective that food is fine too, you don't want to suddenly switch foods if possible. The biggest difference is you want to give alfalfa hay in addition to unlimited timothy hay (50/50 is fine) since the extra protein and calcium is good for growing chins. After 6 months you can wean him off the alfalfa, since once they stop growing too much calcium and protein can cause urinary tract stones in chins prone to them, as well as alfalfa is higher in fat so can cause weight gain. Also no treats until over 6 months, you can use different kinds of hay as "treats" (like oat hay and meadow hay, as well as hay twists and shapes and hay cubes) but actual treats (even healthy treats like herbs and flowers) it's best to wait until they are older so they fill their little belly with good food for growing.

Aside from the diet, you don't want to do out of cage playtime until 6 months, they have a harder time regulating body temp and blood sugar when young so can easily over do it even in a cool room. You can take them out and hold him, pet him, and have him in a controlled area but no actually zoomies around a room or anything until older. The same goes for a wheel of you get one, they can over do it so it's best to wait until 6 months to a year for that. You also want a bit of a smaller cage too, bar spacing needs to be 1/2" or they can squeeze out (or get stuck trying) until they are over about 400g in size, and not too tall with many levels so they again don't over do it. Ideally the cage should be no more then a couple feet high, so if you have a cage like the double critter nations it's best to keep them confined to just a single unit until older. Also ledges and shelves should be no more then a couple inches apart up/down and left/right to prevent missed jumps and falls, kits can be clumsy so ledges set up like stairs work best if going more them a few inches up.

 

[MinatoandChili]

For kits under 6 months they can have unlimited food, Oxbow Essentials is fine, it's considered to be the best chinchilla food, and there is no baby/young version for the chinchilla food like Oxbow has for the rabbit and some of the other rodent foods, it's just one food. If the breeder you are getting the chin from feeds Science Selective that food is fine too, you don't want to suddenly switch foods if possible. The biggest difference is you want to give alfalfa hay in addition to unlimited timothy hay (50/50 is fine) since the extra protein and calcium is good for growing chins. After 6 months you can wean him off the alfalfa, since once they stop growing too much calcium and protein can cause urinary tract stones in chins prone to them, as well as alfalfa is higher in fat so can cause weight gain. Also no treats until over 6 months, you can use different kinds of hay as "treats" (like oat hay and meadow hay, as well as hay twists and shapes and hay cubes) but actual treats (even healthy treats like herbs and flowers) it's best to wait until they are older so they fill their little belly with good food for growing.

Aside from the diet, you don't want to do out of cage playtime until 6 months, they have a harder time regulating body temp and blood sugar when young so can easily over do it even in a cool room. You can take them out and hold him, pet him, and have him in a controlled area but no actually zoomies around a room or anything until older. The same goes for a wheel of you get one, they can over do it so it's best to wait until 6 months to a year for that. You also want a bit of a smaller cage too, bar spacing needs to be 1/2" or they can squeeze out (or get stuck trying) until they are over about 400g in size, and not too tall with many levels so they again don't over do it. Ideally the cage should be no more then a couple feet high, so if you have a cage like the double critter nations it's best to keep them confined to just a single unit until older. Also ledges and shelves should be no more then a couple inches apart up/down and left/right to prevent missed jumps and falls, kits can be clumsy so ledges set up like stairs work best if going more them a few inches up.

I know the breeder I’m getting our baby Chin from has a different type of food, since it’s thicker. I’ll see what type of food she’s feeding him. Cage wise, I’ve built him the base but since I wasn’t sure on how many levels I should give him access too, I’m still waiting on adding the hideouts and ledges. So far, I’ll go with easier ledges like ladders or many steps, in order not to cause an accident. For reference, the cage is 5 ft tall. How many feet would you suggest I give him access to?

 

[Amethyst]

I know the breeder I’m getting our baby Chin from has a different type of food, since it’s thicker. I’ll see what type of food she’s feeding him. Cage wise, I’ve built him the base but since I wasn’t sure on how many levels I should give him access too, I’m still waiting on adding the hideouts and ledges. So far, I’ll go with easier ledges like ladders or many steps, in order not to cause an accident. For reference, the cage is 5 ft tall. How many feet would you suggest I give him access to?

I would limit him to just a couple feet, but make sure he can't climb up the walls to get higher. Kits are crazy and will climb the walls of the cage and then often let go and drop or jump and fall so you want to make sure the kit can't fall far. A fall of more then about 6" can seriously hurt a kit if they land wrong so ideally about 12-18" is the recommended height but so long as it's under 2 feet it tends to be ok if make sure the floor is soft, either lots of shavings or multiple layers of fleece so it's a soft landing.

 

[MinatoandChili]

I would limit him to just a couple feet, but make sure he can't climb up the walls to get higher. Kits are crazy and will climb the walls of the cage and then often let go and drop or jump and fall so you want to make sure the kit can't fall far. A fall of more then about 6" can seriously hurt a kit if they land wrong so ideally about 12-18" is the recommended height but so long as it's under 2 feet it tends to be ok if make sure the floor is soft, either lots of shavings or multiple layers of fleece so it's a soft landing.

Got it! Thanks for the help and advice!