Hello from TN

[TaraLee]

Hi. My name is Tara.
I just bought my Chinchilla yesterday. She is about 7 months old and just as cute as a bug.
She came with all of this:

The cage and wheel are a bit rusted so I'm off to get a new cage as soon as the store opens. Any suggestions?

 

[dcfluegel]

Hiya! and welcome!

It looks like the wheel may be wire? If so, you will want to get rid of it - chinny feet/ toes can get caught in them and make for some pretty traumatic injuries - probably want to stay away from the banana chips as treats, too - chinny tums can be sensitive and fruits (bananas, raisins, etc) are too sugary for them... make sure the hammock is all fleece - any other materials can fray and present a hazard... and plastic/ wire shelves are not a good thing - best bet is some lovely kiln dried pine shelves (can make yourself - basic instructions in DIY thread in housing forum, I believe - or purchase, as several forum members make/ sell very cool chincessories also)

best advice I can give you is look around the site, do a lot of reading/ research... www.chinnation.com is also a good starter source of info!

again, welcome! lots of good info here for taking care of your new furkid!

 

[Jenn]

Congrats on your new furry friend! Congratulations!

Unfortunately, a lot of that stuff won't do you any good. Pet stores, in general, seem to dish out a lot of bad advice, so do a lot of reading here. There is so much good info to steer you in the right direction.

Chinnies like to chew, and fleece is the safest fabric for them. So ideally, your hammock should be made of fleece.

No fruit or veggie or sugary type treats. Their guts can't handle the sugars. Chins don't need treats anyway, but if you do want to give the occasional treat, go for plain cheerios, plain shredded wheat, rosehips, oats...wood chews, such as (prepared) apple sticks and hay can be given unlimited.

A flying saucer or chin spin is a safer option wheel.


A good pellet is a must - mazuri and oxbow are a couple of examples.

And make sure you have plenty of fun with your baby, but give her time to settle in. A new environment can be a bit stressful and it takes time for some to get comfortably settled in.

Have fun!!!

 

[TaraLee]

Excellent advice and I'm taking it all. Thanks.

I'll be making my own fleece accessories. Hammock, corner shelf, tunnel. I think a fleece bridge might be too wobbly, unless I put something stiff between the layers. What other fleece things do you suggest?

 

[LoveBug]

a fleece hidey house, either cube or cylinder. maybe some fleece pillows (that are stuffed with fleece scraps).

by the way Welcome to C&H

can't wait to see your chinnie and all it's spoiledness

 

[Sandi]

Welcome to the forum )

 

[AZChins]

Hi Tara...welcome to the forum and to chin ownership.

That cage isn't completely horrible, it's not my favorite one. (I have several of them stacked up in storage that no one wants!) The shelves in it aren't completely safe - they don't stay in place unless you do a lot of work to bend the little wires into place and there's a space between the shelf and the side of the cage that could get a chin's foot caught. You may want to look into putting some wood shelves in instead of those. The floor is alright to keep in and it will make things a little easier with cleaning the cage pan.

The little harness and leash won't go over well. It would be best to not even use that at all. The wheel can be removed because your chin could actually get caught in the cross member and axle on that thing and break a leg or get injured badly.

I wish you were closer so you could come over and we could fix up everything here!

If you have any questions, just ask them here on the forum and someone will always be happy to answer them.

 

[cindyv3737]

Welcome!

 

[ErinsChins]

Welcome to the forum! Where in TN are you located?

 

[TaraLee]

Clarksville.

I'm not happy with the cage at all plus that kind of wheel really sucks!
I went to Petsmart and couldn't really find anything there either. I really need something on wheels that's taller than wider.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

Welcome

 

[dcfluegel]

Miss Tara

there are several good, chin-safe wheels...

both the 15" chin spin and flying saucer are available from quality cages here...
http://qualitycage.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=129_142_143_144

the silver surfer is available here (little less expensive, run path not as wide, but very decent wheel)...
http://www.chinchillas.com/estore/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=63

and chincessories has a homemade version, that I understand is okay but considerably noisier than above options... but a good bit less expensive, too...
http://www.chincessories.com/cageaccessories.htm (at bottom of page)

I have both silver surfer wheels and a chin spin - overall, I think I prefer the ChinSpin, but the surfers are decent too

hope that helps

 

[Encantadora]

Glad to see another member in our state. You're pointing in the right direction. Check out the sticky in "supplies for sale" for great places to order and good ideas for things to get.

 

[lauralynne]

Hello & Welcome!

 

[Jenn]

Clarksville.

I'm not happy with the cage at all plus that kind of wheel really sucks!
I went to Petsmart and couldn't really find anything there either. I really need something on wheels that's taller than wider.

take a look on craigslist...sometimes you can find an awesome cage for a good price.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

You are really close to me I am in Nashville. Feel free to give me a buzz if you need anything.

 

[TaraLee]

Thanks for all of your kind welcomes.

David and Abby, Is a 15" wheel big enough? I fixed up that wire wheel up to make it safe to use until I get another wheel. I think it's 15" but she seems all squished in there.

Jenn, I looked on Craigslist, Hoobly and a place called Bookoo. I couldn't find any good safe cages. There was nothing too exciting at at Petsmart either.

Ecantadora, Are there many Tennesseeans on here?

Vol, We're about 40 minutes from each other.