Hello

Moshtico · Jul 9, 2013

Hello everyone, so let me go ahead and say I am very new at all of this and here is the story. Last night I got a call from a good friend of mine saying that one of her friends was being evicted from their home. She then told me that her friend was going to release her pet chinchilla into their back yard to let it live in the wild. My friend knowing the person I am called me and I then went and picked up the cute little guy, his name is Charley. When I got him home I looked at all of the supplies That came with him and all I had was the cage with no tiers, a little food and a half eaten bath house. So I went out today and picked up a cooling stone, a wooden house, a volcano rock purch, dust for his bath, some Timothy hay, some wood chews, and some wood to make tiers for the cage. I have never cared for a chinchilla before so any advice would be great! Me and my girlfriend plan to love and care for him from now on. If there is more supplies that I should need let me know.

Thank you,
Tyler and Becca

tunes · Jul 9, 2013

Hi Tyler and welcome. Congrats on your new addition.

You will want to get some type of pelleted feed for your chin. Generally feed from pet stores is not very good, so we recommend getting it from a feed store or from a seller through the classifieds section here, etc. Oxbow, Tradition, APD are all good feeds. Some people have good luck with Mazuri as well. You can also use a high quality rabbit feed like Nutrena Naturwise 16%, Purina, or Manna Pro.

I also want to mention to be sure that the wood chews are chin safe. There is a safe wood list in the FAQ section for reference. Many from the pet store contain peach wood which is toxic to chins. There are usually a few people on here who sell wood through the classifieds section which are nontoxic, chemical free, and prepared safely.

Enjoy your new guy!

Jenn · Jul 9, 2013

I'm so glad you could take Charley, and save him from being released into the wild, which would have been a death sentence for him! There is a lot of great information here, so happy reading. But, if you have any specific questions pop up, please ask away!