chinnmyheart
Well-known member
Just want to see how many of you have wheels in your cages??
Last edited:
How many of you have wheels or flying saucers?
- Thread starter chinnmyheart
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Mt. Zion Chins
Barb
almost all my cages have a wheel or flying saucer
cindyv3737
<---House beaver.
Both of my cages have wheels in them.
Tagna
Chin lover
I have saucers, chin spins and ed wheels in most of my own chin cages and some of the rescue cages.
Essentia
Jax Chinchilla Rescue
We have either a chin spin, ed wheel, flying saucer or silver surfer in every cage we have here, be it a rescue cage or personal pet. Out of all of them, my favorite is the Ed Wheel and the Flying Saucer.
Jenn
ZooKeeper
My chin has a flying saucer. Best purchase ever!
I have a Chin Spin and though it is a bit bulky and hard to install I feel it's a great wheel. Currently it is being stored under my girls' cage as they are too young to use it yet. I am not sure how long I will wait to put it in, at least 6 months. I would like to see both of them in at least the 600-700 gram range before I install it. I do not want them to have trouble keeping weight on or to hurt themselves because I put it in too soon.
greychins
NWI Chinchillas
We have either a chin spin or flying saucer (or both! in the two level FNs) in almost all of our cages. The chins love them and I think they're a great investment, they last longer than most things I buy the chins, lol!
ticklechin
Well-known member
Eds, chin spins and Leo brauns here.
GorillaJTA
That guy.
Wow... I am glad I did not set a weight goal for mine... Flea did not hit 600 grams until he was almost 2 years old. I put his wheel in when I had had him for six months.
It's an aim GorillaJTA and my understanding is that female chins are larger than male chins. Even my malo guy who I always considered on the small side was 600 grams by time he was a year. He dropped into the high 500s occasionally with handfeeding and such and was in the mid 400s the weekend I dropped him off at the vet before he died. My girls are 3 months old and already both over 400 grams. Their mother is in the 800-900 range and is about 2 and their grandmother is over 1000 grams and is about 6. It's definitely not a set in stone goal, I just worry that if I start them too quickly they will lose weight. Just want them to be healthy. My malo guy was on Mazuri which I have been told isn't great for weight gain. The girls are on Oxbow and have gained about 200 grams since I got them. Of course that's not to say they'll grow another 200 grams in another month.
I have 30- Ed Spins, 12- Chin Spins (brand new still), 3-Silver Surfers. My Chin Spins are for my emergency cages. I like the Ed Spins the best. I have only 1 Silver Surfer being used it is louder then the Ed Spins.
Dawn
Well-known member
Flying saucers in both of my fn cages here.
InkedupTara
Do the chinny shuffle!
Really??? Some of mine are not close to 600 grams. Most of them however, are rescues, and in the 500- close to 600 range. I could never imagine making them wait that long.... That could be well over a year to reach that, if ever. Not all chins are going to hit that weight.
Terbear24
TLCuties
I'm afraid to put a wheel in with my chins that are in trios bc of the babies.... and then my other cages are too small! but I would love to have the space eventually!
What food do you have them on? I can understand rescues being smaller but even my malo guy stayed in the 600-700 range most his life. However he was a standard and so are the girls and I have been told that standards tend to be larger than mutations. Chinchillas don't really need wheels though and I think it's best to make sure they have the weight they need first. Any ill chinchilla will go downhill fast but I feel it is much riskier to do many of the procedures on a chinchilla without any weight to spare.
The girls seem to be from larger genes so the 600-700 gram range was for them specifically. They have now well surpassed 400 grams, with Pixie being 492 and Trixie being 432. I have a feeling they will both be in the 600s by 6 months as they aren't even 4 months yet. That being the case I may very well still wait until they are closer to a year to put the wheel in. They are still a bit clumsy and I do not wish for them to hurt themselves. Since they have a whole FN 142 to themselves and bounce around it like crazy things I'm not overly concerned about them not getting enough exercise.
mistywaterwoman
Pooper Scooper
I agree with Tara. Each chin is different and there is no guarantee that your girls will ever be as big as you want them to be. Waiting until they are 6 months of age is the sensible rule, but waiting on a weight goal might keep you waiting a long, long time.
Yes, girls are generally heavier than boys, and sadly that holds true in the human world too, lol. And standards are usually bigger than mutations.
I am sort of the queen of having huge girls, with my two largest being right at or under 1000g depending on which week I weigh them. But I got Tami at 7 months and she was only 496g when I got her. I gave her a wheel right away and it didn't set her back any, she continued to gain nicely and almost 6 years later her average weight is around 800g or so.
Don't deprive your babies if you have the wheel already anyway, let them have it at 6 months.
BTW, some of Tara's rescues were seriously near death when she took them in, so they can be excused for being a little on the small side, despite having the best of everything now. Poor little "Tiny" may not ever make it to 500g, but she sure is a cutie anyway!
Yes, girls are generally heavier than boys, and sadly that holds true in the human world too, lol. And standards are usually bigger than mutations.
I am sort of the queen of having huge girls, with my two largest being right at or under 1000g depending on which week I weigh them. But I got Tami at 7 months and she was only 496g when I got her. I gave her a wheel right away and it didn't set her back any, she continued to gain nicely and almost 6 years later her average weight is around 800g or so.
Don't deprive your babies if you have the wheel already anyway, let them have it at 6 months.
BTW, some of Tara's rescues were seriously near death when she took them in, so they can be excused for being a little on the small side, despite having the best of everything now. Poor little "Tiny" may not ever make it to 500g, but she sure is a cutie anyway!
I have 1 Chin Spin and 2 Silver Surfers.
Three of mine are at or under 500g and are perfectly healthy. Nixi (female) topped out at 510 and Buddha (male) teeters around 490. Both received their wheels at 6 months old and continued gaining for the next 6-8 months. I found this forum a bit late in the game, so I didn't fully understand what to look for when breeding. I just wanted the experience, and I honestly thought I researched the process rather well. Hindsight is definitely 20/20, but at least I'm confident that everyone's good now!
)
Three of mine are at or under 500g and are perfectly healthy. Nixi (female) topped out at 510 and Buddha (male) teeters around 490. Both received their wheels at 6 months old and continued gaining for the next 6-8 months. I found this forum a bit late in the game, so I didn't fully understand what to look for when breeding. I just wanted the experience, and I honestly thought I researched the process rather well. Hindsight is definitely 20/20, but at least I'm confident that everyone's good now!
)
I have one flying saucer and one chin spin... I like the flying saucer for its aesthetics, but the chin spin seems to produce less noise... They are both relatively quiet, but the saucer seems to shake the cage a little more, even with propping up the base with something... I've let Xochi try out both, and she seems not to like the chin spin... Pocket has only used the chin spin... The girls are moving into their own room, when I move next week, so I won't be worrying about the noise, anymore... I might get Pocket a saucer, hopefully she'll use it...
