3CsMommy
My babies Rock!
Congratulate me, everyone. I didn't chew a new (expletive deleted) into the (expletive deleted) idiot that still has my oldest chin's mother and sister in his possession. :realmad:
For full background, see post #14 in this thread: http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1057&page=2 But, longer story short, a missexed chinchilla was put in with 2 males, had kits, and after one kit died, we took the remaining male baby and named him Cervantes.
When we last left off with this guy, he had 3 standard females in 1 cage, 2 males (a standard and a beige) in another. Some time later, his now ex-roommate took the chinchilla care book he'd never read off his shelf and got him to get non-plastic cages. So now, there's a plywood rabbit hutch in his kitchen for the chinchillas to live in, but it's okay because "they can't chew straight through vertical boards" and an $80 cage has lasted him almost a year. No shelves added, no toys inside, not even a small plastic wheel. Just bare wood and wire with a nearly brim full litter pan (no litter, all waste) underneath. They've chewed it down to the screws and nails and kept right on going. He hopes to get another year out of the cage before they make a hole big enough to escape through.
When I got there tonight (not my idea but I thought I could deal), they opened the apartment door and I smelled dirty chinchilla cage. Went into the kitchen and put my fingers at the grate for the beige chin to sniff. No interest. So, the owner opened the roof to reveal the two standard females huddled up in the hide part of the hutch. Taller Half and I spent about ten minutes offering gentle pettings and I got groomed a couple of times by the two females... Cervantes mother and sister. The other sister? With her father, at the owner's mother's house, sharing a cage.
One of the two girls still together is horribly fur chewed. The tips of most of her back and butt fur are *gone*. The other female has a few patches out of her butt, as does the beige male. I could feel their spines and ribs through their fur, and of course the pellet dish was empty and stained with pee. The owner said later that the Nutriphase he's feeding is getting harder to find and "they're **** expensive", and also that the beige 'used to be fat' so he tried not to feed them too much... but he's never weighed any of his chinchillas, or thought of trying it. (The sister, at 2.5 years old, is the size her brother was at about 8-10 mo., my best guess. The mother? Maybe slightly more.) Their water bottle was the cap from a Lixit bottle screwed onto a plastic pop bottle. The 3" of water in it was yellowy-orange and slightly murky. There wasn't any hay in the cage when we got there, so once the owner left the room I washed and filled their bowl and put a generous handful of hay in, which the girls snatched right out of my hands.
So, I'm more than a little upset that my boy's family is in such a state. After a text message discussion with Taller Half during the movie we watched, I offered to take the females with me when we go home tomorrow since he said they were "hard for him to keep up with". He waffled, even when his girlfriend pointed out that if he let them keep having babies, he's going to be "the crazy chinchilla guy" instead of a Crazy Cat Lady. Finally before we left, I wrote down the forum address (which he won't use, I can guarantee it), and said "I'm going to be blunt here, but I think you're in over your head with the number of animals you have. If you want help let me know." He said "Yeah, okay" in a sarcastic tone of voice and we left.
Two years ago, part of me regretted taking Cervantes away from his family the way we did. I knew, just *knew* deep down that if a single female was left there, she was going to get pregnant again, and now... it looks like all three of them will. I tried to out-think the lazy of a stupid pet owner while doing right by the animals I did take in, and I still managed to fail those girls. :cry4:
But at least I didn't yell at the guy, or wring his neck. Maybe there's a chance he'll realize that he should actually care for his pets, or give them up. :tissue:
For full background, see post #14 in this thread: http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1057&page=2 But, longer story short, a missexed chinchilla was put in with 2 males, had kits, and after one kit died, we took the remaining male baby and named him Cervantes.
When we last left off with this guy, he had 3 standard females in 1 cage, 2 males (a standard and a beige) in another. Some time later, his now ex-roommate took the chinchilla care book he'd never read off his shelf and got him to get non-plastic cages. So now, there's a plywood rabbit hutch in his kitchen for the chinchillas to live in, but it's okay because "they can't chew straight through vertical boards" and an $80 cage has lasted him almost a year. No shelves added, no toys inside, not even a small plastic wheel. Just bare wood and wire with a nearly brim full litter pan (no litter, all waste) underneath. They've chewed it down to the screws and nails and kept right on going. He hopes to get another year out of the cage before they make a hole big enough to escape through.
When I got there tonight (not my idea but I thought I could deal), they opened the apartment door and I smelled dirty chinchilla cage. Went into the kitchen and put my fingers at the grate for the beige chin to sniff. No interest. So, the owner opened the roof to reveal the two standard females huddled up in the hide part of the hutch. Taller Half and I spent about ten minutes offering gentle pettings and I got groomed a couple of times by the two females... Cervantes mother and sister. The other sister? With her father, at the owner's mother's house, sharing a cage.
One of the two girls still together is horribly fur chewed. The tips of most of her back and butt fur are *gone*. The other female has a few patches out of her butt, as does the beige male. I could feel their spines and ribs through their fur, and of course the pellet dish was empty and stained with pee. The owner said later that the Nutriphase he's feeding is getting harder to find and "they're **** expensive", and also that the beige 'used to be fat' so he tried not to feed them too much... but he's never weighed any of his chinchillas, or thought of trying it. (The sister, at 2.5 years old, is the size her brother was at about 8-10 mo., my best guess. The mother? Maybe slightly more.) Their water bottle was the cap from a Lixit bottle screwed onto a plastic pop bottle. The 3" of water in it was yellowy-orange and slightly murky. There wasn't any hay in the cage when we got there, so once the owner left the room I washed and filled their bowl and put a generous handful of hay in, which the girls snatched right out of my hands.
So, I'm more than a little upset that my boy's family is in such a state. After a text message discussion with Taller Half during the movie we watched, I offered to take the females with me when we go home tomorrow since he said they were "hard for him to keep up with". He waffled, even when his girlfriend pointed out that if he let them keep having babies, he's going to be "the crazy chinchilla guy" instead of a Crazy Cat Lady. Finally before we left, I wrote down the forum address (which he won't use, I can guarantee it), and said "I'm going to be blunt here, but I think you're in over your head with the number of animals you have. If you want help let me know." He said "Yeah, okay" in a sarcastic tone of voice and we left.
Two years ago, part of me regretted taking Cervantes away from his family the way we did. I knew, just *knew* deep down that if a single female was left there, she was going to get pregnant again, and now... it looks like all three of them will. I tried to out-think the lazy of a stupid pet owner while doing right by the animals I did take in, and I still managed to fail those girls. :cry4:
But at least I didn't yell at the guy, or wring his neck. Maybe there's a chance he'll realize that he should actually care for his pets, or give them up. :tissue:
I wish I could help.
