I'm new, just a few questions

[Burnt Offering]

Hello, my name is Kevin. I live in Wasilla Alaska and I'll just get this out of the way right now. Yes, I have seen Sarah Palin on numerous occasions. As recent as a couple weeks ago at Wal-Mart. That's always the first thing people ask me so now that that's done on with my story.

I am 51. My daughter who is 20 moved to Hawaii last April. She had a female Chinchilla. She kept it in her room with her and for the most part I never laid eyes on it before she left. She couldn't find a GOOD home for her so I told her to leave her with me and I would try to find her a good home. I moved her up into our family room and it wasn't long before the goofy thing had me laughing like crazy. Needless to say I found her a good home. MINE! She soon became the most spoiled Chin on the planet. Now that I'm an empty nester I see fit to get everything I can to make her happy. One thing I wanted to do was get her a larger cage. Problem, couldn't find one that didn't come without a Chinchilla so yup, got a larger cage and now I have two Chins. I did TONS of research on Chin introductions and after every method know to man it just came down to they won't get along in the same cage. No biggie. I will keep them both.

So here comes my question. Both Chins are happy as can be. They both get all they could ever want in the way of food and chew toys. They both get an hour of play time each every evening as I can't let them both out at the same time. The room is our family room with a hard wood floor and the run around like a couple missiles and just have a ball. Looking at the picture of my setup you can see I have one Chin in the smaller green cage and one in the two level on the right. I want to get them both into one cage. One of my questions is this. How do you people that have two level cages let your chins out for playtime? Right now I open the doors on their cages and they are low enough that they can run out, and when they get tired they go back in on their own. If I put them both in the two level cage, how do you get your Chin in the upper level out for playtime? Both of my Chins are very social. They both will jump up on my lap looking for an occasional cheerio but neither one likes to be physically grabbed or picked up.

Second question. If they even get close to each other they try to fight, hence the Marshall Fence to put around the cage of the Chin that isn't currently out. Can I get them into the same cage without stressing one or the other out? I'm fine with the way things are but would like to free up some real estate by getting them both into one cage. Any suggestions on the best way to do this with a two level cage would be appreciated! Thank you in advance.

Kevo

 

[Kathy_Bunny]

Hmm All I can suggest to you is the Double Ferret/Critter nation. I know Petsmart is having a sale for the Double Ferret Nation which will probably save you around $50 or so. If you keep them separated (one in the upper, and second in the lower) neither one should be stressed out. As for the second part of your question, I can only think of putting ledges on the outside of the cage (on the bottom doors when they are close) so your chin on top can come down, while the chin at the bottom stays in his/her cage.

 

[becky12883]

The ledges on the outside of the cage is a good idea, I hadn't thought of that one! Our boy that's on the top of the FN has given in to letting us pick him up to get him out for playtime and then hopping into the bath when he's done. For the last 5 years or so he could go in and out of his cage during playtime, but when we got the FN we had to figure out a new plan. Surprisingly he adjusted to getting picked up for that short amount of time if it means he gets to play. He'll even jump into my fiance's arms now.

 

[Burnt Offering]

Thanks Kathy! I appreciate the response. I know I didn't communicate very well. I have the capability very easy to make the cage I currently have a two level, an upper and lower level. I have another pan that slides in at the halfway intersection. I was just hoping for an easier way to let the one in the top section out to play. They will fight through the cage bars so a shelf system down the side of the cage unfortunately isn't an option. I see all the other people on here with two level cages and was just curious how they got the Chin on the top level out so it could have play time. Sounds like maybe I should just leave things the way they are.

Kevo

 

[Kathy_Bunny]

Chins are so smart! They know how to "put themselves away" after play time haha

 

[Burnt Offering]

Chins are so smart! They know how to "put themselves away" after play time haha

Hey Kathy, a couple weeks ago I let "Bebe" out for her evening playtime. Its hilarious. she will run around bouncing off the walls. Sometimes she hits them so hard I think for sure she will hurt herself but it just cracks me up. Anyway, one night after playtime she ran pell mell for her cage, zipped in a couple bounds up to the top and flopped over. She just ran herself ragged. She didn't even manage to make into the pet bed before she fell asleep using her bed as a pillow. From the time she entered her cage till the time she was out cold was I SWEAR less than 10 seconds. My wife and I had a GREAT laugh over that one.

 

[akane]

Simply Chintastic makes a set of stairs that match the FN and CN cages. Could probably do custom height ones if that's not what you have for a cage.

 

[Kathy_Bunny]

If you do use the ledge method and scared of one biting the other through the bars, just get the ledges with TALL poop guards. This way, the chin on the inside won't be able to touch the chin on the outside. The ledge will look like the letter "L" from the side. Easy to make too =)

 

[e.murphy518]

Honestly, even if your chin on the top level doesn't like being picked up at first, she may come around once she realizes that being picked up is the only way she gets out for play time! Also, another method is to hold the dust bath up to the cage and let her hop in and take her to the play area. This is also how you could get her back. I know this tends to work for me!

Erynn

 

[alooper19]

The method we use to get one of our chins out of our critter nation if she's upstairs is to place the dust bath in the cage, once she jumps in then we take the bath out and place it into our playpen. She doesn't mind at all, plus when she's tired she jumps back in and then we take her to the cage and she jumps out! We do this because she's very skiddish and get stressed out if you try to catch her. I also emailed Simply Chintastic this morning though to see if I could place an order for their stairs.

 

[Chinmama]

I agree with Erynn and Amanda - we pick up both of our chinchillas for playtime and over time they know what's happening and have gotten used to it. If we ever have any problems, they always jump right into their dust container. Just lightly guard the hole so no one jumps out before you get them safely on the ground.

 

[Burnt Offering]

OK, so just an update on my progress. My wife and I hit it hard this weekend and made it a priority to get both our chins in one cage. I spent several hours researching the great info on this site how to do this and minimize the stress and make them as comfortable as possible. Keep in mind they do not get along so keeping them separate through this process was important. While I went to creating a platform to partition the top half of the cage from the bottom half my wife was sewing fleece "pillow case" cage liners for the bottom of each floor in the cage. I cut a piece of plywood for the upper half. Went to Home Depot and got some squares of self adhering floor tile to cover the plywood with then put it in the cage. There is zero space that either one could crawl or stick a foot down and have it nipped by the other through the bottom of the upper half. Then we moved everything back into the cage each chins toys, food etc. Then put the Chins in. While they were checking it out we made some fleece hay bags for each one. This is a GREAT thing. I don't know who thought of that but what a great idea. Less mess, waste, etc. Just great! Anyway, its been since last Saturday that this all happened and they seem to be doing awesome. For now the Chin in the upper cage lets me pick her up to let her down for play time. Not a chance to go back though I have to herd her into a hallway then catch her when she try's to run by me. Still working on a solution there but it will come