Moving chin from one house to another

Zippy's nana · Mar 9, 2009

I was just wondering if anyone has experienced a problem with their chinchilla when moving them from one house to a new house? This Saturday, my son is moving from an apartment where he lived for 2 years into a new house. Zippy's cage is in the diningroom of the apartment, but he will have his own bedroom at the new house. We are trying to keep his routine as normal as possible during this week of the move. We are not allowing the movers to move his cage, we will do that ourselves in the evening when he is up and about. We have a cat carrier that we will transport him in. Zippy had a severe bout of GI statis last September and we almost lost him. He is doing great and back to normal now, except he hasn't gained back all the weight he lost during his illness. I am worried to death that any change in his routine and environment will cause him to stop eating again. It's been a long 6 months of recovery, and I never want to go thru that again if I can help it.
If anyone has any advise , I would appreciate your input.

Rickman · Mar 9, 2009

Shouldn't be a problem, as I moved my whole herd twice in a month without a hitch! I was more worried about mixing them up! I had begun giving them LifeLine about 6 weeks prior, and they seemed "chilled out" for the move!

EveningChin · Mar 9, 2009

I've never had an issue moving my Chinchilla's from one place to another. I'm a college student and I move fairly regularly. Chinchillas are usually very good at travel, from what I've read. I've never moved my girls at night when they were most active I tryed to do it during the day when they were sleepy. After morning play I put them in their carrier and put a towel over they're carrier so they weren't over exposed to changes in light and temp. It also help dampen the noise of car doors slamming and other noises. By then I'd get them into their cage asap on arrival, and keep the room nice and quiet. This way they aclimated to the new smell as they slept but even when they woke up were in the comfort of their own cage. By night time play they were usually happy and excited to explore their new surroundings.

But Moving Zippy at night will probably be just as good, it'll be good for him to have all of your familiar voices and smells as he makes his move. I'm sure having a nice quiet room to himself will help relieve some of the stress.

Do you have him on a suppliment to help him gain back some of the weight? There are some good ones. I put Sasha on some when I got her and thought she could use to be a bit heavier. Worked great and she loved it like a treat!

Jenn · Mar 9, 2009

I adopted Tinkerbell at age 3 from a lady who had raised her since baby and she had to go through moving to a new home and getting a new mama. She did fine. There was a period of time that she was quiet and she had to get used to us and her new environment. The process didn't take too long. If we were to ever move, I would imagine she would adjust much quicker. New noises and smells might concern your chin at first, but as things become routine in the new home, he should adjust just fine.

starleomach · Mar 9, 2009

shouldn't be a problem

Zippy's nana · Mar 10, 2009

That makes me feel better just knowing that no one has ever had a problem.
Yes, Zippy is still on lifeline 3 times a week, and we are gradually adding PANR pellets to his Mazuri. He loves the PANR much better than Mazuri and I am planning on gradually taking him off Mazuri all together once he is settled in his new room and doing well. From what I read on C&H, most chins on PANR add some weight.