New chin owner with a few questions

[Nancytole]

Hello Everyone-:wink2:

After doing a lot of research on the care and raising a chinchilla, as well as looking at this forum, I adopted a 3 yr old male chin from the animal shelter. He was brought to the shelter because his owner was a young girl going away to college. I chose him because he was extremely friendly. He is a standard gray.

I have had him since Friday. He lets me give him chin scratches, takes a plain cheerio from my hand, has taken a dust bath and has made that quiet bubble pop noise I have read about on this forum. He has a large cage with pine bedding, a wooden box home, some blocks to chew on, a soft fleece bed, plenty of hay, his pellets and plenty of water.

I am sure I will have lots of questions as the days go on. Right now these are two of my concerns and I would appreciate any input any of you have--

First, I have read that a chin will have a long, healthy life if you take them out daily for some exercise. Every time I go to take him out of his cage he gets skittish and runs away, so I cannot pick him up to take him out of his cage. Is this something he'll stop doing as he adjusts to his new home? Should I wait a certain amount of time before he'll allow me to take him out of his cage? I don't want to deprive him of his exercise but am I expecting too much from him too soon? Should I hold off for a bit?

My other question is this--I put out his dust bath for him this evening. I left it out for about 15 minutes. During that time he went into his bath about 4 times for about 1/2 minute each time and rolled around. Is that enough? Should he have done it more?

He is such a lovable little guy with a lot of personality. I am SO looking forward to each day watching him scurry about and giving him chin scratches.

Thanks! :dance3:

 

[greychins]

Hi, and welcome to the world of chinchilla ownership.

Your chinchilla may become less skittish as time goes on... some do, some don't. We have some chinchillas here that we got as kits - literally at 8 weeks - and we handle them and everything, and they're fine once you have them... but when you try to get them out of the cage, they run. Nothing we do or have tried has made them any more willing to be picked up, and we've been handling them since we got them and they're several years old now. Some may differ with this next thought, but I personally just grab them. Not hard, or mean, we typically get em by the tail cause they're running away from us... but I think that if all of us waited for our chins to be perfectly ready to be picked up, a lot of us would still be waiting. I mean, don't get me wrong, sure I'd like a chin that hops into my hand when I want to take him out. And some of mine are real easy to pickup.... but others may never be, and I still feel they should get out... Others may differ, but that's JMO.

Since you recently got your chin, you know, he may settle in and become more friendly and handleable. If you want to wait and not push things, then do that. If you mean Friday like yesterday-Friday, then I would probably give him a bit more time. But sooner or later, you may have to decide that the only way to get him out is to just reach out and grab him...gently.

I think the dust bath thing is fine. They dust as much as they want - he knew it was there, and he went back to it several times, so he's probably good. Some of our chins will hop in and roll and roll and roll, and some are good after a few rolls. As long as he doesn't look greasy or anything, he should be fine.

You're so lucky to give him scratches! We only have one chin who likes scratches and it's my mom's chin... who doesn't like me.

What are you naming him? Do you have pictures? We love pictures.

 

[Essentia]

If the chin is in a "chin proofed" room, you can just open the cage door and let him come out on his own.

If you have to transport him to another room for playtime, a dust bath house (the plastic dust houses, a large pickle jar, fish bowl) can be used for transport. When the chin goes in to dust, put your hand over the hole and carry them to the other room. Don't put the dust bath out during play time since if they dust during they aren't going to want to go back in the dust house for you to bring them back to the cage. Just put the dust bath house on the floor once you are ready to end playtime, and they usually will jump right back in. Once they are back in the cage you can leave the dust house in there for the 10-15 min. to make sure they have had enough dusting.

 

[Nancytole]

Thanks for the quick response!

When I went to the shelter to adopt him and get to know him, he resisted being picked up and taken out of the cage, but once he was in my hands he was very calm and sweet. I guess it's just one of the chin's character traits.

We have named him Stitch. I t was a toss up between Stitch or Swiffer. Hubby picked Stitch. I had to let him have some say in the matter...lol

As soon as I figure out how to post pictures, I will put some up of my new little fella.

 

[Essentia]

The easiest way is to upload the pictures to a website like photobucket and then link them here. Or, if you click on "Post Reply" it will bring you to an actual reply page where you can attach them to the post (just click on the paperclip icon").

 

[Nancytole]

Pictures of my new baby

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae39/nancytole/99a167ae.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae39/nancytole/e7624240.jpg

 

[bpayne1217]

Aww he's absolutly adorable! Hwat a handsome little guy you got there. Love his color. Congrats and welcome.

 

[fullmoonjewel]

We use a pet carrier to transport them to the play area. They're so curious about EVERYTHING that we open the carrier door, put it up against the open cage door and they just hop right in. When it's time to go back we open the carrier door again and they'll usually go back in - sometimes we have to pick them up because they don't feel done with playtime yet.

 

[greychins]

Awww.. he looks so sweet!

Just wanted to say that a lot of chins are like how you described him... where they don't want to really come out, but once you have them out, they're fine.

 

[Sandi]

He's definitely adorable! ) I love greys.

 

[caiti]

Cute pictures. Wooden shelves are really easy to make if you want to replace those purple ones. I had that same cage when I got my chin about 6 months ago. She didn't at first, but she eventually started chewing on the plastic. I see a couple teeth marks on the lip of the holes for the bowls. It's really easy if you go to Lowe's or Home Depot and get 8", 10" or even 12" inch wide shelves, 1" thick is easiest to find and usually cheaper and get you can get some the length of the cage so they'll be like the plastic ones you have in now and you can make a couple ledges also. Just make sure to measure first (I had to actually unhook part of the cage to fit the wood in because I just cut it to 24", thinking that's the dimensions of the cage not the inside of it, though) and the store can most likely cut it for you even for free or 25 cents or something. There are several threads about how to make them in more detail. Didn't want to rain on your parade, just wanted to put in a word of safety.

Dust houses work really well for me when I want to get my chin somewhere although I can pick her up from inside her cage easily (she doesn't love it but if you're quick and firm but not too tough it works) but if she's out in my room it helps when I want to get her back in her cage.

Your chin dusting sounds totally normal. Mine does that also, she'll jump in and out a few times.

 

[Nancytole]

Thanks Caiti!

The animal shelter gave me the cage so I didn't 'want to complain too much about it not being all metal with some wooden shelves. I do plan on going to Home Depot soon to resolve that issue. He hasn't really chewed anything up very much but I know it could happen and can be harmful.
No luck getting him out of his cage last night, tonight I am trying the dust bath method. We will see how that works.