New Chinchilla for me.

[ARS3358]

Hi, I got a Chinchilla two weeks ago and it is my first one. After having pet rats that died in two years, I needed a longer living pet. Chinzia is great. She jumps on me, plays in the bathroom with me, and likes to snuggle in my housecoat. I just worry she is not getting enough exercise and seems to always want to be out of the cage.

 

[ARS3358]

I forgot to say that I named her after Sophia Loren's character in the movie Houseboat but with an h.

 

[Jawramik]

Welcome! Chinzia is adorable! I totally get it about rats being short-lived. I love rats and kept them both as a kid and adult. They make great pets, but their short lifespans are a huge bummer.

When I first rescued my chin, I assumed their lifespans were close to that of a rabbit or guinea pig. When I learned that they could live 20+ years, I was like . But I adore my chin, so I'm glad that she'll (hopefully) be with me for many years to come.

How old is your girl? If she's under 6 months or so, the rule is actually that she shouldn't really get exercise time out of the cage. Baby chins have a tendency to overdo it and can overheat themselves. You can take her out of the cage, but only for short periods of time (like 5-10 minutes or so).

Even if she's 6 months or older, so long as your cage is large enough and she has plenty of space to run and jump, she'll probably get all the exercise she needs in the cage. You still can take her out for playtime (if she's 6 months+), as most chins love exploring, but you don't need to be overly worried about her getting enough exercise unless she's in a too-small cage.

 

[Chinmin]

Welcome. Chinzia is a cute name like her.

 

[Amethyst]

Chins don't actually need a lot of exercise, as mentioned assuming the chin is over 6 months and has a large cage. About 30 minutes a few times a week of running around outside the cage is actually plenty for most chins. They do need a lot more attention then that though, and just like a little kid they will often want to play all the time. The best thing to do if possible is to have a set schedule of when playtime is, that way she can learn when she is going out. It doesn't take long for most chins to catch on when they get to come out and will stop demanding to come out all the time. You'll have to ignore her tantrums though, if you come running and let her out to play when it's not play time she will learn that throwing a tantrum works to get her way.

Another option if you really think she needs more exercise, again assuming she is over 6 months, is to get a chin safe wheel. Pet stores don't sell large enough wheels for chins, to avoid back injury the wheel should be a bare minimum of 14" and really only if your chin is small, like in the 600g or so range. Otherwise the wheel should be at least 15-16", and with a solid metal running surface, not plastic and not wire mesh, and no bars. I can give you a list of chin safe wheels you can get in the US if you'd like.

Just a little side note/word of caution. I don't know if that pic is of the cage she is in now, but if it is, wire floors like that are not safe, chins have been known to get toes and legs caught in them and broken, ideally cover the floor with fleece or tile to prevent injury, or depending on the cage that is you can try to get a pan to fit the floor. Also it looks like you have cardboard tunnels? If so keep a close eye on them, most chins just shred cardboard, but if she is chewing and eating it you'll want to remove it. If the chin swallows the cardboard it can expand in the gut and cause a blockage, a couple chins have died that way.

 

[ARS3358]

Her cage seems big enough - 3 levels. If I line the bottom with tile, won't that be kind of cold? I don't know how old she is as the pet store did not know, just that she was under 1 year. Also, I did not know about the cardboard, it does not seem that she is eating it. I own an apple orchard so I am providing her plenty of wood to chew on and always leave her food. I have not been able to buy a wheel yet that is large enough. It has to be metal, not wood?

There is so much I obviously don't know even though I have read about chins on line for weeks before getting Chinzia. Thank you for taking the time to help me out.

 

[Jawramik]

Her cage seems big enough - 3 levels. If I line the bottom with tile, won't that be kind of cold? I don't know how old she is as the pet store did not know, just that she was under 1 year. Also, I did not know about the cardboard, it does not seem that she is eating it. I own an apple orchard so I am providing her plenty of wood to chew on and always leave her food. I have not been able to buy a wheel yet that is large enough. It has to be metal, not wood?

There is so much I obviously don't know even though I have read about chins on line for weeks before getting Chinzia. Thank you for taking the time to help me out.

When I had a cage with wire floors, I just covered them with 3 layers of fleece and it worked great. I considered tile, but since I planned to use fleece liners anyway (they're my favourite type of bedding for all the small mammals I've kept), it seemed silly to spend the effort and money to tile it.

Wood wheels are perfectly safe (provided they're large enough and have a solid running surface and the wheel is open with no cross beams), but the main issue is that they're a lot harder to clean if the chin pees on it. Metal can just be wiped down, whereas wood needs to be soaked and/or sanded to really get the pee out. Also, if your chin ever gets any sort of contagious infection or parasite infestation (giardia, ringworm, etc.), all wood accessories will have to be thrown out, since they can't be sterilised. Since chin wheels tend to be pretty expensive, that would be kind of a bummer.

That said, I used a wood wheel with my girl for a while that a friend made for me, and it worked great. So wood is an option, it's just not necessarily the best option if you want something you can keep for the life of the chin.

 

[ARS3358]

Thanks for the help. Fleece sounds like it would be a mess to clean. Right now everything falls through the wire to a pan, which I line and is easy to clean. If she pees on fleece all the time, I guess you wash it alot?

 

[Jawramik]

Thanks for the help. Fleece sounds like it would be a mess to clean. Right now everything falls through the wire to a pan, which I line and is easy to clean. If she pees on fleece all the time, I guess you wash it alot?

Most chins are pretty easy to train to pee in a litterbox. They tend to pick one spot (often a corner) to pee in, then you just put a litterbox full of aspen shavings in that spot, and they'll generally pee in the litterbox for the most part. I use a glass baking dish for a litterbox. I usually change the liners about once a week (sometimes twice a week if she's having an off week using the litterbox). I machine-wash the fleece. Just make sure you have at least two sets of liners, so you have a clean set to put on while the dirty ones wash.

You do have to spot-clean for poop and spilled hay and pellets daily, or at least every other day, though. But it doesn't take very long. I just use a little hand vacuum to suck up the mess, takes about five minutes. You could also use a little hand broom and dust pan to sweep it up, though I find the hand vac easier. You'll have to do that with any solid flooring.....and you really do want solid flooring. You don't want your baby getting her foot caught in the wire grating. It can really mess them up.

 

[ARS3358]

I found a metal cage on Chewy.com for $100 that is 16 inches. I guess I should buy that?
I had a dish with shavings in the cage for her to pee in and she just ignores it. She seems to pee all over the place, not in a specific corner...
My husband said if he had wanted a child, he would have had one , but she already seems bonded to me pretty well. Good thing I am in charge of the finances!

 

[Jawramik]

I found a metal cage on Chewy.com for $100 that is 16 inches. I guess I should buy that?
I had a dish with shavings in the cage for her to pee in and she just ignores it. She seems to pee all over the place, not in a specific corner...
My husband said if he had wanted a child, he would have had one , but she already seems bonded to me pretty well. Good thing I am in charge of the finances!

16 inches in what direction? 16 inches is pretty small if you're talking height/width/depth.

I don't think you need to buy a whole new cage. She may not be peeing in a corner because the pee just falls through the wire. Also, the wire floors make it hard to tell exactly where she even is peeing. She may be more likely to pick a pee spot with solid floors (plus it will make it easier for you to tell where she is peeing).

Even with wire floors, you should still be cleaning her cage and scrubbing everything down thoroughly at least weekly, so doing a weekly liner change doesn't really add much extra work. It takes me maybe 10-15 minutes to change liners, plus another 5-10 minutes to wipe down her platforms and the pans underneath her liners. You have to clean her cage either way, and using liners keeps the floor underneath the liners cleaner, so rather than having to scrub all the dried pee off, you just throw the liners in the wash, wipe down the floor underneath, and throw new liners on. I actually found that using liners made the cage easier to clean, since the fleece absorbs the pee and I didn't have to scrub it off the top and bottom of the wire grating.

I mean, obviously it's your chin and your choice, but the bottom line is that the wire flooring on that cage simply isn't safe for chins' feet. Covering the floor with fleece is one of the simplest, cheapest, and safest solutions, at least in my opinion. You could use tile, but if your girl doesn't use a litterbox reliably, then she's going to be walking through puddles of urine with nothing on the floor to absorb it.

 

[Amethyst]

Tile shouldn't make it too cold unless you keep your house really cold. Chins should be kept in temps around 50-70F so cold is good, otherwise they can overheat and even die, especially in the summer. So really for chins tile is actually a better option then fleece since it gives them a nice cool surface, but it does have the draw back of not absorbing pee so the chin does need to be pee trained.

So long as the apple trees are 100% organically grown then that is great, just make sure you also properly scrub clean, boil, and bake the sticks before giving them to the chin.

Wood wheels are ok, but as mentioned do come with draw back so unless you are in a country that only sells wood ones that are big enough I would choose metal. Here is a list of chin safe wheels, some are sold in more then one place so just giving examples

Drum style wheels (Ideally 15" or larger)

Silver surfer (14" so only for smaller chins, around 600g range)
https://www.chinchillas.com/estore/...EovfVxnnh85bw-YV7EGtM3Tz5X25nObVN4xoM_uapUjlw
Chin spin
https://qualitycage.com/products/15-chin-spin
Pandamonium Pets wheels (various wheels for different prices)
https://www.pandamoniumpets.com/new-collectionhttps://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/PandamoniumPets
Chin sprint
https://www.exoticnutrition.com/Products/Chin-Sprint__ENC308.aspx
Felix and Fido wheel
https://couchpotatopets.com/collect...pUfwMY7tXRVXsz0kg4vtOybdlYdsIe7ZrBvABw8wIxKiE

Saucer wheels (14" or larger)

Steel Flying Saucer (standard or large, they no longer make them so you can only find used now)
http://www.flyingsaucerwheels.com/?...APzjbo1oH8QXl4RFJk3OiCfH2c-r0nsd91mf-99NsBMBM
Treadmill wheel (14")
https://www.exoticnutrition.com/Pro...ariantId=5453cc7a-6529-42e0-b07e-70a22de00af3

 

[ARS3358]

Thank you! I got one from Etsy Pandemonium Pets - a black metal one.
I meant that the wheel would be 16 inches. The cage is huge for one chinchilla, could even fit two. I live in the mountains and my house is cold. We only have fireplaces so it is about 65 all the time. And our orchard is organic for the last 20 years. The wood is always very clean as we cut it from the trees.

I am going to try tiles as we have a bunch left over from redoing the kitchen. I will see how it goes.

Thank you for ALL your help!!!

 

[Jawramik]

Thank you! I got one from Etsy Pandemonium Pets - a black metal one.
I meant that the wheel would be 16 inches. The cage is huge for one chinchilla, could even fit two. I live in the mountains and my house is cold. We only have fireplaces so it is about 65 all the time. And our orchard is organic for the last 20 years. The wood is always very clean as we cut it from the trees.

I am going to try tiles as we have a bunch left over from redoing the kitchen. I will see how it goes.

Thank you for ALL your help!!!

Ohhh you mean the wheel is 16 inches, not the cage. That makes more sense! And yes, that's a great size for a chin wheel. That's the size my chonky girl uses.

You may want to consider putting fleece or aspen shavings on top of the tile until you get her litter trained. Removing pee stains from chin fur can be a chore and a half, haha. Another option would be to custom-order metal pans for your cage. I think Bass Equipment makes custom metal pans, or depending on the dimensions of your cage, you might even be able to order pre-made pans. You can check out their website if that sounds like something you want to explore. Then you can just fill the pans with aspen shavings to absorb the pee (and the pans are up to 3 inches deep, so they would mostly keep shavings from being kicked out of the cage). I've never used them myself, but I know lots of people in the small mammal wold swear by them. You can Google "bass equipment" to find their website.

 

[Amethyst]

I live in the mountains and my house is cold. We only have fireplaces so it is about 65 all the time. And our orchard is organic for the last 20 years. The wood is always very clean as we cut it from the trees.

By "really cold" I mean like kept below 50F, lol, 65F is perfect temp for chins. Tiles or chinchiller stones, are advised to have in the cage anyway just to give the chin a spot to sit and cool off after they have been running around. I actually keep a couple in the cage and have a couple in the fridge so I can change them out on warmer days or if the AC is having a hard time keeping up in the summer (even in Northern Canada I still need an AC in the summer to keep it cool enough).

Ok, to be clear with the wood (sorry if you are already doing this but some people think you can just give fresh cut sticks), it needs to be not only cleaned of any possible dirt and/or bird poop and stuff like that that could be on the bark, but also boiled to kill anything that might be living inside and boil out as much of the sugars as you can. Then baked until dry, the baking kills anything boiling didn't and also dries it out so it doesn't get mold or fungal growth which can make the chin sick.

Here is a little info pic on how to process the wood.