New Owner and a lil unsure

[Bobbie]

My fiance got me a Chinchilla for an early birthday present for me yesterday. She is about a yr old and he got her from previous owners not a pet store. Now I've been reading other peoples post about how they take a while to trust you and let you handle them, mine became very friendly very quickly she will let the both of us near her and pet her as soon as i come into the room she runs up to the door waiting for me to open it for her, she will let me hold her most of the time although she isn't to sure about my fiance holding her although i'm sure that will come with time. I went to walmart and bought shavings for her cage without doing the proper research first and i read on the package that it was for chinchillas so i bought it but it was cedar.. so when i came home and looked online i found out that cedar is toxic to all small animals. So my question is what is the best for her? We have her bath dust and we have proper food for her we got all that from her previous owners but what should i do for shavings? or is it even a necessity? Please help

 

[tunes]

Wal-Mart carries kiln dried pine shavings. They are a light colored shavings. Those are safe for her.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of food and dust do you have? Do you have a place where you can continue to buy it?

 

[Laurie]

Welcome Bobbie. Kiln dried pine shavings are ok for chinchillas and as Peggy said Walmart does carry them--I see you're in Canada do you have a tractor supply or feed store anywhere in your area--they often carry bales of shavings as well.

You don't have to go the route of shavings if you don't want too. Several forum members have fleece liners down in their cages, although I do recommend a litter pan with shavings in the fleece lined cages because chins can and do use a litter pan. I have 9 chins and they all have litter pans they use quite regularly.

 

[Bobbie]

We are using blue cloud dust for her and the previous owners gave us a list of what she likes, on the list is Nutraphase chinchilla pellets and Timothy hay plus with marigolds. Its a relieve to know that the wood chips i got wont hurt her. We do have many different pet stores in the area and we also have an LFA here.

 

[Tagna]

Where are you located? Depending where you are there are a lot of options to get chin supplies. I'm in the GTA and have a feed store that I got to for aspen shavings. I tried fleece liners but didn't like them.

 

[missjess10475]

I have tried everything from Care Fresh bedding, to aspen, to pine, to fleece liners. I liked Care Fresh, but I have 4 cages so it just got too expensive. I tried kiln dried aspen and didn't care for it. The pine shavings are much softer and I like those! I just don't like the constant mess on the floor. So, I switched to fleece liners. I like them as far as keeping the mess down. But I don't like the smell after a couple days. I'm going to start washing them with white vinegar though and tha should help. I do use pyrex pans for their litter pans and have kiln dried pine in them.

 

[tunes]

Its a relieve to know that the wood chips i got wont hurt her.

Cedar shavings will hurt her. Cedar can't be used for ANY small animal, rabbits, chins, rats, degu - none of them can use it. Kiln dried pine is a totally different type of wood.

Nutriphase is not a good chinchilla feed. You would do better to find a local chin owner or breeder who has a milled feed that you can buy. Tagna should be able to point you in the right direction.

Welcome to CnH.

 

[cuddlycuddles]

Hi Bobbie and welcome to the CnH!
Where in Canada are you? We can help you find the good feed store in your area that sells Oxbow.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

As far as I know cedar chips are bad for ANY animal

 

[Bobbie]

Im in Lethbridge Alberta

 

[Pikaia]

Hi Bobbie!! Welcome to the forum! Everyone is so nice and helpful here.

I used kiln dried aspen shavings as a bedding for my Chinchillas, however, I ordered a Ferret Nation 142 cage and I am considering switching to fleece as a bedding. Aspen is a good choice as bedding for Chinchillas.

As far as food goes, I feed them Mazuri pellets. You don't want to buy a pellet with little pieces of fruit or nuts in them. These are considered treats and your chinnie will just pick out all the treats, like a child would pick out candy. I feed them Oxbow Timothy Hay. It is a good quality hay. Mazuri isn't the only choice for pellets. Other good choices are Oxbow and Tradition- although I have heard both good and bad about Tradition- so you might want to ask others on the forum about it.

You always want to make sure they have plenty of hay, because it helps their digestion.

Blue cloud dust is an excellent dust and it is what I use. I have heard good things about Blue Sparkle too.. I would only use these two brands.

Good luck with your new little friend

 

[cuddlycuddles]

Here is the contact info for the wholesale Oxbow supplier for Alberta. If you contact them they should be able to tell you where you can get Oxbow feed and hay in or near Lethbridge.

Cichlid Wholesale Ltd.
Servicing BC, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan
#25-7503 35th St. SE
Calgary, AB T2C 1V3
Phone: 403-720-8355
Fax: 403-720-8341

 

[Bobbie]

Okay thank you so much cuddles Really appreciate the help

 

[cuddlycuddles]

My pleasure! Please feel free to ask anything about chinchilla care on this forum- there is a lot of good resources to share

 

[monarch]

You guys posted sites to find feed in Canada -- anyone know the counterpart for the U.S / California?

 

[tunes]

If you're talking about Oxbow, Sandi on here sells it just about as cheap as you'll get it anywhere. She orders it fresh frequently and can fill a priority box with 14 or so pounds. You can PM her if you're interested. We had also talked about Oxbow hay and hay cubes, but I don't know if she is carrying those yet.

 

[monarch]

Just ordered from Sandi, so happy!

 

[Millie'sMum]

Um I may be interested in purchasing from Sandi, but not sure what her profile name is and also looked on the master list under classifieds, and did not see a Sandi. If someone could point me in the direction, it would be much appreciated!

 

[StevieP]

Here is her thread for Oxbow pellets--

http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15193

It is located in the Chin Supplies For Sale section of the classifieds