new owner, few questions

[chub]

hiya, ive just recently got 2 female chinnys (had them since wednesday) off a breeder called millie and tink and just have a few things that would would like advise on.
1) the cage we have them in is fairly big and is placed in our living room as its the only space we have for our little beauties. is this ok as we have the TV on in the evenings and is fairly loud.
2) i know i shouldn't have let them run around yet but i had to in order to clean them out as i found out they poo quite alot and found it extremly difficult to catch the lttle tear-aways. any tips on catching them or getting them back into their cage?
3) i would eventually like to get them to play and run about the bathroom, but i dont know how to get them from where their cage is to there. any tips?
4) they seem to poo alot inside their food bowl and also dont seem to be eating much hay. shall i take the bowl out when i goto bed?
5) one of them always seems to be make noise s like ku-ku-ku, does anyone know what this could mean?

thanks for reading and hope to hear from some more expirenced owners soon.
chub

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

First off, welcome to the world of being a chin mommy! And pictures are a must here and are always welcome!
Now onto some of your questions: Placement of the cage in the living room is fine, and you will find out that your chins may love watching tv with you. Second, to catch a chinchilla you can try getting out the dusting house and letting them hop into it and then you can carry them to and from the cage. or you can get a sheet or a towel and lightly throw it over them, as this will cause them to stop running and make it easy to catch them. The same goes for getting them in and out of the bathroom. Please make sure you chin-proof the bathroom so they can not hurt themselves during the play time!
I have one chin that poos in his bowl and all I do is clean it out when I see it and replace with fresh food. You will find that they may eat the poo, but do not worry this is normal and beneficial to them.
The noise you are hearing is a typical chinchilla noise and it can mean a lot of things. It could be a bark that warns the herd of danger or it could be them trying to get your attention so that you can let them out to play.
You have come to the right place for answers to your questions and welcome to CnH!

 

[alli713]

1) the cage we have them in is fairly big and is placed in our living room as its the only space we have for our little beauties. is this ok as we have the TV on in the evenings and is fairly loud.

Having a tv in the same room is fine, I've read that chin hearing is similar to ours, so if it isn't too loud for you, it's fine for them.


2) i know i shouldn't have let them run around yet but i had to in order to clean them out as i found out they poo quite alot and found it extremly difficult to catch the lttle tear-aways. any tips on catching them or getting them back into their cage?

Until they are used to you I would try to prevent them from running around in a large room as much as possible. Because the more you chase them, the more they become scared of you. One trick is to put the dust bath out and when they hop in, carry that and put it into the cage. But eventually they learn this trick.


3) i would eventually like to get them to play and run about the bathroom, but i dont know how to get them from where their cage is to there. any tips?

Eventually you can train them to jump into a small pet/cat carrier and transport them to the bathroom in that. My girls will jump into their carrier to be brought to the bathroom. I trained them by putting treats in it or putting a bit of dust in it. Then once they jump in, I shut the door and bring them to the bathroom.

4) they seem to poo alot inside their food bowl and also dont seem to be eating much hay. shall i take the bowl out when i goto bed?

no, chins should always have pellets and hay even at night. Chins poop wherever, and even eat their poop, so them going in their food is no issue. Chins are also picky on what types of hay they like. You can try another type as perhaps the bag you got was stale.

5) one of them always seems to be make noise s like ku-ku-ku, does anyone know what this could mean?

That's probably their bark, which means they are scared or warning the others of something.

 

[chub]

thanks for the info boston, if u have any other tips for getting them used to me and another other stuff that u find is useful please let me know, will post pics asap. just one more think im actually the chins dad just cant find out how to change the pic next to my name lol.
thanks again chub
p.s thanks alli too

 

[ahappycamper]

Hello, welcome to the boards. This is a great site and I hope you utilize it well.

1) From what I've read on here, TV desensitizes chinchillas and is another form of entertainment so most here think it's a good idea. The only thing is you said that might not be a good idea is the TV is on a very loud volume. What channel or TV show types are usually playing on it? I would try to avoid a lot of violence, unpredictability and boisterous sounds. Chinchillas are very high strung and unpleasant sounds can be very stressful for them. I think as long as the TV show being watched and the volume are within reason, it should be okay.

2) and 3) Try using a dust bath to lure them in a separate container. Very few chinchillas can deny dust baths when it's right in their faces. From there, just transport the dust bath to the cage.

You could also try carriage training, which is a great tactic I picked up from Dawn(a great member on this site). Pretty much, it's similar to the dust bath tactic except you use a carriage with no dust in place so it's a bit harder and might take a little bit more time but just be patient. You can also use the carriage when you transfer the chinchilla FROM the cage INTO the play area. From the cage to the carriage, it's a bit easier to get the chinchilla in because the home cage is so much smaller and they have less places to "explore" and are more likely to immediately jump into the carriage. I just try to gentle scoop them in or what I do is entice them with alfalfa hay but don't ever aggressively or forcefully push. Either way, I think it helps to strengthen the behavior of carriage training by giving a treat every time they do the right thing. I don't give out treats because I want them in optimal health, but I do serve a little bit of alfalfa hay or a chew stick whenever they do the right thing.

Whatever you do, avoid chasing and grabbing. They hate this, and it's pretty impossible to bully a chinchilla into your ways even though you might be frustrated.

4) How much pellets are you feeding? A lot of places suggest 2 tablespoons, and what kind? It could be perhaps your hay is not of high quality. If you can get tastier, fresher hay, then they will be more likely to gorge on it. What type of hay are you feeding? Hopefully someone else can chime in and let you know if you should be taking the bowl out or not. From what I've heard, Timothy hay is the most important thing.

Avoid poo in the bowl by purchasing a feeder that attaches to the wall.

5) Here's a website that contains a compilation of chinchilla sound clips.
http://www.chinchilla-sounds.de/index_en.htm

Feel free to ask more, and again, welcome and congrats on your chinnies.

 

[chub]

im using beaphar xtravital chinchilla food, and the hay im using is from petsathome and its called timothy hay. it shouldnt b stale as i only opened it on the 8th of this month. also what do you guys line the bottom of their cage with im using wood shavings and a form of wood pellets. im also finding their cages get quite messy and am going through alot of shavings and pellets, which i think is gonna work out to b quite expensive and unfortunatley this month im fairly hard up with money as have brought alot of stuff for my new chinnies.

 

[Claire D]

:wave: Hello & welcome to the wonderful world of slavery to small, furry monsters - I'm sure the girls will have you well trained in no time.


How old are your new furry mistresses is the XtraVital what the breeder was feeding them?
If you can I would swap them onto a good quality pellet or Bephar Care + Chinchilla or Supreme Science Selective - chins have a terrible habit of picking out the tasty bits from mixes (chins love junk food) & leaving the nutritious (read: boring!) bits. Although Beaphar Care + looks like a mix it's not - it's just extruded into different coloured shapes.

As for the other questions - I think the others have given you some really good advice to try so I won't repeat anything - except to say I had a chin who loved violent, bloody or gory TV shows. One of her favourites was CSI & she'd come out of her house as soon as the title music came on. :hilarious:

Messy ......... hmmm yes, welcome to the world of chinnies - give it a bit of time & you'll be finding chinny poop in the most obscure places. They have an amazing ability to fling that stuff for miles.
I wouldn't worry about trying to keep the cage pristine - once or twice a week for a clean out is sufficient or, as you say, you'll end up spending a fortune on shavings etc.

 

[chub]

no the breeder was using some other pellets of which she gave me a bag so i have started mixing that with the stuff i brought to bring in gradually but if needs b come the turn of the month i will try and introduce the pellets you reckonmend. my new girlies are 3 months old

 

[Annieo]

Welcome. Great advice here!

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

mazuri is also a great brand and you can get it at petsmart. PNR (has a new name but cant remember it) is one of the best brands of food you can get but you will probly have to get it offline (you will soon find out that you will be getting everything offline because petstores have bad quality products) stay away from foods with treats in it (raisin, dried fruit, anything that doesnt look like normal pellets are not good)

 

[Stackie]

mazuri is also a great brand and you can get it at petsmart. PNR (has a new name but cant remember it) is one of the best brands of food you can get but you will probly have to get it offline (you will soon find out that you will be getting everything offline because petstores have bad quality products)

How exactly do you know this if you haven't even had chins? I believe you meant Purina Rabbit Chow Show. It can be found at a place that deals Purina; most people who supply it get it from feed stores. There is no "best" food, many people use different feeds and what works great for one may not work great for another. I remember reading of people having problems with the PRCS after the formula change, so I don't think I would say it's one of the best brands. Mazuri works great for some, but with many others, it has caused chins to have diarrhea. Oxbow is a good brand, but can be expensive. Tradition can be bought from a Hubbard mill or dealer or from some breeders. I believe you meant to say "online"; offline would mean going to a store and buying supplies. You can buy both Oxbow and Mazuri in pet stores, albeit more expensive, but it really isn't that bad if you're just feeding one or two chins.

 

[mishellyshel]

Eventually if you can get your chins to trust you, they may allow you to pick them up and carry them to the bathroom. you should give them lots of time to gain your trust and let them get used to you. in the event of an emergency, you will need to get them quickly and waiting for them to jump into the dustbath or carrier may not be quick enough. (i'm thinking in case of fire or earthquake, etc....)

Many of my boys allow me to pick them up, a few jump right into my arms. others go into their house, which is enclosed on all sides and I just pick up their whole wooden house and put them in the play area. a couple are pita's and they just dont come out as much as others but if i had to get them, i could.

 

[alli713]

My guess, being from outside of the US, they probably don't have Petsmarts, nor Mazuri and PRCS.

I think Claire gave probably the best response as she would be more familiar with what feed is available on the other side of the pond.

 

[ticklechin]

:wave: Hello & welcome to the wonderful world of slavery to small, furry monsters - I'm sure the girls will have you well trained in no time.


How old are your new furry mistresses is the XtraVital what the breeder was feeding them?
If you can I would swap them onto a good quality pellet or Bephar Care + Chinchilla or Supreme Science Selective - chins have a terrible habit of picking out the tasty bits from mixes (chins love junk food) & leaving the nutritious (read: boring!) bits. Although Beaphar Care + looks like a mix it's not - it's just extruded into different coloured shapes.

As for the other questions - I think the others have given you some really good advice to try so I won't repeat anything - except to say I had a chin who loved violent, bloody or gory TV shows. One of her favourites was CSI & she'd come out of her house as soon as the title music came on. :hilarious:

Messy ......... hmmm yes, welcome to the world of chinnies - give it a bit of time & you'll be finding chinny poop in the most obscure places. They have an amazing ability to fling that stuff for miles.
I wouldn't worry about trying to keep the cage pristine - once or twice a week for a clean out is sufficient or, as you say, you'll end up spending a fortune on shavings etc.

I feed the beaphar care + to one chin and I can vouch for it, he loves it and he does have a preference of shape, he likes the moons the best! Those are always all gone!

 

[Claire D]

My guess, being from outside of the US, they probably don't have Petsmarts, nor Mazuri and PRCS.

We have Pets@Home (rather than Petsmart) which do reasonable own brand chin pellets but Mazuri & PRCS are not available

The most used pellets here are: Duggins, Charnwoods, Harrisons & then Henry Bell, P@H, Burgess Excel, & Beaphar Care + or Supreme Science Selective.

If I had just a few chins I'd probably feed Beaphar & Supreme Science Selective exclusively.

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

How exactly do you know this if you haven't even had chins? I believe you meant Purina Rabbit Chow Show. It can be found at a place that deals Purina; most people who supply it get it from feed stores. There is no "best" food, many people use different feeds and what works great for one may not work great for another. I remember reading of people having problems with the PRCS after the formula change, so I don't think I would say it's one of the best brands. Mazuri works great for some, but with many others, it has caused chins to have diarrhea. Oxbow is a good brand, but can be expensive. Tradition can be bought from a Hubbard mill or dealer or from some breeders. I believe you meant to say "online"; offline would mean going to a store and buying supplies. You can buy both Oxbow and Mazuri in pet stores, albeit more expensive, but it really isn't that bad if you're just feeding one or two chins.

lol thanks for the correction. didnt kow about the problems with the new formula so thats helpful for the future. thanks:thumbsup:

 

[menagerie]

I feed the beaphar care + to one chin and I can vouch for it, he loves it and he does have a preference of shape, he likes the moons the best! Those are always all gone!

I always thought they looked like bananas. :laughitup: