New to Chinchillas and have some questions

[Lark]

Hi all :wave3: This is my first post. I don't have any Chinchillas yet but I'm looking into it! Everyone here seems so knowledgeable and I have a few questions.
Firstly, are Chinchillas legal everywhere? I live in Brooklyn, NY and there doesn't seem to be any around here. I've looked online at petfinder as I would love to rescue but couldn't find any in my area. Does anyone know of any breeders here or close to here (Manhattan, New Jersey, Staten Island?) If I were to find a breeder a few hours away how would I transport the Chinchillas in order to make them as comfortable as possible and what should I put them in for the car ride?
Can someone explain the difference between the Ferret Nation and the Critter nation, and which one do you prefer? I'm leaning towards the CN because it looks as though there are more spaces to attach shelves.
Do I need 2 water bottles for 2 Chins, or is 1 bottle(16 oz) fine?
Mazuri or Oxbow? Timothy Hay or Alfalfa? Saucer or ChinSpin wheel? Fleece liners or bedding? I would really appreciate any answers/opinions!
Oh, and can anyone recommend some sites that have nice toys and things for my future babies?

Thanks so much and nice to meet all of you! )

 

[Laurie]

Hello Lark and welcome. I don't know for sure if chins are legal/illegal in your area, but we do have some members from NY who are chin owners.
I have 9 chinchillas, 4 sets of 2 and 1 single. I have 2 ferret nation setups, one a 2 story and one and 3 story. I absolutely LOVE the ferret nation cages. They are very easy to clean as the doors open wide open on them. I have been doing shavings, but have gradually moving everyone over to fleece. The upside--so much less shop vaccing to do daily from the mess. All my chins use a litter pan filled with shavings so it makes cleaning easier. For my sets of 2 I use 1 water bottle and 1 food dish--I've never had problems with fighting--although I will admit to having the water run out a time or two and then there is a bit of bickering over who will drink first! I first fed Mazuri then switched my chins to Nutrena Rabbit feed which was recommended at a seminar I attended. On the Mazuri there would be occassional soft poos with the Nutrena I've never had the problem. If you feed alfafa based feed you should feed timothy hay--I feed timothy hay and cubes I get from a local feed store. The wheel is up for grabs. I have a set of my chins that would only use the "death wheel" the mesh wheel which can cause injury by a toe catching--however I tried every other wheel and neither of them would use it. If you have small chins the chinspin may be too difficult for them to get going as I noticed with my girls Abigail and Solange as Abigail is very tiny for a chin. So it's really going to be a crap shoot.

Finally to transport your chin to and from anywhere you can use a cat carrier. Be mindful though whenever transporting in plastic chins will chew it and can eat a whole right though the carrier if they are left in it for long periods of time.

Hopefully you'll get many other tips from our members.

 

[PaperMoon]

Welcome to the forum- you've arrived at the perfect place to ask questions and learn about your future chin!!

I have a 2 story ferret nation housing 2 chins (soon to be 3 yay!). I LOOOOVE my FN. It's big and spacious with plenty of room for them to run around and frolic in. Of course, they still need outside playtime. I don't have a problem with space to place shelves. I have plenty of shelves, hammocks, and tubes everywhere in the cage. I think when you're choosing Critter Nation vs Ferret Nation, is really up to preference. I think the only actual difference between the two is that Ferret Nation has bars that go ||||| where as Critter is horizontal bars... (though I'm not sure)...

For my cage, I also ordered Bass Pans. You've probably seen alot of pictures of these pans around... They're great at keeping most of the popps in the cage.

As for fleece vs bedding... I use to use bedding, but I got itchy and had allergic reactions to them. I'm glad I switched over to fleece- it looks great and its easy to clean up. Much easier to clean up than bedding because there are no stray shavings flying out of the cages. To clean up the poops, I use a small handheld vacuum that I got from Target and it works perfectly.

To transport my chins, I use a cat carrier. I fold up some fleece and put it in too. As long as your car has A/C, transporting shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As for the chin supplies- http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=546&page=5 is a list of all the stores around that ship. Some sell fleece, some wood, some toys... check them out!! They're all fabulous

Anyways, look around and there'll be many many many things you'll find =)

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

Welcome - I agree with most that has been said. I use pine shavings and newspapers. For me that works best. Most of my cages have flying saucers (not the cheap plastic one from the pet store). I also have some cage that have the wheel from Quality cage site. I have one with the chin spin. It is noisy but if you don't mind the noise it is the cheapest. As for a Critter nation vs ferret nation, I think the biggest difference is the way they are put together. CN just 'snaps together' - no tools needed. With FN you need a screw driver and it takes a while to put together. I use 1 bottle for 2 chins in the same cage unless I am going away for a few days. As for Oxbow vs Mazuri, I think again that is perference and ease of getting and price. I use Mazuri and have for many years without any problems. Again WELCOME !!!

 

[tunes]

Here's a thread that will show you how some FNs are decked out: http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134&highlight=ferret+nation+club

As you can see, there are plenty of shelves and "stuffs" everywhere those cages. By the time people are done decorating them, there's almost enough room left for a chin!

There are several breeders in NY state and in the NY City area. Be sure to check them out thoroughly as I've noticed some are ascribing colors to chins that aren't really true, and are pricing their animals a bit high for what you get. You don't want to get taken advantage of.

Welcome to CnH!

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

It is true that some breeders in the NY,NJ, CT and PA area use color names that aren't really true. Around this area the prices are all higher than western PA, upper NY and the mid-west. However some are much higher than others. One of the reasons the prices are higher is because our costs are higher. The vet bills are VERY high around here. One could expect to pay at least $80 to just be seen by an exotic vet. Even with a dog/cat one could expect to pay at least $60 to just be seen

 

[tunes]

One of the reasons the prices are higher is because our costs are higher. The vet bills are VERY high around here.

I'm not real sure what that has to do with people claiming they have "chocolate" chinchillas, that aren't chocolate chinchillas but just tans, for $300.00? Or claiming to have other exotic colors and charging high prices for them when they are a plain mosaic, etc.? Most every breeder has vet bills, but it has never occurred to me to pass that on to someone who has bought chins from me. I usually sell offspring of my breeding animals. That offspring has never required vet care, so why would that affect the cost of the animal itself?