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laurie2025

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
64
Location
Illinois
Hi!
I am Laurie, and I live in the suburbs of Chicago with my husband, 2 dogs, parrot, and soon to be 2 male 12 week and 10 week old respectively, Chinchilla. I was lucky enough to find a good breeder in my area, and wanted a Chin.... well, long story short, she had 2... and I couldn't decide - they were both SO adorable... :hilarious: at least they're both boys and are cage-mates already!!

So now, I have some questions before they get here, and I hope you all can help me out a bit.

I bought a Ferret Nation cage; 36 x 24 x 63 (approx). I went to another site that was recommended to me and bought some metal 'pans' that are deeper, to help contain the mess. I also was directed to a site and bought a couple of really nice fleece hammocks, and some apple and pear twig/sticks, and a few toys. No plastic. I bought 2 of the 'chiller' type stone ledges, and 2 wood 'houses' and 2 other wood ledges to provide good spots for them to jump / sit. What else will I need to do to 'configure' this cage to make it the nicest I can?

I really need to know what kind of feeder / dish to provide; it seems like it would be nice to have one that you could attach to the outside of the cage, but not sure if there are any that will work this cage type? Also, what type of container do I use to feed the hay? And, what about the platforms/ramps that come with the cage? Should I just take those out?

For the cage bottom, should I use newspaper, or just wood shavings or both? Do I provide any type of litter box? I doln't want them rolling in it like it's a dust bath.

It's fall here so I was thinking that 2 dust baths a week would be good to start with. I don't want to dry them out; it's dry here now as it is.

I am unsure as to pellet type as well; some people seem to feed Chinchilla pellets and some rabbit. The breeder feeds rabbit pellets, so I suppose it would be easiest to stay with what she feeds them. Is there any reason to change to a Chinchilla pellet?


I think that's all the questions I have right now. Thanks so much for any answers you can give me!! I am going to cross post this to another message board, so my apologies in advance, if this is the 2nd time you're reading it ;)

Thanks again and nice to meet you all!
 
Welcome!

A fun start would be to find the Ferret Nation threads and see all the pictures of how other chinchillas have their cages decorated. There are tons of awesome cage pictures, loads of fun to look at!
 
laurie2025 said:
Hi!
I am Laurie, and I live in the suburbs of Chicago with my husband, 2 dogs, parrot, and soon to be 2 male 12 week and 10 week old respectively, Chinchilla. I was lucky enough to find a good breeder in my area, and wanted a Chin.... well, long story short, she had 2... and I couldn't decide - they were both SO adorable... :hilarious: at least they're both boys and are cage-mates already!!

So now, I have some questions before they get here, and I hope you all can help me out a bit.

I bought a Ferret Nation cage; 36 x 24 x 63 (approx). I went to another site that was recommended to me and bought some metal 'pans' that are deeper, to help contain the mess. I also was directed to a site and bought a couple of really nice fleece hammocks, and some apple and pear twig/sticks, and a few toys. No plastic. I bought 2 of the 'chiller' type stone ledges, and 2 wood 'houses' and 2 other wood ledges to provide good spots for them to jump / sit. What else will I need to do to 'configure' this cage to make it the nicest I can?

I really need to know what kind of feeder / dish to provide; it seems like it would be nice to have one that you could attach to the outside of the cage, but not sure if there are any that will work this cage type? Also, what type of container do I use to feed the hay? And, what about the platforms/ramps that come with the cage? Should I just take those out?

For the cage bottom, should I use newspaper, or just wood shavings or both? Do I provide any type of litter box? I doln't want them rolling in it like it's a dust bath.

It's fall here so I was thinking that 2 dust baths a week would be good to start with. I don't want to dry them out; it's dry here now as it is.

I am unsure as to pellet type as well; some people seem to feed Chinchilla pellets and some rabbit. The breeder feeds rabbit pellets, so I suppose it would be easiest to stay with what she feeds them. Is there any reason to change to a Chinchilla pellet?


I think that's all the questions I have right now. Thanks so much for any answers you can give me!! I am going to cross post this to another message board, so my apologies in advance, if this is the 2nd time you're reading it ;)

Thanks again and nice to meet you all!
Click to expand...

First off, Welcome. And you bought a GREAT cage for your boys. I have one and I LOVE it. :) A good thing for you to get would be fleece liners for the cage. You will save money on bedding and they also look nice. For the feed dish, you can just use a small ceramic bowl (Like a dog bowl) that they won't be able to tip over. And for thy hay, you can either but it in the same type of bowl or get a hay dispenser from your local pet store. Personaly I have a box type thing with holes in the side so my chin can reach in and grab it. And I'm going to warn you....the hay makes a HUGE mess. It gets everywhere in the cage. They will pick through it to find a peice they like, lol. You should take out the ramps 100%. They are dangerous to your chinnies. I have also taken out the two platforms. I had put in TONS of shelves for my little girl to bounce around on. They are great because they will provide something to do for your chins and its better for them to hop around then just waddle up a ramp. Chins like to go pee in a corner, so lay down paper towel in the corners of the cage for a while to see which coners they pee in and the main one that they go pee in. Then you can go to the dollar store and get a tin pie pan or something of the like. Put either shavings or paper towel in it and see if they start to use it as their toilet. As for the dust bath's I give Burrito (My chin) one every other day during playtime. You should definatly change the pellet from rabbit pellets. You should switch to either Mazuri, Oxbow, or PANR. They will be MUCH healthier for them and will provide them with the nutrients they need to be healthy, active chins.

WOW, that was long.

Anyways that's what I have to say, lol. If you have anymore questions, feel free to fire away. :)
 
Diamond Dreams said:
Purina Advanced Nutrition Show Formula Rabbit Feed (PANR) is a rabbit food. So there are certain rabbit feeds that are good enough for chinchillas, while other ones are not.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I totaly forgot that it was lol. But unless it's that rabbit food, change.
 
Oh yeah, I totaly forgot that it was lol. But unless it's that rabbit food, change.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but that would be wrong again. I feed Nutrena Nature Wise and that's a rabbit pellet also.

Welcome to CnH! Congrats on the new additions! :)
 
Manna Pro Show is another good rabbit feed.
Welcome to the forum! I'm in Palos Heights not too far from the big city! :))
 
Welcome to another Chi-town surburbanite!! There's a few of us on here!
That's gonna be a nice set-up you'll have when done!
Usually if a breeder is using "rabbit" pellets, it's because it's just as good, and even better than some brands of "chin" pellets, and easier to get! A lot of people look for freshness and consistancy, which is important! Some mills don't care, and produce inedible product, which can cause sickness, if not caught!
Might get 5-10 lbs. from them. as many brands are just N/A around town, and can be expensive under 50 lbs.
It won't cause longer ears, or short, fluffy tails, either - haha!
 
Welcome to the Board Laurie!!!!

I am the breeder. I feed the Nutrina Nature wise. Which is what many breeders around here feed. It has worked great. Fleece works fr many people I did not like it but I also was changing cages every other day with it. I use pine shavings.

The boys are going to be s happy with you. Have you thought of any names yet?
 
Hi Kristy!! And nice to meet you all and thanks for the ideas!
I am still thinking about names. Henry may stay Henry.... he looks like a Henry to me too... The beige -- I need a good name and am not creative, so it always takes me forever. I hope I have a few in my head by the time the cage gets here so I can give him a name right away. Any suggestions, I'm open!!!
Thanks again everybody!!
Laurie
 
Hi, welcome.

Where in the suburbs are you? I'm in Des Plaines.
Always exciting to set up a new cage. There are some real good ideas on here about decorating.
 
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I have 3 and soon 4 awesome chinnies from Kristy! Glad you found her, she's a great breeder!

I too recently purchased an FN142 and am in the beginning stages of setting it up. You can go from one extreme to the other as far as accessories for this cage. I had custom shelves built for my previous cage (an aviary) made by simplychintastic.com, they have great products but only make their items on a per order basis so it may take some time for you to get them but IMO they were totally worth the wait!

For a feeder, I purchased the Deluxe Corner Diner Shelf ($26.50) I placed it under their bridge so that they can't sit on their food bowl and poop in it.
Scroll down towards the middle of the page for a picture of it -
http://www.simplychintastic.com/shelvesledges.htm
Another great product, a galvanized coop cup that attaches to the cage and only $2.25 from qualitycage.com
http://qualitycage.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_21_22&products_id=1839

As far as a hay holder, well, I have purchased fleece, wood, racks & balls to hold the hay in and none work better than the other. No matter where you put the hay, those chins will make a mess of it, it's part of their charm, LOL!

Once again, welcome!
 
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