PetSmart chinchillas.

[AZChins]

Yep...plain shredded wheat, bite sized with no frosting. It's much cheaper than buying the stuff meant for pets.

I'd really just stay away from any treats from the petstore. They're overpriced and usually not good for chinchillas. They sell them simply to make money. If the consumable supplies that chins really need were just sold, they'd make nothing at all! With chins the diet is 99.9% pellets and hay.

 

[corley]

Haha.. looks like I'm gonna be going and gettin me some Post shredded wheat then

 

[Sandi]

Some great places to shop for chins:
camphorchins.com
petproductsbynature.com
qualitymutationchinchillas.com

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

About the Kaytee Timothy Hay: Did you buy it at Petsmart too? If you did, I would check the dates on the bag. Petsmart is notorious for selling Kaytee hay that has expired. They do sell oxbow hay though, which is surprisingly well priced.

 

[corley]

Oops, I just got the FedEx shipment and realized it's Oxbow pellets, not Mazuri.. are Oxbow pellets and Oxbow Timothy both good? Or should I switch him to Mazuri pellets?

 

[Sandi]

Oxbow is a good feed, if you have that, stick with it.

 

[Aimee & The Chinette's]

I soooo can't believe you didn't adopt from NOLA chinchilla rescue!! Maybe next time...:hmm:

I feed Oxbow chinchilla deluxe pellets & Oxbow western Timmy hay, both good!!

 

[Jazicat]

Hi! I'm new to chins too and it's been really fun learning here. I just wanted to stop by and welcome you!

The advice you get here is awesome and as a new chinchilla owner I have used the chin suppies forum here. They know what chins want and what is safe. It's the perfect place to get all your chin needs and I've searched the internet looking. My first stop would be apple sticks as Edgar loves these and they are healthy.

I'd also love to know your babies name and see pictures!

 

[corley]

His name's Freddie and here's some pictures:

Thats him eating his well, I guess now, former favorite dandelion drop treat.. And I know, I know, the wire is bad, but that's why I have a new Ferret Nation on the way and already am rounding up some pine to begin making him some nice shelves and ramps, etc.

 

[corley]

I soooo can't believe you didn't adopt from NOLA chinchilla rescue!! Maybe next time...:hmm:

Well there may be one in the future, whenever I eventually get out of school and move out on my own.. Ill have an extra cage here in a week anyways.. to be able to get another one and introduce another one to Freddie I actually did not find this forum or see anything about your NOLA rescue until after I joined this forum.. but maybe I'll be contacting you at a later time.. haha

 

[tunes]

Corley, you're going to want to get those ramps out of there as soon as possible. Those are specifically the kind of ramps that chins end up with broken legs from. They get their foot or toe caught, keep going, and it's not pretty. Chins have been found hanging upside for hours after getting caught in them. They really don't need the ramps anyway, as they are not big on running. They hop!

He's a cutie boy - congratulations.

 

[Aimee & The Chinette's]

AWE!!! Freddy is precious!! I love the last pic!! I bet you can't wait for the cage to come in! It is fun to arrange, sit back and watch, then arrange some more!! LOL!! I see a fun hobby in your future!

 

[AZChins]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that cage either. The ramps scare me a little, too. The chins don't need ramps.

He looks young to me. Definitely a cute chinchilla!

 

[corley]

Corley, you're going to want to get those ramps out of there as soon as possible. Those are specifically the kind of ramps that chins end up with broken legs from. They get their foot or toe caught, keep going, and it's not pretty. Chins have been found hanging upside for hours after getting caught in them. They really don't need the ramps anyway, as they are not big on running. They hop!

He's a cutie boy - congratulations.

Well that's another thing that has changed since that picture was taken, I've gotten rid of the hanging hay rack and thrown it away, and I've gotten rid of the ramps and put wooden ledges in place instead for him to jump to instead of having the wire ramps.. Trust me.. I've learned a LOT from these forums in the past few weeks.. haha. Can't wait to get the ferret nation though, I dont like having the wire ledges, but I just haven't gotten around to making any large wooden ledges just yet, he just has the simple chinchilla sleeper one or whatever it's called.. it's been cold out. Haha

 

[AZChins]

They should be alright. Just make sure that the wire shelves don't bounce around too much. They aren't attached nicely...and then there's that gap all the way around. That cage makes their old cages look like high quality cages. I wish they would go back to the nicer cages, but I guess this one is just cheaper for them to buy and ship.

 

[corley]

Yeah.. I absolutely despise this cage.. I hate how the tray is only like half an inch deep as I use aspen bedding, I cut out cardboard put all around the bottom to keep poop/shavings in, and the whole cage is so rickety it sounds like it's going to fall apart when he runs on his flying saucer...

But since I have y'all here, I just want to ask your opinions, what do y'all think of newspaper on the bottom of the cage on top of the aspen and that getting changed everyday? Is newspaper bad for them? I've read some places that say that the ink could be dangerous, but some people say it's organic ink, blah blah blah. And AZChins, as you're a breeder and I see you have 260+ Chins, I want your take on newspaper. I do see him chewing on it sometimes and that worries me, but I just want to know if it is actually harmful.

 

[tunes]

The newspaper ink is nontoxic. It won't hurt him, but you don't want him actually eating a bunch of paper instead of his pellets and hay, which will cut down on the calories he needs to grow. If it's underneath of a pile of aspen though, I don't see why it would be a problem.

 

[corley]

I put it on top of the aspen.. actually because im a cheapskate and I want to "preserve" the aspen by letting him pee on the newspaper and changing it out everyday rather than him pee in the bedding. It's only because I have huge stacks of newspapers that have no use other than for that. Basically it lets me keep the aspen poop/pee free for a lot longer so it keeps the smell down..

 

[AZChins]

I agree, put it UNDER the aspen. The chins will chew it up if they can get to it. With the wire floor, you can put anything in the pan that you want to...but once the chin is right in the shavings you probably would want to put the paper on the bottom and make sure that the chin isn't chewing on it.

I use pine shavings because I can compost them easily outside.

 

[tunes]

The poop shouldn't smell anyway. The urine will if you don't clean it out regularly, but there isn't any smell to chinchilla poop that I've noticed unless they are ill.

I also would not want my chins directly on the ink because it's going to rub off on his paws and belly. Not only is that going to discolor him, but ink tastes pretty crappy. If it's constantly on his paws, I would be worried that it would put him off his feed from the taste. That's probably overthinking it, but, that's what we do here.