Please help

[Meeko]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this board and a new chinchilla owner. Everything was going find with Meeko and I until a few hours ago. We've only been together about a day. I took him out for exercise for the first time. He had gotten more used to me and was climbing on my shoulder. When I put him back he seemed very sad and kept trying to get his little head through the bars so I took him back out again and let him play for a bit longer. I tried removing his food and then putting it back in to get him to be more interested in going back in his cage. When he still seemed upset when I got him back in his cage I added a little swing for him to sit on. He was still sticking his head through the bars and acting so unhappy. So I tried to hand feed him some hay to encourage him to stop trying to jam his head through the bars. The first time it worked and then when I tried again he bit my finger so hard he broke the skin.

That's when I started crying and registered here. Hahaha. I just feel like I want him to be happy and he seems so unhappy. I feel so lousy so I hope maybe someone here can help me out.

 

[Dreamlite]

Chins are like permanent 3 yr olds. They want what they want and will have temper tantrums if they don't get their way. He wanted play time to not end but as his owner you know you have to put him away some time. I put my chins back in the cage and they can stick their noses out at me all they want. They are not getting back out. He is perfectly fine. He is just training you.

 

[Pikaia]

It seems like Meeko was having a temper tantrum. It's really common. He loves being outside his cage and then threw a hissy fit when you put him back in there. There isn't really a whole lot you can do on that front. Mine all did that and they eventually just get over it. You could offer them a chin safe treat when you put them back in the cage such as a plain cheerio or rosehip (if you have any- but not too often. No more than a few times a week). Just make sure he has plenty of chin safe toys and chews to keep him busy while he's in his cage. How old is he? If he's over six months, you can get him a wheel and it will let him burn off that excess energy.

As far as the biting thing, I don't think he was being malicious at all. You were feeding him hay and he probably got really excited and accidently bit you. This is why I really don't like little kids feeing my chins treats. They could nibble and someone mistake it for biting, which I want to avoid. My chins like to nibble my fingers and the other day Chichi kinda nibbled a little too hard.. lol. It happens. You really shouldn't put your fingers in there anyway. lol.

He will be happy. As long as you give him attention and love, he will thrive. You probably should have given him a little more time to get accommodated to his surroundings before taking him out for playtime, but it's too late now. Just don't worry so much. If you need help finding chin safe toys, treats and ideas for playtime, look at the FAQs or ask. Everyone is here to help!

 

[ashleynicol3]

I agree with the person above. He was throwing a fit because he didn't want playtime to end. You have to stay strong because they are so darn cute, it's hard not to give them whatever they want! You could start letting him out for playtime around the same time each day and putting him back in his cage around the same time too so he gets used to the routine! Mine seemed to do really well with that, but our routine got thrown off when I went on vacation and he didn't get any playtime, so we're trying to get back on track!

Also, if you had just fed him, it's possible that your hands smelled like food and he didn't mean to bite you. I give my chin a rose hip each night before bed and sometimes he gets so excited, he misses and bites my finger.

Just give it time. Eventually he will get used to you and your routine!

 

[Meeko]

Thanks so much for all your nice words! I am a crazy worry wart so I always know there is a strong possibility I'm just panicking over nothing. I did worry that maybe his cage is wrong for him though. There are just so many conflicting opinions on the internet.

Currently there's a lot of hard plastic in his cage and I've seen people who say it's fine and people who say it "will lead to a slow painful death" from plastic ingestion! I was also worried it might not be big enough, but I think that is silly now and just me worrying. The pet store I got him at kept him in what can only be described as a fish tank.

 

[mknoblich1]

You should replace everything that's plastic in the cage with safe materials. Chins will chew on everything at some point. If he's not chewing on it now that doesn't mean he won't later. The plastic can cause a blockage in their intestines and stomach and lead to death.

 

[akane]

You should remove plastic ramps or houses and replace with wood items or cover them in something like fleece so they can't be chewed. Mine even ate holes in their plastic pan (luckily there's a wire floor underneath) because the previous owners failed to give enough chewies. They had wood houses and a couple wood blocks they haven't touched when I got them. I filled the cage with hickory branches and wood toys. Check the classifieds supply section on here for branches and wood perches. There's also some good bird toys out there so long as you check them over for any plastic. Mine are currently destroying a large wood, dried grass, and oyster shell bird toy hung on organic hemp rope. It doesn't hang anymore though because they chewed the rope off. They've stopped eating their pans for now and I have metal ones on the way. We plan to replace the smaller pans on the shelves with wood using metal zip ties to fasten it to the grate.

 

[Cinder and Me]

Ditto - remove the plastic and use untreated wood (like pine) instead.

Also, don't use the giant hamster balls - lots of pet stores try and sell new owners on them. They are bad for so many reasons...

 

[Meeko]

Yes, after doing so much reading on the subject I realized that the pet store tried to sell and have already sold me things that are not the best. I feel like they (at Pet Supplies Plus) are really not knowledgeable enough or running something of a scam. My mother and I reasoned that with the manager and three staff members helping us that they couldn't be selling us something wrong.

Looking at it now though I know that his cage is not tall enough. It's supposed to be at least two feet tall and the one they sold me (which I was told was "ideal") is only 14" tall. I bought one with an all plastic bottom because they impressed on me heavily that if I were to get a wire one he could get his foot stuck in it or injure his little pads on his feet. He has lots of wood in there to chew on and the majority of the cage and another little thing I got him to jump around on are made of metal. I've only had the cage now for about forty eight hours so I thought about trying to get a refund, but I'm not sure that they'll be too keen on that. Also their cages are so ding-dang expensive (especially with the money I sank into this one that isn't right).

It does make me really sad to think of how they had him contained before though. I'm just really happy at this point that I got him out of there. I couldn't see any adequate ventilation he had a hutch and a tube but that was it. The whole fish tank set up really could only have been 14" long by 10" deep and 8" high. He couldn't have stood all the way up on his hind legs if he had wanted to.

That's the end of my rant. Also, good news from the home front - playtime went very well today and he is very well behaved.

 

[Meeko]

And Cinder and Me, you are right! They tried to sell me one, but I passed initially. Then I looked it up online and literally the first article it said: "Reasons to not buy your chinchilla a hamster ball/giant wheel of death"

 

[Pikaia]

Yeah, we could go on and on about how pet stores have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to chinchillas. You really have to do your own research. This is the perfect place to get all the correct information though! Just read all the FAQs!

As far as cages go, a lot of members here keep their chins in Ferret Nation cages. A chinchilla cage should be at least three feet tall if I remember correctly. I'm not sure of the actual dimensions, but you need enough room for them to jump around freely. You can use a "ferret" type cage sold at petstores, but they need to be modified as akane mentioned. Remove any plastic ramps and replace with wood. There are lots of suppliers on here that sell kiln dried pine shelves/accessories for cages. You can always check your local craigslist for used cages and modify those. If you're not sure, post a picture of the cage you're thinking about purchasing and we can look it over.

Here are some links to good cages you can purchase online: http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24

So glad playtime went well! You just have to be really patient with chins. They have their own personality and boy, do they have attitude!

 

[Meeko]

Thank you to everyone who replied to this thread. I was a really nervous new chin owner. Meeko is very happy now and loves to 'popcorn' jump all over the bathroom and call to me. He's squirmy and jumps all around but sometimes he lets me pet him and he likes to hop on my head and shoulder.

This forum is really fun and helpful.