eksgd8
New member
Hi, so I have not been on this forum since it changed from chin-n-quills years ago. Yesterday I experienced a nightmare when my chinchilla, Houdinni, who I had for 11 years was killed my foster dog. I was upstairs cleaning and thought my foster dog was in the living room with his toys, but ends up he was in the basement. He knocked over my chin's cage, and I pray, quickly killed Houdinni. Worst most, traumatic experience of my life thus far. I got Hou from a small breeder on here in Iowa when I was in 7th grade. Brought him everywhere since. He was a wonderful pet, and I've been told by others who own chinchillas, he was exceptionally friendly. He was always the life of the party and such a conversation started. Everyone loved him.
Anyway, my boyfriend and I took our dog, (not the foster dog, I had his previous foster mom pick him up), to our local pet store to get him a toy and try to forget the horrors of the day. Ironically, the store had just gotten in 3 baby chinchillas earlier (a standard grey, a black velvet, and white mosiac) that day from the owner's daughter who breeds small time (whatever that means :s). I have always been against purchasing animals at pet stores, but the mosaic looked just like Houdinni, and she jumped right into my hand as soon as I opened the cage. So I bought her, and named her Hula in memory of my little Houdinni.
The girl at the store said she thought she was around 6-8 weeks, but was not 100%. I didn't think anything of this until I got home and started reading about buying kits (Houdinni was 1.5 years when I got him). A few sources say you should not buy a kit before the age of 12 weeks, others say 8 wks, etc. Hula appears to be healthy. Her fur is even, and her eyes bright. She was very energetic yesterday but has since calmed down. I hope it's just because she's getting used to her new cage, and not because she is sick...
Now i'm worried about my little gal being too young. The pet store was feeding some vitacraft chin food, but I'm a big supporter of Oxbow products. I bought a small amount of the vitacraft to switch over slowly to oxbow. As soon as I got her cage set up, she started eating her timothy hay and pellets. So she appears to be eating okay, but I haven't seen her drink from the water bottle yet. I'm getting ready to head to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy a kitchen scale to weigh her. From what I've read that's the only good way to really tell if she is growing appropriately.
Anyway, I wanted to post to get input on her care since I've never owned a baby. I have a Martin's chinchilla cabin that I scrubbed clean yesterday for her. I bought all new accessories for her (wood hideaway, couple lava ledges, clean fleece hammock, etc). Any key pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Anyway, my boyfriend and I took our dog, (not the foster dog, I had his previous foster mom pick him up), to our local pet store to get him a toy and try to forget the horrors of the day. Ironically, the store had just gotten in 3 baby chinchillas earlier (a standard grey, a black velvet, and white mosiac) that day from the owner's daughter who breeds small time (whatever that means :s). I have always been against purchasing animals at pet stores, but the mosaic looked just like Houdinni, and she jumped right into my hand as soon as I opened the cage. So I bought her, and named her Hula in memory of my little Houdinni.
The girl at the store said she thought she was around 6-8 weeks, but was not 100%. I didn't think anything of this until I got home and started reading about buying kits (Houdinni was 1.5 years when I got him). A few sources say you should not buy a kit before the age of 12 weeks, others say 8 wks, etc. Hula appears to be healthy. Her fur is even, and her eyes bright. She was very energetic yesterday but has since calmed down. I hope it's just because she's getting used to her new cage, and not because she is sick...
Now i'm worried about my little gal being too young. The pet store was feeding some vitacraft chin food, but I'm a big supporter of Oxbow products. I bought a small amount of the vitacraft to switch over slowly to oxbow. As soon as I got her cage set up, she started eating her timothy hay and pellets. So she appears to be eating okay, but I haven't seen her drink from the water bottle yet. I'm getting ready to head to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy a kitchen scale to weigh her. From what I've read that's the only good way to really tell if she is growing appropriately.
Anyway, I wanted to post to get input on her care since I've never owned a baby. I have a Martin's chinchilla cabin that I scrubbed clean yesterday for her. I bought all new accessories for her (wood hideaway, couple lava ledges, clean fleece hammock, etc). Any key pointers would be greatly appreciated.
