relatively new chin owner, a few questions

[ladyhertford]

Hi all

So I've had my beautiful Lucrezia for a week now, and although I grew up with a chin (he died a couple of weeks back, we were supposed to have him when my mum and dad go to live abroad), I guess I consider myself a new chin owner - mum and dad mainly looked after old Gromit. We had Gromit for 15 years and as I was growing up, and before leaving for uni, I would occasionally clean him out and scratch him under the chin. But I didn't take a massive part in it because he was dad's pet (and dad doted on him)

Anyway, these might be really daft questions but I'll give them a go anyway:

1. Is it normal for Lucrezia to keep scratching herself? I've noticed as well that she quite often knaws her side - I don't know if this is the dreaded fur chewing? Her fur seems ok and perfectly healthy.

2. Our old chin wasn't very hand tame so I have no experience in really handling chins. Lucrezia is less than a year old, but came from a pet shop where she had no handling at all. How on earth do I go about hand taming her? Everytime I put my hand in her cage she comes up and has a nibble and a sniff but if I try to gently put my hand under her she starts squeaking and runs around her cage like a loon.

3. She seems obsessed with her dust bath. I was giving her a bath every morning, but for the past couple of days she's been squeaking at us at the edge of the cage, scratching etc and won't stop squeaking until we put her bath in...what do I do??

4. When we brought her from the pet shop, se was fed on pellets. Mum and Dad gave us some mixed food which I read wasn't all that great for chins. We tried her on it, but she kept picking out the nice bits. So I went out and brought her some more pellets and now she's really turning her nose up at them. She tends to grab one, eat half then chuck it away.

She is getting much more friendly now though which is ace. We had her out for playtime last night and she was crawling all over my partners chest. It was sooooo cute!

Here she is in all her glory

Her

 

[Vyxxin]

1. It's hard to understand what you're describing here. In either of the scenarios I have pictured in my mind it's NOT normal. Chinchillas generally do not figit with themselves a whole lot. Take a picture of the spot she keeps doing it if you get a chance.

2. Time and patience. That's the best approach. You haven't had her that long. Perhaps if picking her up is stressing her that bad, don't try it just yet. Get her used to you and eventually she will climb on you (when she's ready) from there she may become more handleable. It just takes time...and patience

3. DON'T GIVE IN! Chinchillas do not need dusted daily. It won't hurt anything if you only leave it in for 10-15mins though. So this is your call. Sounds like bratty behavior LOL! If you want to "indulge" her and give it daily...it won't hurt. If you want to be firm, only allow her to get it a few times a week regardless of her whining

4. Pellets ONLY...along with hay of course. The extra pieces in feed MIX aren't healthy. It's like giving a child the option of carrots and chocolate...most are going to choose the goodies. Don't worry, she won't starve herself. Just give her the plain pellets. If you're really concerned you can weigh her using a gram scale today (or whenever) and then check her weight a few days...or a week later to make sure she hasn't lost weight. But I'll tell you, we've been through a few feed changes here and I've never seen a chinchilla that wouldn't eat a given food. Some would have adverse affects (soft poo, smelly poo, weight loss) but none would refuse. Just be sure that you're feeding the highest quality pellet you can and giving hay of course

 

[ladyhertford]

1. It's hard to understand what you're describing here. In either of the scenarios I have pictured in my mind it's NOT normal. Chinchillas generally do not figit with themselves a whole lot. Take a picture of the spot she keeps doing it if you get a chance.

2. Time and patience. That's the best approach. You haven't had her that long. Perhaps if picking her up is stressing her that bad, don't try it just yet. Get her used to you and eventually she will climb on you (when she's ready) from there she may become more handleable. It just takes time...and patience

3. DON'T GIVE IN! Chinchillas do not need dusted daily. It won't hurt anything if you only leave it in for 10-15mins though. So this is your call. Sounds like bratty behavior LOL! If you want to "indulge" her and give it daily...it won't hurt. If you want to be firm, only allow her to get it a few times a week regardless of her whining

4. Pellets ONLY...along with hay of course. The extra pieces in feed MIX aren't healthy. It's like giving a child the option of carrots and chocolate...most are going to choose the goodies. Don't worry, she won't starve herself. Just give her the plain pellets. If you're really concerned you can weigh her using a gram scale today (or whenever) and then check her weight a few days...or a week later to make sure she hasn't lost weight. But I'll tell you, we've been through a few feed changes here and I've never seen a chinchilla that wouldn't eat a given food. Some would have adverse affects (soft poo, smelly poo, weight loss) but none would refuse. Just be sure that you're feeding the highest quality pellet you can and giving hay of course

Thanks hun =] I'll keep an eye on the chewing and if I notice anything funny I'll post a pic!

She is so good at getting her own way already. Honestly she's like a child she squeaks and my OH gives her a bath. I'm all fguiskhfkjdsh NO. And he's IT WON'T HURT. But obv it will eh? My parentals used to leave gromits bath in all the time though :/ which obv isn't good.

Her poo has been fine. We notced one or two icky poos but the majority have been th enormal hard stuff. We;ve mixed the pellets up with a couple of bits of mixed stuff just to get her used to it, and she seems to be eating more pellets thank goodness. Plus she loves her hay (sometime I think a bit too much)

Oh one more Q - Ineed to hoover around her cage, should I move her out while hoovering, or just leave her where she is? I'm shared of frighteing her!

 

[becky12883]

The daily dusting may be causing the strange itching. Too much dusting can cause dry skin. Try to get her down to just the pellets, and give her as much hay as she will eat. I vacuum inside of the boys cage with them in it and they don't really care at all. My boys hate being picked up, but love getting scritches behind their ears, under their chins and on their foreheads. They are very good at training us to give them what they want Good luck with your new addition, she's adorable!