Want To Know About Your Chin

[moose]

I mainly just want to know about your Chins. I just got mine last week and have fallen in LOVE with him. His name is Bardock. And at first I was REALLY worried he hated me...but we've bonded, since I bought him at a pet store...I didn't really have the money to buy him a cage, so I just let him roam in my (semi-proofed chin room, and the reason it's semi is because he keeps finding ways to be mischievous by trying to get under stuff even though I've blocked it lol.)
Tell me your names and their behaviors. About their cages and what they like to chew, what their favorite activity is. Or anything else you can think of. Also, since I'm a new chin mom, maybe one of your best tips? You can also post a picture of your chin :]
Thanks.:clown:

 

[tunes]

That's what we are here for. If you take the time to read through all the various sections, your questions will all be answered. Everything from names, pictures, behaviors, cages, nutrition, health, and anything else you can think of. Go through all those sections first, especially New Chin Owners, and you'll really find a ton of information.

 

[moose]

I was mainly wanting to know about other's people's pets. Like just sharing their pets.

 

[Christina Noraas]

Bardock from Dragon Ball Z? Tee hee.

Well, I have two; Big Momma and Rex.

Big Momma, to say the least, she hates the world and only likes a person for the split second that you open the door and she escapes. The only living things she does like are Rex her former cage mate and my dog Freddy. She utterly hates tutu's even more than human interaction. I found recently that she loves loofah. Other than that she mainly stuck to baked apple wood. She isn't in to fleece objects, mostly just the pine shelves in her part of the cage. She's VERY high maitenance even for a chin.

My little lover boy Rex is the more relaxed one. He loves his fleece tube and cube. He'll chew on everything and anything he gets his little paws on. Since taking him off raisins his new treats are rose hips. He's so playful and will do anything to wiggle his way into your heart and make you go 'aw'.

Their cage right now is hand built by me and my boyfriend; on the upper level it currently contains a PVC fleece tube, an apple wood/willow hanging toy and recently have put in a fleece sleeping cube and 'mattress' along with two pine shelves .

the lower level consists of another PVC tube, a hammock, two pine shelves, a loofah and apple wood hanging toy. Working on the sleeping cube for this level, even though I doubt she's gonna use it, it's worth a try though.

 

[moose]

Wow. The cage sounds like a chin-paradise lol! Aww! :] I've only had my Chin for a week but he's super mischievous lol...but he understands the word no which is cool lol. I don't have a cage for him right now :/. I ordered this cage called Critter Nation. It's really big and I hope he likes it, but by all this outside time he gets he might throw a fit? lol? I sometimes put him in this hamster cage, but I usually just leave him out because he looks so sad in that cramped little cage.

 

[moose]

also yes. my boyfriend named him bardock, even though i'm not sure who EXACTLY that is lol.

 

[Sandi]

Wow. The cage sounds like a chin-paradise lol! Aww! :] I've only had my Chin for a week but he's super mischievous lol...but he understands the word no which is cool lol. I don't have a cage for him right now :/. I ordered this cage called Critter Nation. It's really big and I hope he likes it, but by all this outside time he gets he might throw a fit? lol? I sometimes put him in this hamster cage, but I usually just leave him out because he looks so sad in that cramped little cage.

I'm a little concerned about your free roaming chin. I know you're getting a cage and the critter nation cage is a great cage but sooo many things could go wrong with all this free roam. He can accidentally get stepped on or suffocated with bed sheets, etc. Can I ask how your chin is getting water?

If you go to the "chin chat" section of the forum you can look through a ton of threads of members' chins with loads of pics

 

[tunes]

He can also chew through electrical cords, eat through cupboards and get into chemicals, escape out an open door, get stuck in a heating or air/conditioning vent, etc.

Your new guy is a rodent, rodents chew. They will chew through wood, plastic, plaster, wire, anything they can get their teeth on. If he chews through wire and it has a current, he will die. It's a really bad situation if he does not have a cage. He has no cage at all?

If you do a search for "ferret nation club" that is very similar to the critter nation and should give you some great ideas on how to decorate it with "stuffs."

 

[moose]

he's in my room. he has a small water dispenser that came with the small cage that he drinks from. since i'm the only one that comes in my room there's no chance of him getting stepped on. i've chin-proofed it so he can't get somewhere small and the electrical wires are pulled up so he can't reach them. i realize it's not the BEST thing to do to let him roam, but since he can't even move at all in the hamster cage, i see that as more harmful...:/

 

[moose]

Also thank you for that tip. :]

 

[Dragonflye]

Welcome to the forum.

One of my many chins, Smee...
http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19863&highlight=smee

Tip: Get a temporary cage for your chin. Borrow a small dog crate, guinea pig cage or look on Craigslist or Freecycle or whatever. I know you have a cage on the way, but the sooner your chin is contained the safer he will be. You think your room is safe, but chins are crafty critters and can always find a way to get into trouble.

 

[ticklechin]

Get a cheap cage on CL, I see them all the time for 20 or 30 bucks, you can use it in the future in case you need to take him somewhere to spend the night.

 

[missjess10475]

I bought my first chin at a pet store too. He's a pink/white named Wilson. After a week, he seemed lonely, so I went and got him a friend. We got a beige and named him Chubs because he ate everything! A couple weeks later, we found out Chubs was a girl. So I seperated them. That led to them both needing cagemates. We went to the Ohio Claim Show and left with 2 baby boys. A mosaic and a black velvet we named Grayson and Alexander. My daughter also left with a white ebony named Sabrina who just turned 1 yesterday. We went to the Ryerson ranch after the show and got another baby boy named Oliver. We put Sabrina and Chubs together and they hated eachother! So, I had to seperate them also. I got a reverse mosaic from a private breeder, named her Capri, and put her with Sabrina, and another baby girl from the Ryersons named Penelope. So...I have 4 boys and 4 girls. They are in split ferret nation cages. I feed Tradition food and Oxbow timothy hay. I also feed alfalfa cubes. I use fleece liners with kiln dried pine bedding for their litter boxes. They all love applewood sticks except Sabrina and Capri. They're very picky and don't eat much. They all get half of an unflavored shredded wheat a couple times a week and a rose hip here and there. I give them 1/2 tsp of supplement every morning, except for Penelope because she's only 8 weeks old and it was making her poops runny.I only use distilled or sterilized water and change it every day. I also buy these cardboard tubes that are rolled in oats at Petsmart for 4 bucks. They really like those. Each section of my cages (4 total) has a water bottle, hammock, food dish, hidey house, litter pan, granite coolers, timothy hay hangers always full of hay, and multiple wood chew toys. I looked at the chin coolers in the store and they're 9 bucks each! I went to Menards and bought 4 tiles for less than 8 bucks total, went to Lowe's and had them cut, and voilla! 2 chin coolers in each cage for the price of 1 in the store. I also use Blue Cloud dust for their baths. I read that the Kaytee dries their skin out.

I love my fur babies! They each have their own personality! All mine were skittish in the beginning. Now they're all used to me except Grayson. He's still a little booger lol.

Your chin will not have a problem being in a cage. They like having that safe place. It really is better for them.

 

[moose]

Thanks guys...I'm realizing more and more that he's definitely going to be a handful. But I love him so much! Bardock is definitely my little baby. I've decided I'm going to call them (when I decide to get more ^_^) my Chintotos. Because there is a Japanese character named Totoro who reminds me of a Chin and visa versa. :]

 

[rainey]

When I got my first chin, Snoops, I let him roam around my chin-proofed room all the time. It started because I guess he had never been out of a cage before I owned him, so when I opened the cage door to let him have play time the first time, it took him over 8 hours to come out. When he started to, though, he was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. He was literally snooping around the corners of the cage, like a cat that was on the prowl, so I named him Snoops. Also he looks like an old man to me so Snoop Dogg fits with his name too. But anyway, he HATES people and so it would take me hours to catch him and get him back into the cage. Eventually I just gave up, chin-proofed my room completely, and let him be a free spirit. It took about a year for him to warm up to me, and now he will come when I call him. (He still hates all other people though!)

My friend who I got Snoops from actually found him when he was taking out his trash...he opened up the dumpster and there he was, chillin in a small cage. Poor snoops! Someone had thrown him out...no wonder he doesn't trust people. So my friend saved him, owned him for a year, then gave him to me.

It was a problem to have him roam freely, however. Despite all my attempts to make the room safe, Snoops did chew through my macbook charger once when I had plugged in my laptop near my bed, and thought I had carefully placed the charger up high. It fell to the floor and I didn't notice, and within 5 minutes Snoops had chewed straight through it! It was horrible, but he didn't even flinch oddly. Still, I think Snoops is just a ridiculous chinchilla who will live through anything, so I am not saying that your Bardock wouldn't die. Snoops would also chew on the corners of all my furniture and the crack under my door, and you can't be sure what varnish/paint thats in your room is safe for them to ingest. I ended up getting Snoops a friend, Dre, so that I could feel better about him being all alone in the cage. Worked perfectly, except that chins are addicting and I now have 4! I'm very thankful for this website because I was doing a lot of things wrong before I knew anything about chinchillas. Good luck with Bardock!

 

[rainey]

By the way, if you want to spoil Bardock, this is the best way. Go through some of these links and you'll learn that it's necessary to get your chin a lot of things...like wooden ledges instead of plastic, a wooden hidey house, nutritious food/hay/treats that are often better to purchase in bulk online, and probably a SAFE wheel for the cage. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into, personally! Chins can have one treat a day, don't feed anything other than the recommended treats, clean the cage often, and you'll be much closer to having a safe environment for Bardock. Also the room needs to be less than 70degrees---this is very important. Snoops had a heat stroke and was very close to dying a few months ago. I had to spend hundreds of dollars at the vet, but thankfully he's okay now. Also my second chin, Scoops, died I think from ingesting plastic. I recently had a baby chin die from rectal prolapse, which was completely random and terrible. Just letting you know that chins are a handful and very sensitive---they also will hide that they are in pain. Hope these links help!

The Grand Master List of Chinchilla Supply Purveyors:

Username - Country - Website or Email - Provides

alli713 - USA - http://www.camphorchins.com - Feed (Mazuri, PANR), fleece, toys

Cat75 - USA- www.treasuredchinchillas.com - Dust and feed

Chinchewy1- USA- www.mysticmosaics.org standard and mutation chinchillas, feed, dust, toys, apple wood and home made organic treats.

Chinniechantel- USA- http://www.chinchillasgalore.com. Wood houses, toys, blue cloud, rosehips, pumice, PANR, hay cubes, $5 hammocks + more! CURRENTLY NOT TAKING ORDERS

Chocolate Chinchillas- USA- http://Chocolatechinchillas.com - mazuri, life line (critical care-like feed for sick chins) Hay cubes, ect.

Essentia (Crysta)- http://jaxchinchillarescue.webs.com Critter Cookies, Chinnie Flower Salad, PRCS, Mazuri, Homemade Toys (email or message for pictures of the toys, as they always change), Blue Cloud Dust, Hay Cubes, Rosehips, etc.

eycamry (Ellen) - USA - http://www.octimothyhay.com/justforcnh.html - Feed (Oxbow, PANR, Mazuri), dust, willow toys, Oxbow hay, Vittles Vaults...

feistychins - USA - http://www.foreverfeistychinchilla.org/store-home.htm - Hideaways, Herb & Grain Fusion, chew toys, essentials, coffee mugs, books, Bach Flower Essences, healthy treats and more

ForCHINate Chins Chincessories- USA - http://www.forchinatechins.com/chincessories.htm

Furry Animals... Oh My! - USA - www.FurryAnimalsOhMy.com - Chinchillas and Everything you need for your chinchilla

gella - USA - http://www.thefuzzdepot.com - Fleece (Custom designs)

jags- USA- http://www.jagschinchillas.com/*****...0novelties.htm - novelty items for owner

MyFuzzies (Tabitha) - USA - http://chinchilladecor.webnode.com - Custom made wood hidey houses, hay / toy boxes, wood ledges, PANR, Oat Supplement, Pumpkin Cookies, Hanging & Toss toys, fleece items, hidey houses w/day-bed attached and more delicious treats!!

Not Just Anyone ~ Just Me (Barbi) - USA - http://www.petproductsbynature.com Huge variety of Natural Woods (w/bark), Pumice Stones, Hay Boxes, Houses, Happy Stix, Snuggle Tunnels, Chube Covers ~ Monthly Specials

oxchincerelyxo -USA- [email protected]- pet portraits

Puddles&Chubbs (Deena) - USA - http://www.silvergoldfish.com/chubbichins.htm - Handsculpted and customized clay chinnies and hedgies

Ryerson Chinchillas (not a user) - USA - http://www.ryersonchinchilla.com - Feed (Tradition), dust, cages, metal supplies

Simply Chintastic - USA- http://www.simplychintastic.com Custom Cage Accessories and Playtime Toys

Tanya - USA - http://www.fuzzieskingdom.com/ - Luxury Cage Accessories (Steel Base Tunnels, Sofa and Nap Beds, Hidey-Hammocks, Quality Fleece Houses), Organic Treats, Organic Vitamin C and Broad Spectrum Supplements, Essentials For Life Advanced Formula Syringe Feed, Nature's Pharmacy - Organic Natural Remedies. We Ship Worldwide.

threewingedfury - USA - http://www.freewebs.com/threewingedfury - Fleece Supplies (hammocks, liners, tubes, pouches), PANR feed, Blue Cloud Dust, Blue Sparkle Dust, Alfalfa Hay Cubes, Toys, Ledges.. More Coming Soon!

AZ Chins - USA - http://www.azchins.com - Feed, Hay Cubes, Suppliment, Toys, Blue Cloud/Sparkle, Treats, Cage Accessories, Cages and much more!

Your Chin Store Galore(RCR)- USA- http://www.qualitymutationchinchillas.com treats, chin safe houses & toys, fleece items, feed, flying saucer wheels, hay, supplements, chin art

 

[moose]

Thank you so much for those links. That was SO helpful!
Moose

 

[Mookie]

I have 3 chinchillas. Misty&Cookie, and then Mo.
Misty and Cookie live in the bottom half of my Critter Nation, and Mo lives in the top half. My chins all love attention and they are very tame. Misty and Cookie prefer a wheel over a saucer while Mo prefers the opposite. I have 2 sets of fleece liners for each half. I change it twice a week. I just switched to kiln dried pine shavings today for their litter boxes. Misty and Cookie LOVE eachother. Misty and Mo love chin scritches, but cookie doesn't really like scritches. Misty is extreemly dominant over Cookie. And Mo likes everything "his" way. I love them all <3 ect. Be careful with your chin runing around your room. :/ And also hope you have fun with your Critter Nation! and your chinnie! Oh yeah and here is Misty and Cookie (Misty on bottom cookie on top)

And here is Mo:

And here is mo's new and improved cage:

and Misty and Cookie's new and imoproved cage:

 

[Siany]

Hi, i have two chinchillas Lola and Dotty.

Lola was mistreated so i adopted her and a year on i thought Lola was lonely and decided to get Dotty from a breader, they get on great and love to come out to play. They get excited everyday at the same time to come out and will bounce around waiting

Dotty is the quiet one and likes to hide under coffee tables where she can still watch you and Lola is the trouble maker, Lola has escaped out of the door and will hide by the door in the chance of getting out and has also climbed behind the fire and got stuck in the chimney breast :S

A bigger cage is definatly needed because your chin will find something to chew and hide, everything is a plaything and will soon discover the best opportunties to cause trouble Its a shame your not from the UK because i could of given you my old cage but im sure you will find one soon

 

[rbarile92]

I have two chins and they are my babies!
They are two males, father and son and their names are Dave and Buster!
I brought them home from a breeder in my area and ever since then I fell in love with them.
It took them about a week or so to get used to me but we have been inseparable ever since. They love to get out of their cage and explore new things. They now sit down with me when I am watching tv, Dave sits on my head because he likes to dig around through my hair, and Buster likes to lay down in the crook of my neck.
They love to chew everything, especially all of their pine ledges and bridges that I made for them. They are also a big fan of fleece items.
Dave is the more curious out of the two. He likes to jump and get to the highest point in the room, while Buster is more comfortable when he is just sitting next to you or on something low to the ground.

Either way, I wouldn't trade the two for the world
Getting a chin was the best decision I have made!