Post by jules4chins on May 8, 2016 20:12:31 GMT
Hi Everyone, My names Jules, I'm 21 from London and I am now an owner of four chinchillas
Two Male and Two Female.
I've had my two girls Polly, Polystyrene and Nebula for 10 months (They're roughly 1.1 years old) and I bought my two males today who I've named Milk and Barry (My partner named Barry...)
I've separated my massive 0.7x2m cage into two sections - completely (chin safe) anti bacterial cleaned the layer so the territories are set. The top layer is for the females and the bottom for the males.
I do plan to extend the cage.
The reason I purchased Barry & Milk pretty abruptly is due to the terrible conditions they were living in at the horrible Pet Shop where they were donated due to someone leaving them to go to uni.
They were kept in a tiny glass cage, where their dust bath was constantly left in and they were never given run time and also being fed cheap rabbit pellets, no chew toys available, their hay was scattered across the floor with their bedding so there was no clean hay also. The shop keeper was completely clueless about chins and now researching the website online their are reviews say that they deal with puppy farmers.
Milk, is currently overweight probably double the size of my very healthy female chinchillas, my first question is.. Is this normal for male chinchillas to be so significantly larger than my females?
Secondly when checking him for any reasons to go to the vet I noticed a stone indented into his foot along with some mouldy straw/hay, I had to pick this out - he didn't seem too bothered but once again I would like to ask if this is normal?
It currently looks like they both have a minor case of Bumble foot, this probably being due to the fact they had no soft bedding such as a hammock etc.. So hopefully this will clear up eventually.
When I purchased my first Chins I was advised to give them weekly dust baths with Daktarin Powder. (Alongside their daily dustbath)
So I've introduced this with Milk & Barry immediately to prevent/treat any potential Ring Worm.
Since this is so abrupt I'm not so sure about introducing them, the boys are extremely tame (surprisingly) so I'm feeling pretty confident as Nebula is very friendly, Polly is quite reserved but she seems very intrigued by the boys scent (they haven't seen each other eye to eye yet) . I do know that they all have to be singularly introduced - but I'm looking for any advise really on how I should do this!
Also, when I should let my new boys on their first run? they seem so keen to do so already and they've only been in my home for 5 hours and they're constantly craving my attention to come near the cage (which was basically the opposite for when my girls first arrived home.)
Anyway, thats me introduced and my chins introduced, I'd really appreciate any advise at all!
Looking forward to hearing from you all
~ Jules
Two Male and Two Female.
I've had my two girls Polly, Polystyrene and Nebula for 10 months (They're roughly 1.1 years old) and I bought my two males today who I've named Milk and Barry (My partner named Barry...)
I've separated my massive 0.7x2m cage into two sections - completely (chin safe) anti bacterial cleaned the layer so the territories are set. The top layer is for the females and the bottom for the males.
I do plan to extend the cage.
The reason I purchased Barry & Milk pretty abruptly is due to the terrible conditions they were living in at the horrible Pet Shop where they were donated due to someone leaving them to go to uni.
They were kept in a tiny glass cage, where their dust bath was constantly left in and they were never given run time and also being fed cheap rabbit pellets, no chew toys available, their hay was scattered across the floor with their bedding so there was no clean hay also. The shop keeper was completely clueless about chins and now researching the website online their are reviews say that they deal with puppy farmers.
Milk, is currently overweight probably double the size of my very healthy female chinchillas, my first question is.. Is this normal for male chinchillas to be so significantly larger than my females?
Secondly when checking him for any reasons to go to the vet I noticed a stone indented into his foot along with some mouldy straw/hay, I had to pick this out - he didn't seem too bothered but once again I would like to ask if this is normal?
It currently looks like they both have a minor case of Bumble foot, this probably being due to the fact they had no soft bedding such as a hammock etc.. So hopefully this will clear up eventually.
When I purchased my first Chins I was advised to give them weekly dust baths with Daktarin Powder. (Alongside their daily dustbath)
So I've introduced this with Milk & Barry immediately to prevent/treat any potential Ring Worm.
Since this is so abrupt I'm not so sure about introducing them, the boys are extremely tame (surprisingly) so I'm feeling pretty confident as Nebula is very friendly, Polly is quite reserved but she seems very intrigued by the boys scent (they haven't seen each other eye to eye yet) . I do know that they all have to be singularly introduced - but I'm looking for any advise really on how I should do this!
Also, when I should let my new boys on their first run? they seem so keen to do so already and they've only been in my home for 5 hours and they're constantly craving my attention to come near the cage (which was basically the opposite for when my girls first arrived home.)
Anyway, thats me introduced and my chins introduced, I'd really appreciate any advise at all!
Looking forward to hearing from you all
~ Jules