chinchillin

How long should a chinchilla be without sand baths after giving birth? I've read conflicting things. My Six gave birth on the 18th.

Thanks! =)

Hello everyone!
Today I bring pics of my new baby chinchillas! My chinchillas Six and Dexter are the proud parents of two little and mega cute babies. They were born on Sunday, and everything went well.
This is the first time I've had babies chinchillas and I'm loving the experience. They are so cute and already jumping around all over the place, so fun to watch.

Here are some pics =)

( cuties )

So, as luck would have it I've recently moved and broke something in the process.  My bf and I plugged in the printer to find it wouldn't work.  He needed his resume for an interview and I needed to print off docs prior to starting my new job.  Frustration.  Sure, printers these days are cheap, but I'm of the mind that a simple paper jam is not something I should buy a new printer for no matter how cheap.

I was a bit daunted, though.  I can't afford to let someone else fix it and my initial feeble attempts were unsuccessful.  So I looked up a video online that empowered me to try to rip it apart and not fret the wires, screws and circuitry.  And after 30 minutes of careful removal of layer after layer of parts what did I find blocking paper's entrance?

Of course you know where this is going....  A piece of petrified chinchilla poo.  Yeah.  Talk about having shit stuck in your printer.

FTR, the printer no longer has poo up to it's "eyeballs" and works perfectly fine, again.

I recently adopted a chinchilla who was dumped at the pet store that mys sister works at. I already have one chinchilla, Bai, so I put the new chin, who I've named Sherman, in my extra cage. I've set it up next to Bai's cage so they can see each other and get used to each other.

Sherman hid as soon as I put him in his new cage, which I expected. I left him alone so he could recover from all the stress. It's been a day later and while I've seen him in different hiding spots, I haven't really seen him start to explore his cage much less stay out. I've only spotted him out of his hiding spot once or twice when he thought I wasn't looking. He doesn't run if I put my hand in the cage and he puts up with being scratched, but he doesn't leave his hiding spot either. He won't take treats from me, not even a raisin but he puts up with being held just fine.

I'm hoping this is just because of all the things he's been through recently. His eyes are clear, his teeth are orange, and his poo looks normal, but I'm a little worried that something might be wrong with him.

Hey everyone,
I hope this question isn't too silly, but can it ever be too cold for a chinchilla? I mean, I live in Southern California so it doesn't get THAT cold, but it feels cold to me. It's about 50 degrees F outside right now so it's warmer inside, but I'm just wondering if I should ever heat the room she's in at night.
Thanks!

About two months ago, I had posted on behalf of my chinchilla Smudge about illness and his age affecting him. He had recovered from the brief sickness he'd had, still retained some of the lethargy, but overall seemed to be doing fine.
Last night, I came home from school and found him looking to be laying in his usual sleeping position. For the last 6 months, he slept very still and my mom and I would sometimes be afraid he had passed, so we would make a small noise or look carefully to see his fur moving up and down with his breathing.
When I looked in last night, he was not. He'd passed sometime in the morning after I had left for school. There were no signs of any kind of sickness, any injuries, or anything of the sort, so I am of the mind that old age finally got to him at 13-14 years of age.
We buried him this morning alongside the graves of the previous ones I've had (both his mates and one of his mate's twin who died shortly after birth.). Looking at his empty cage makes my heart ache and after 13 years, all my chin babies are gone now. They all lived long and well cared for lives and I hope that Smudge's passing to the next realm was peaceful.

I love you my baby boy. You brought so much joy to my life. Thank you.

So, my Smudge has been my boy since he was a little baby black. He's outlived two of his mates (One to an accident and the other to natural causes) and has always been my baby. He is one of the first I had gotten and my last, so far as it seems. He's about 13-14 now, the same age as my younger sister.
I'm seeing signs that he's starting to fade. His energy levels have dropped pretty dramatically within the last year, spending a lot more time sleeping and laying about. He lost his last mate a little over 3 years ago, so I know it wasn't depression. He's gotten thinner even though I know he's eating. He has fairly bad cataracts. Even then, he still seemed like a happy little chin.
Tonight, while checking his food and water, I noticed that one of his eyes was half opened and the other was near shut from gunk around it. I had him out last night and I did not see anything of the sort on his eyes or face and considering it's on both, I'm assuming it's not injury related. He's also made small sounds that sound like sneezing or attempting to clear his nostrils.
The thing that gets me is that his second mate, Mickey, began showing these same signs when she approached 10. Her weight dropped, her health started to deteriorate and fairly quickly, she passed away, despite veterinary care. I'm wondering, although it breaks my heart to, if it's starting to draw near to possibly needing to put my boy down. We tried so hard with Mickey to get her back up and for a moment, it seemed like it would work, but if this is really getting to the end, I don't want my baby boy to suffer.

Any advice? I'm going to be taking him in soon to get a professional opinion and will keep you all updated.

Hello. I have had my chinchillas for oh.. 3-4 years now? And I've moved around with them quite a bit. Well I'm moving again, into a big house that 5 people already live in. When living with other people I usually have a witty "chinchilla FAQ" by their cage. But what I'm worried about most is that a couple who lives there has dogs. Short stubby pit bulls that like to barrel through the house at full speed. My idea is to put the chinchilla cage up on a table so the dogs can't jump on the cage. It's either that or I'd have to put them in the patio room, which is enclosed, but I think it might get too cold and/or windy out there? I'd much rather keep them inside. Do you have any advice or similar situations? Have you had chinchillas in a patio room? I've had them with my dog and other people's cats just fine but I'm worried about these dogs :(

Hi all :) It looks like this fri/sat I will be picking up my first chinchilla foster. As I've never had one before (I almost got one about three months ago and started reading up on them then) I'd like to make sure I've got the basics down and perhaps info on biting. I don't know if he nibbles or if he BITES, but it looks like I'll be finding out. Apparently first owner bought him from a pet store (FAIL) and then he was a 'biter' and the pet store wouldn't take him back, so he ended up with the rescue group (mostly dogs, but i'm the "small animal" person) I work with. He's apparently in a 3X3 cage (not sure what kind or if it's any good or not) and needs to be "worked with" because of his biting. Since he just was bought at a Petco about 3 months ago I guess, I suppose he's still fairly young. The room he'll be moving into is the room I keep my guinea pigs and hamster and any other random small rodent type creature I end up with.  (I have four dogs, hence icon, and they are NEVER allowed in there.)

From what I understand:
never ever ever get them wet, much like Gremlins (lol)
sand bath daily but don't leave sand in
don't feed too many treats etc
watch boys for rings of hair 'round their man parts
keep them cool (I'm in Fl so that might be a bit tough, I guess I'll have to jack up the AC)
give them play time outside of the cage (that i'm trying to figure out, i hear bathrooms are good for this)

(hey, can he live in the bathroom if there's room for the cage? since it's all tile and probably cooler than the spare room?)

And of course, feed them and water them and pay attention to them and also their teeth, the teeth are open rooted (like piggies) and they can have malocclusion etc too.

Anything else really important for a newbie? And what do I do if he's a biter, or  a nibbler, etc? Some website I saw said to blow in his face if he bites but I wasn't sure if that was right...sounds like a good way to tick him off.

thanks all :)