New chinchilla owner

[boglin]

Hello - have just found this ng and had a quick look at recent posts.

I was introduced to chinchillas last December, when a friend of mine had
an extended holiday abroad and her chin came to stay with me. It was a
mixed blessing when my friend returned as it meant the chin had to go!

However, today I've collected a rescue chin from the RSPCA. Phoned up
this morning, was told they had a chinchilla there, went to meet him,
then spent the afternoon running round to get a cage, dust, hay,
pellets, things to chew etc. etc. etc. Managed to get everything set up
and back to the RSPCA to collect him this afternoon.

He's a boy, but I have no idea of his age - is there any way to tell
with chins? His colour has got me a bit stumped too - I think looking at
colour varieties he's a homo beige.

We've called him Charlie, and he's settling in quite well. We've given
him a quiet afternoon, although he's had a sand bath.

I've found a couple of really good websites:
http://www.chinchillaplanet.com/ and http://www.cheekychinchillas.com/
Are there any other websites people would recommend?

boglin

[Duncan Di Saudelli]

Post by boglin
http://www.chinchillaplanet.com/ and http://www.cheekychinchillas.com/
Are there any other websites people would recommend?

http://www.chins-n-quills.com/forums/ is quite popular with a fair UK
population too.

health: http://www.chinnychinchins.co.uk/health.htm

and also http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ChinchillaCymru/index.html

and http://www.cachins.org/

Sadly, most people have fled to forum-based resources so this newsgroup is
pretty dead these days. However, I think people do check it from time to
time.

Chinchillas are great!

[Betti Cogswell]

first of all welcome to the world of chinchillas. there is a yahoo page
that is more commonly posted on. try that
second. www.cachins.org is one of the better ones but one of the lesser
known ones since the group does not post much
third, from that page is a good book, THE JOY OF CHINCHILLAS. the
info is good, but the sources are out of date, the folks in calif chins
are not interested in updating since they all work, and run a huge chin
rescue group.
forth, good food and hay and water are the main things for chins, if
your water is well water, and is tested low in minerals and no parasites
you are in good shape, if it is municiple water it sometimes is best to
use bottled or distilled; there are a lot of parastites that are
subclinical and safe for humans that can cause terrible problems in
chins. also hay should be local as much as possible so if you can find
a horse person and get some of their bale, commonly called flake, of
hay. otherwise oxbow or american pet diner or lonestar or chinworld are
good resources for hay and food. Chinchilla pellets are really not the
best, as they are usualy a combination of whatever is available; use a
high show rabbit food, or a locally made for chin food like american pet
diners. mazuri is also considered a good source although I have never
used it. I always used a combination of manna pro show rabbit food,
calf manna by manna pro. and equinner senior, but that was my personal
preference. I liked the equinne senior since it had molasses for iron
and was alfalfa and other things good for horses.
but I knew a horse person.
keep your hay from molding, and your pellets from getting stale, and
dont buy from a pet store.

Post by boglin
Hello - have just found this ng and had a quick look at recent posts.
I was introduced to chinchillas last December, when a friend of mine
had an extended holiday abroad and her chin came to stay with me. It
was a mixed blessing when my friend returned as it meant the chin had
to go!
However, today I've collected a rescue chin from the RSPCA. Phoned up
this morning, was told they had a chinchilla there, went to meet him,
then spent the afternoon running round to get a cage, dust, hay,
pellets, things to chew etc. etc. etc. Managed to get everything set
up and back to the RSPCA to collect him this afternoon.
He's a boy, but I have no idea of his age - is there any way to tell
with chins? His colour has got me a bit stumped too - I think looking
at colour varieties he's a homo beige.
We've called him Charlie, and he's settling in quite well. We've given
him a quiet afternoon, although he's had a sand bath.
http://www.chinchillaplanet.com/ and http://www.cheekychinchillas.com/
Are there any other websites people would recommend?
boglin

[boglin]

Post by Betti Cogswell
first of all welcome to the world of chinchillas.

<snip>

Post by Betti Cogswell
if
your water is well water, and is tested low in minerals and no parasites
you are in good shape, if it is municiple water it sometimes is best to
use bottled or distilled; there are a lot of parastites that are
subclinical and safe for humans that can cause terrible problems in
chins.

Hi Betti and thanks for you advice - unfortunately I'm in the UK, so a
lot of it is lost on me! I'd not heard anything like that about water
before, and I'm afraid I'm not sure what the difference between well
water and municipal water is. I'm assuming water in the US is a
different quality perhaps, as I can only find information advising
against bottled water on UK sites.

<snip>

Post by Betti Cogswell
keep your hay from molding, and your pellets from getting stale, and
dont buy from a pet store.

Out of interest, why do you advise against buying from pet shops? I've
practically kitted Charlie out from the localish large pet shop, as they
seemed to have everything in he needed.

boglin