r/chinchilla

Churro: “Humans use loofah at the spa. I prefer to eat mine. We clearly have different ideas about self-care.” 🐭😌👑🌿
#churrochatter #chinchilla #cutepets #petprincess #flooflogic

Hi! I made a 3-minute video edit of my two chinchillas. It’s been two days since I brought Mina home (the 2-month-old white fluffball), and I’m trying to help her bond both with me and with Elly, my 1-year-old chin.

The breeder told me Mina is really sweet, but right now she doesn’t seem like it at all 😭 I know she’s in a completely new environment, with a new chinchilla and two new humans, so I’m wondering if this behaviour is normal.

She keeps chewing the cage bars like crazy and trying to escape (and she actually managed to once 😭). I’ve let her out for about an hour on both days, and when she was out she seemed SO happy and was sprinting around the room!

I also put a little wooden hide in Mina’s cage that used to belong to Elly, so she has somewhere to feel a bit more sheltered. It definitely still smells like Elly, so I’m hoping that might help her get used to her scent too. Mina has been chewing on it a LOT though 😭

I honestly don’t know what to do because Elly was much calmer when she was her age. Is Mina just stressed because everything is new? Should I give her more time and space? Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

About the bonding between them: I’m not really sure how it’s going either. When they sniff each other, they don’t bark or make any alarming noises, just some little sounds sometimes. Mina does seem a bit defensive/aggressive towards Elly, while Elly is mostly very curious. There was only one moment when Elly reacted a little aggressively too.

I’d really love some advice, especially about what behaviours I should consider normal during the first few days and what signs would mean I should separate them or slow down the bonding process. T^T

Silver weighs now 467, instead of 435g, hopefully she keeps on gaining weight.

The last two are the original unedited pictures, since I try to keep the room dark durning their playtime.

Thank Goodness we were home. The ac outlet in the chinchillas room went out in a 100f weather. The other outlets wouldn’t reach and within 15 minutes the temp rose to 74f. Hes in his way to grandmas now

Two little monsters

Yesterday I finally decided to try to move my two chins who’ve been living separately into the same cage. I took everything out and thoroughly washed the tiles and furniture to remove any territory markings and other scents. I’ve had one of my chins for almost a year now (Jay) and had one for about 3 months (Q), Jay is probably almost 1.5 years old and Q is almost 8 months. When I first got the younger one they were kept in separate cages, with the hope they would eventually be able to get along and live in one together. When I would take them out together in the bathroom or any other neutral area, they seemed to always want to pounce on each other, not necessarily in a violent way, not biting or scratching just trying to dominate the other to show who’s boss. At first I thought they were fighting so I would seperate them and try again at a later time, until I realized that’s part of the “chinchilla diplomatic process” of their hierarchy. So once I moved these two into one cage together, they of course had their little dominance exchange, but have quickly become very comfortable with each other. They’re not fighting at all, at times grooming each other and being very friendly, and other times still bouncing around and a bit of pouncing on each other. But all in all they seem to be getting along very well, and I was very pleased to see how much easier this process was than it could’ve been. I was worried I’d be stuck with separate cages their whole lives, which is just twice as many cages to clean. Curious if you guys have had similar experiences with trying to acclimate chins together, or if it ended up quite the opposite. Thanks for reading! P.s. the boys say hello

He had an unlikely accident in his cage and got stuck by his middle toe. We dont know how he even managed to do that but it was obvious he was hurt. The toe was pretty badly broken and had to be amputated. But hes been a brave boy through and through and is healing well! Hes as sassy and moody as ever. (Lowkey karma for biting my other chins finger off a year prior)

Our first attempt at putting their cage together, all the materials are safe we confirmed, we have bedding just haven't put it together and the wheel is 16 inch. The hide on top is also something we found, it's made of Timothy hay, is that good for them? Also we plan to get many more things this Friday.

Hi, I'm located in central NJ and I'm looking for an owner for my chinchilla (standard gray, from a pet store). She's 6 years old (born in october, 2019!) and has a sweet personality- she loves to climb shoulders and doenst mind being cradled for a bit but isn't cuddly.

She lives in a ferret nation cage with shelves, a hammock, house, hay feeder, water bottle, glass food dish, wheel, and a ceramic candy holder- house. I will be sending her off with all of this as well as dust, the container is use for her bathes, her fleece bedding, toys, and treats. I also have a collection of apple sticks that have not been washed or baked yet.

DM if you are interested.

Does your chinchilla go between exploring all the areas in a blur and then a Totoro pose?

Here’s Cuzco doing her thing