Sexing 1 day old chinchilla kits

It's actually quite easy determining the gender of very young chinchilla kits.
The first couple of times can be a problem, but it becomes easier with time. The best reference is when you've seen both a young male and female.

 

As seen above, the male has some space between the anus and genitalia,  whereas there's no space when it's a female. Chances are it's a female, if you are not quite sure about what you are looking at.

If in doubt, wait a couple of days or a week, then there shouldn't be anything to mistake.

In adult animals, the difference becomes more evident. When the male becomes sexually mature his testicles will fall down, giving the impression he has some excess skin around his genitalia and anus.


Even though it should be quite easy to tell the sex after a couple of litters, every body can make mistakes. Therefore; be sure to check the gender around 10 weeks, because some animals do become sexually mature here. You should also check the gender yourself, when buying a chinchilla, and not only rely on what the breeder tells you.

Not so good bottles

I'm not sure how I feel about my new bottles.

I didn't mention they are from LivingWorld...

They have all this fancy stuff that should prevent them from dripping.
That's all nice and dandy, but at times it also prevents my animals from getting any water...

It took me about 10-15 minutes to get the big one to work. Now it works just fine.
The little one worked okay from the start, but yesterday it wouldn't work at all.

On the bright site, they stay where you put them on the cage, and they can be used for all types of cages.
One side of the bottle is flat, and the end the animals can drink from is all metal.
There's no plastic what so ever...

I'm not sure what to think about them.
I really like that there's no plastic, but on the other hand, if they stop working from one minute to the next...

Treating Fungus

Fungus in chinchillas is actually really easy to treat.
All you need is:
5 grams of sulphur powder
10 grams of babypowder

This should be used for 1 kilogram of chinchilla sand/dust.

It should not be used for more than 1-2 weeks. If the problem hasen't cleared up by then, you need to consult your vet.

Fungus typically starts around the nose, ears or eyes. You will see hair loss and red skin.
If you are not sure about what's wrong, please consult a vet.

Chinchilla links

I'm really bad at updating this blog.
I tend to update my danish Furrytails blog when I'm very tired, or haven't got that much time, so I never get to this one. And when I finally get to this one, so much time has passed it seams kinda stupid to update.

But now I'm going to post some links you may find useful.
I do not have that many american links because it's very expensive to order from USA for me.
Inside the EU is best, then they don't add toll...

So let's see what we've got :)

Chinworld.com
They have 2 things I like here.
Wheels and Books.
They have some books by Alice Kline, one of the "old dogs" in the fur farming industry. Her books are very good, and you get some nice knowledge trough them, you'll have a hard time find in any other books.
As far as I know, these books can't be bought any where else.
They they have some wheels. It can be very hard finding good chinchilla wheels. They have both the standard wheel, and the flying saucer.
These can be bought other places, but this is one of the easiest places to get them, and they are not that expensive compared to some other places :)

HammockyHammocks
This is a shop located in the UK.
The have some very nice and very good quality hammocks, beds, tunnels and other stuff like that in polar fleece. All their things are hand made.
Depending on the size of your cage, get as big hammocks as possible. A hammock can easily become too small, but never too big.
Note that these can not be destroyed as fast as the common ferret hammock in pet shops.
The profit goes to pet rescues.

Chinchillas2Shop
An other shop located in the UK, and one of my personal favorites.
They have a lot of natural chew toys for chinchillas. A year or two ago they also started adding an icon to show if the toys are degu safe.
Some of the things they have can be bought from other stores, but no other store (as far as I know) has that big a variation in their stock. So if you prefer natural toys and treats, this is definitely a place you need to visit :)

Zooplus.com
Zooplus.co.uk
Zooplus.de
Same shop, but different countries.
They do not have that many things, but they do have some nice cages. I'm not sure about the prices in USA and UK but in Germany they are quite cheap.
They do have some shops in other countries, you can see them by liking on "shop" on the site.

Petpile.dk
The site is in danish, but you can use the google translator on it.
As far as I know, she ships to other countries.
It's kinda the same as HammockyHammocks, but she also has some treats just for rats, and some plastic things used for small critters as huts.
Alle the polar fleece stuff is hand made.
Note that these can not be destroyed as fast as the common ferret hammock in pet shops.

Danchin shop
This is their english shop.
They have some super nice feed, hay, home made cages, treats and some other things.
Definitely worth a visit.

So that was the end to my chinchilla link tour...
If you have some good links please feel free to put them down in a comment below, and I will look at the site :)

Chinfo - Feeding

I'm thinking about writing some of the stuff down, normally done here in Denmark, because I know a lot of it is very different to how people in the US and UK do things.

I do not think that the other ways of doing things are wrong, I simply want to inform about differen ways of doing things :)

So let's start out with feeding:
There are a couple of different ways to do this. The most important way is that you feel good about the way you are feeding.
Remember to check the specific feed where you live. As far as I can understand, some types of feed we have are quite good, but the same feed in US can be very bad.

You need to bear in mind that the pellets we have are not made by looking at what the chinchilla eat in the wild, but made by furfarmers, to get animals that would thrive and get a nice fur. There is nothing wrong with this, but people have a tendensy to forget this, and think that some chinchilla pellets are the only right way to go, and they can never be improved.

Then we have to look at what the specific pellet is made for. If the pellet is made for farmers, it might not be the right pellet for you and your animal. In general they have a very high content of protein. This is good for females who are used for breeding, but it's not the best for the avrage pet chinchilla.

You need to find a pellet made for pet chinchillas. This could be some of VitaKrafts pellets.


Personally I'm very fond of VitaSpecial.
They have 3 different types of pellets. One for young animals, one for grown animals, and one for senior animals.
The biggest problem about these pellets is, that they are quite expensive.

It's also possible to get a some feeding products where a lot of different things have been mixed together.
For the most part, these products is something you should avoid. They do have some good parts, but they also contain a lot of not so good treats, like nuts and banana. Thes treats can be used, but should not be given in big amounts.

If you'r not happy about only using one type of pellets, it's okay to mix different types of pellets, as long as it's a good quality. Some animals will enjoy being able to choose between the different types of pellets.

Now you may have an idea about what to feed your pet chinchilla.

Let's look at how to feed:
A chinchilla eats about 30 grams of pellets a day. They do not, however, have a tendensy to overeat, so it's not a problem giving more pellets.

You should feed once or twice a day. It depends on what suites you best. You can feed early in the morning, late in the eavening or at both times.
The first time you feed, put 30 grams of pellets in the bowl (or 15 if you feed twice a day), the next time you are going to feed, there should be a few pellets left. If there's no left, give a bit more pellets. If there's a lot left, give a bit less pellets.
The left over pellets should be thrown out. They will get bad if left in the bowl, because they get a lot of mouisture from the air.

Hay:
Now we've looked at pellets, let's look at hay.
Hay is not the main feed, because all the nutrients is in pellets, but the chinchilla still need some hay for the system to work. There should always be some hay in the cage.

The most important thing when buying hay is to be sure it's not bad. This is quite easy to check.
Bad hay:
There should be no mold in the hay.
They hay must not be wet.
It should be dust free. Dust is a sign of mold.
Good hay:
It has a nice, fresh smell.
It's dry
If you find any dead insects like grashoppers, this is okay, and a sign they haven't usen any pesticides where the hay was grown.

If you are not sure about a pack of hay, don't buy it!