Our newest additions to the family are two cute and cuddly male chinchillas. Click on the thumbnails below to view the bigger picture.
| Zeus @ 7 weeks |
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| Odie @ 5 weeks |
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| Zeus @ 13 weeks |
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| Zeus @ ~5 months |
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| Odie @ 11 weeks |
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| Odie @ ~5 months |
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| Playing together |
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| Cousin Chipmunk |
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More photos! |
Odie is a standard grey violet carrier with a white tip on his tail compliments of his dad. He was an only child and his birthday is December 21, 1999. He's a real little bugger... the first night he was here, he easily squished himself through the bars of the temporary rabbit cage we had bought for our new pets. We tried everything to hold him in, but he is a little Houdini. We finally had to block off an entire area of the kitchen for them to stay in since we couldn't keep him in the cage. Of course, he promptly taught Zeus how to escape too. Sitting in the living room, you could hear the pitter patter of their little feet exploring every inch of their toys and the floor. When the "official chin cage" from Quality Cage Co. arrived a couple weeks later, he managed to squish himself through the 1" X 1 1/2" openings of that wire too, albeit with more difficulty. I think he was just determined to show us that we couldn't keep him locked up. We bought an aquarium for him after that because I couldn't find anything with smaller wire that he couldn't get through. He was very upset that the glass was impenetrable and spent lots of time jumping straight up in the air, bumping the lid. It is his mission to be free on the floor and you just can't convince him otherwise. He's not too fond of cuddling, much to the disappointment of my daughter.
Zeus is two weeks older than Odie and from different parents, but we call them brothers anyway. He only had one sister and his birthday is December 9, 1999. He's a mosaic... a very pretty silvery grey with streaks of white here and there and the longest whiskers I've ever seen. He has a notch in one ear (probably a souvenier from his sister) and also has a white tip on his tail. Zeus is the brains of the duo, but he didn't start out that way. He cried every time we looked at him for the first two days we had him. He finally came around with lots of love and raisins, and only recently has started wanting to be held and cuddled. After getting his exercise running in the play area, he will jump in my lap and wait for me to pet him, run to his cage and look at me, run back to my lap, etc. until I get the signal that he wants his treat for going in the cage voluntarily. We had planned to keep both chins in the same cage but found out a couple weeks after they arrived that Zeus has fur fungus. He lost a lot of hair on his back and the top of his head, but it has since grown back in and he looks normal again. We used lots of natural remedies including tea tree ointment and silver colloidal water. It made a real mess of his fur and he hated the smell, but it did get rid of most of the fungus. I think his immune system took care of the rest. Natural remedies are very slow to work, but I feel it was much better for him in the long run. They really missed each other's company and often chattered back and forth across the cages. Neither one could understand why they weren't allowed to play together at the same time. :(
Both chins LOVE dried cranberries as well as raisins. They get a treat each time they go back in their cage after playing, but sometimes it's a "hard treat" (the crunchies from the pet store) because you don't want to give them too many raisins/cranberries or their poop gets runny. Blech! Zeus has learned this routine so well he'll jump back in his cage early sometimes in hopes of getting his treat sooner. :) It's so hard not to give them too many treats because they beg something awful, and you can't give just one of them a treat or the other one pouts. Especially Zeus - he has quite a sweet tooth. We feed them chin food from the pet store, but we pick out all the raisins, bananas and little colored thingys because we know if we don't they will never eat the healthy stuff. I've tried giving them some fresh fruit too, but neither one liked it. Odie takes his Vitamin C just as well as a treat, but Zeus doesn't like Vitamin C too much so we have to find other ways to slip it to him. Zeus is the one that positively LOVES alfalfa, and Odie eats it, but not with as much zeal as Zeus does. They have such distinct personalities, it's amazing. Zeus and Odie are best buds and they were miserable while they were separated. Fortunately Odie has grown big enough that he can't escape the "official chin cage" anymore and Zeus has gotten over his fur problem, so they are living happily together again.
Some good toys I've found are file crates turned upside down, pretzel barrels with the end cut off, "T" and "Y" joints of PCV pipe, and cardboard from inside wrapping paper. (Some wrapping paper comes with cardboard rolled up in the middle instead of a solid tube.) They especially love the cardboard because it makes noise if they jump on it. They love to run and jump off the walls. They have contests to see who can get higher and often compete for the attention of whoever is sitting with them while they play by jumping on laps, shoulders, and heads. My face was even used once as a launching pad for little feet when I was lying on the floor with them.
Cousin Chipmunk is a little guy that lives under the back steps at our house. He's a wild boy and comes and goes at will. We leave peanuts and sunflower seeds at the entrance to his home for him. He's *really* hard to get a picture of! These were some lucky shots. He's a cute little devil but doesn't trust us one lick!
Below are some links to other chinchilla sites we found helpful. :)
Chinchilla Rescue
Etc. Etc. Chinchilla Page (including the Chinchilla Yellow Pages!)
Chin World - Supplies and Toys
The Wonderful World of Chinchillas
Crystal Chinchillas
Grinnin' Chin Exotic Hobby Ranch
The Chinchilla Store
About.com's Chinchilla Page
Chinchilla FAQ
Hugable Pets Farm Chinchillas
Chinchillas Galore!
The Chin Man
Underhill Chinchillas
Lone Star Chinchilla
Pacific Northwest Chinchillas
The Quality Cage Company