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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Last night I'm pretty sure Dexter tried to show him how to use it by running on his wheel for a couple seconds then running over and getting Smokey's attention and then running back to his wheel then back to Smokey etc. Smokey still didn't get it Same. Cinnamon and Vincenza are next to each other. We've started putting them in the quarantine cage during cleaning so they can smell each other. More Vincenza than Cinnamon though. She's an aggressive little thing!
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Jun 14, 2012 18:50
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And Cinnamon let me scritch her for the first time today! She didn't push away my finger with her tiny paws 
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Jun 14, 2012 22:10
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alucinor posted:I wanna see, post em here! Cool, you have swole pigs.  Mine are not quite there yet, no space for a large cage atm. But at least skinny-fat is better than fat-fat. Big one is down from 1300g to 1100g, middle from 1250 to 1000 and the tiny black one went from 1200 to 900. Now they actually climb, skip and jump. I'll see if I can get some pics up after the weekend. Get that cavy to the squat rack, stat. vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv cat with hands fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Jun 15, 2012 |
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Jun 15, 2012 21:04
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My youngest pig (not quite a year old) is approaching 1400g. Last time I weighed her she was 1390. Her irl: 
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Jun 15, 2012 21:09
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Carl is the biggest pig of them all, last time I weighed him he was 1580g.
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Jun 17, 2012 05:25
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drat, my guineas weighed about 1800 grams when they were in their prime.  they got plenty of exercise and ate nothing but vegetables, grass, timothy hay and occasionally kibble.I never knew rats could eat people food, I've been giving hoshiko people-food treats like a ritz cracker or a piece of chicken or a noodle. she likes them better than fruits and vegetables. 
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Jun 17, 2012 20:30
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Dexter thinks getting a Cheerio to eat is The Best Thing. They're just grain so they aren't just junk food and he is absolutely adorable holding a Cheerio with his little chinchilla hands. He looks like a little fat man eating a donut. Smokey is less enthused about Cheerios but will sell his little furry soul for a banana chip. On rare occasions if I have plain tortilla chips I'll break a corner off a chip for him.
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Jun 17, 2012 20:56
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Got a second hamster. Daisy's mother, whose name is now Sunflower. She's had two litters for our store because she's got an amazingly sweet personality, beautiful colors and markings, and she's enormous, even for a Syrian. After her second litter was weaned it was decided she should retire so now she lives at my house. It's all super exciting. Pictures when I can get some batteries for my camera.
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Jun 18, 2012 02:21
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Dexter thinks getting a Cheerio to eat is The Best Thing. They're just grain so they aren't just junk food and he is absolutely adorable holding a Cheerio with his little chinchilla hands. He looks like a little fat man eating a donut. Smokey is less enthused about Cheerios but will sell his little furry soul for a banana chip. Bananas are bad news for chins, too much sugar can hurt their little tummies and make them bloated. And the salt in tortilla chips can do the same. The ladies on chinsnhedgies sell little cookies that they love. And Vincenza will cut me for a piece of loofah. They also get rose hips, which is pretty freaking adorable. I buy most of my stuff from Ronda http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23583
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Jun 18, 2012 17:44
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here's a less boob-y picture of hoshiko the rat. I'm a raaaat!
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Jun 18, 2012 20:49
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SmellsOfFriendship posted:Bananas are bad news for chins, too much sugar can hurt their little tummies and make them bloated. And the salt in tortilla chips can do the same. I had no idea bananas were bad, even dried ones? I tried giving Dexter rose hips once. He took it from me, looked at me like "what the hell is this poo poo?" and threw it at me. He is the biggest rear end in a top hat.
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Jun 19, 2012 00:35
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I had no idea bananas were bad, even dried ones? Anything with sugar is bad- all dried fruit, including raisins. Another good treat similar to the lone plain cheerio is plain, unfrosted shredded mini wheat (the small ones). Or I guess you could get the big ones and crumble a corner off. My chins love this more than the cheerio. Also oat groats are good treats, and a lot of supplements will contain them. Edit: thread needs more pictures.  Oscar is clearly suffering in prison. Ishkibibble_Fish fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Jun 19, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 00:42
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Dried fruit such as raisins and papaya are favorite treats of my chinnies, but too much gives them the runs so they have to be used sparingly, one a day or so. I believe papaya actually contains an enzyme that aids their digestion, but my Kiki will murder anyone between her and a piece of papaya regardless of whether this is true or not. Also for some reason I have it in my head that the oils in banana are not good for chinnies but I can't remember why I think that. Ah yes, I looked it up: chinchillas don't have gallbladders and therefore cannot easily process high amounts of fats or sugars found in oils and dried fruits, so over indulgence can lead to fatty liver disease. Use sparingly. furushotakeru fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Jun 19, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 05:46
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furushotakeru posted:I believe papaya actually contains an enzyme that aids their digestion, but my Kiki will murder anyone between her and a piece of papaya regardless of whether this is true or not. It does. We sell it in tablet form as a digestive aid for all kinds of small animals at my store. My hamsters get a half tab each daily as part of their health-food regimen.
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Jun 19, 2012 05:53
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furushotakeru posted:Dried fruit such as raisins and papaya are favorite treats of my chinnies, but too much gives them the runs so they have to be used sparingly, one a day or so. I believe papaya actually contains an enzyme that aids their digestion, but my Kiki will murder anyone between her and a piece of papaya regardless of whether this is true or not. There's a ton of debate about treats but what I've found is raisins are actually not advised. It's also recommended that they only get a treat once a week at most (I violate this rule though, especially if I'm concerned about poop and need them to cooperate and get on the drat scale ) Those two things seem to be a consensus. Part of the problem is bloat and their types of guts. They're not built to digest anything but hay pretty much, so fruit is totally off the table as far as ours go. Papaya is supposed to be ok in very very small doses and really only if they're not eating well. We usually give them treats with special timothy based chinchilla cookies we get from the forums, oats, rose hips, dried roses and loofah. Supposedly this stuff is lower in sugar but still smell good so they want to munch them. I don't know why but Vincenza loves loofah and Cinnamon loves sticks. We buy them by the pound now since she's our little beaver.
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Jun 19, 2012 07:16
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My current pair are 10 years old each and they haven't keeled over yet from the occasional papaya treat but each animal is different as are the definitions of "occasional"
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Jun 19, 2012 07:56
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Smokey and Dexter got raisins on our long road trip both as a treat for putting up with me hauling their little fuzzy butts halfway across the country, and also to make them drink more water so they wouldn't get dehydrated since after they get raisins they run over to their bottles and drink for what seems like forever. Normally they just get their food and a cheerio and a chin scratch in the morning. Smokey's a decent weight but Dex is kind of a fatass. They both get the exact same amount and type of food and both have a big exercise wheel, but Smokey STILL hasn't figured out how to use his and Dex is on his all the time. Why is the one getting more exercise more of a fatty? Different metabolisms? The only real difference between the two is that Dex is about 3 years old and Smokey is just a little over 1. Also, Petco close to me doesn't sell Oxbow chinchilla food so I have to drive to the Petsmart in the sketchy part of town to get them their food. The things I do for my creatures.
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Jun 19, 2012 13:01
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furushotakeru posted:My current pair are 10 years old each and they haven't keeled over yet from the occasional papaya treat but each animal is different as are the definitions of "occasional" I like to play it on the safer side of what breeders and long term chin owners recommend so I stay away from fruit completely.
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Jun 19, 2012 16:04
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Smokey and Dexter got raisins on our long road trip both as a treat for putting up with me hauling their little fuzzy butts halfway across the country, and also to make them drink more water so they wouldn't get dehydrated since after they get raisins they run over to their bottles and drink for what seems like forever. That's the kind of stuff my vet recommends raisins for. Desperate times We buy all our food online! Amazon sellers carry Oxbow and Timothy
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Jun 19, 2012 16:06
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SmellsOfFriendship posted:I like to play it on the safer side of what breeders and long term chin owners recommend so I stay away from fruit completely. Understandable, everyone should do what they feel is best for their critters. However, the head of our rescue worked closely with one of the premier chinchilla vets in the state to write "Joy of Chinchillas", and if neither of them have given me grief then I think I'm OK giving the occasional treat
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Jun 19, 2012 16:11
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furushotakeru posted:Understandable, everyone should do what they feel is best for their critters. However, the head of our rescue worked closely with one of the premier chinchilla vets in the state to write "Joy of Chinchillas", and if neither of them have given me grief then I think I'm OK giving the occasional treat The problem is, the information changes so fast. Our vet was recommending fresh veggies up until very recently because the information changed from what his books said was ok. And there are a lot of websites that say fruit is ok for chins. I just wouldn't recommend it to anyone, I don't see the point in taking the risk. That and chins have pretty simple diets. They need hay and pellets, that's it. Arguing about treats seems pointless. They don't need them and a lot of the time they see sticks and other things as treats, which aren't going to impact their digestion.
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Jun 19, 2012 16:52
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Nobody is claiming that if you feed your chin fruit every day they're going to catch on fire and then explode. But overall, the guidelines have changed, and it's not really recommended. Plenty of animals live long and healthy lives if you're not going exactly by the most up to date guidelines, and I think everyone here is guilty of spoiling their pets with foods that aren't ideal now and then. But really "I have a chinchilla and it isn't dead yet from what I'm doing" isn't really saying anything other than you have a live chinchilla. I have a six year old foster chin that ate ferret food for three years and didn't die.
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Jun 19, 2012 17:46
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Rodent Mortician posted:Nobody is claiming that if you feed your chin fruit every day they're going to catch on fire and then explode. But overall, the guidelines have changed, and it's not really recommended. Plenty of animals live long and healthy lives if you're not going exactly by the most up to date guidelines, and I think everyone here is guilty of spoiling their pets with foods that aren't ideal now and then. Poor baby Yeah, I am guilty of drunkenly thinking "oh the babies definitely need rose hips right now. Because they do because look at how cute they are in their little hammocks and tubes."
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Jun 19, 2012 18:50
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Rodent Mortician posted:But really "I have a chinchilla and it isn't dead yet from what I'm doing" isn't really saying anything other than you have a live chinchilla. I have a six year old foster chin that ate ferret food for three years and didn't die.  How.
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Jun 19, 2012 20:00
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Serella posted:
God only knows. Probably because it was lovely ferret food that was all grainy and useless for ferrets. People are retards. I also got a chin in that was kept in a CAGE with a ferret and was somehow alive and not eaten.
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Jun 19, 2012 21:46
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Rodent Mortician posted:God only knows. Probably because it was lovely ferret food that was all grainy and useless for ferrets. People are retards. I also got a chin in that was kept in a CAGE with a ferret and was somehow alive and not eaten. There's a question about once a week on CnH where someone is like "Do kitties and chinchillas get along?" Yes because cats won't want to eat something that looks like a bouncy mouse. 
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Jun 19, 2012 21:52
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Rodent Mortician posted:God only knows. Probably because it was lovely ferret food that was all grainy and useless for ferrets. People are retards. I also got a chin in that was kept in a CAGE with a ferret and was somehow alive and not eaten. Back in the early 2000s, there was a fairly famous hoarder bust in California that resulted in guinea pigs being adopted out all over the nation. Many of these Hollister pigs were kept in pet store cages where the bedding was never changed, simply fresh bedding piled on top -- some of the cages had about six inches of clearance left. The pigs were also subsisting on dry cat food. kazmeyer fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Jun 19, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 22:01
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kazmeyer posted:Back in the early 2000s, there was a fairly famous hoarder bust in California that resulted in guinea pigs being adopted out all over the nation. Many of these Hollister pigs were kept in pet store cages where the bedding was never changed, simply fresh bedding piled on top -- some of the cages had about six inches of clearance left. The pigs were also subsisting on dry cat food.  that's horrific.
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Jun 19, 2012 22:52
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In the summer of 2005 the police shut down a lovely pet chinnie babies!
furushotakeru fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Jun 20, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 23:34
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furushotakeru posted:pet restaurant wait, what?
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Jun 20, 2012 01:34
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alucinor posted:wait, what? Ha ha... I dunno what happened there, sorry. Fixed.
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Jun 20, 2012 04:57
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Jun 20, 2012 09:05
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D'awwwwwww he naked
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Jun 20, 2012 14:06
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I am kind of  right now over my guinea pigs. I have two females, I know that for sure, both about 9 months old, but one of them is seriously like 3 times the size of the other. They are fed pretty much the same diet (along with fresh veggies every day) and yet the larger one is significantly bigger. Scales confirmed she weighs a lot more than the other one (which is also weird considering she was emaciated when I first got her) so I'm just wondering if that's normal? They both are of healthy weight, just one's a lot bigger (and kind of a dick to the smaller one). I spent the past week double-checking their genders just because of how comically exaggerated the size difference between them is. Other than that, they're both healthy and a lot better about being handled than they were several months ago.
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Jun 23, 2012 16:23
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Bear Rape posted:I am kind of Without posting their exact weights its hard for me to comment on anything. Of my three pigs, I have one who is 900g and another who is 1400g, so weight differences aren't that unusual. If the heavier one is bullying the other, it could be that she is also stealing food/veggies from her hence the weight difference. Have you had them for the full 9 months? Is there any chance the heavier one could be pregnant?
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Jun 23, 2012 16:47
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I've had the smaller one for 8, the larger one for the full nine. And I'm dumb and didn't write their weights down so I'll have to do that tomorrow. The larger one seems to eat more actual hay than the smaller, while the smaller seems to prefer eating veggies and picking out flowers and things from the hay before bothering with it. I don't monitor them 24/7 though, so there's a possibility she may not be getting as much food in the long run. Hopefully their weights will equal out more once this larger cage is finished so they'll have a lot of opportunities to eat from different bowls and such instead of sharing a single food bowl and place to get hay. The larger one was from a pair I got that after about a month, one of them passed away suddenly. So I got another guinea pig (the smaller one) to be her companion. They were around the same size then, the huge size difference seemed to have occurred within the past month or so. e: Don't think she could be pregnant unless guinea pigs can delay pregnancy like kangaroos. Just been big pig and little pig for 8 months, both female.
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Jun 23, 2012 17:31
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I rearranged the chinchilla cages so Smokey could see Dexter using his wheel, and he finally figured out how to use his! Maybe he's not as dumb as I initially thought he was For you chinchilla owners, how would you rank average chinchilla intelligence? I don't know if Dexter is unusually smart and Smokey is average or if Dexter is average and Smokey is a bit of a tard. Dexter has a good grasp on how to communicate with his people (he'll get your attention then make it clear what he wants), and is very good at problem solving. Smokey doesn't really do much of that, he just kinda keeps to himself. Might just be a personality difference too I suppose.
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Jun 24, 2012 04:54
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I rearranged the chinchilla cages so Smokey could see Dexter using his wheel, and he finally figured out how to use his! Maybe he's not as dumb as I initially thought he was We have kind of a similar situation. Vincenza is aggressive but so smart. Cinnamon is sweet but um, kind of dumb. I'm glad we have the safety hammock. She needs it. Chew on ledge, scoot, chew on ledge, scoot, chew on ledge, no more ledge. Fall off ledge. Saying that, Vincenza did get her head stuck in a coconut shell. She's also incredibly vocal, she talks all the time (mainly to let us know she's not happy with being touched, but also makes contact sounds when she feels lonely.) We attribute both of it to different temperaments and different upbringings. Vincenza was raised from 6 months to now by us, with us talking to her and handling her. Cinnamon came to us at 4 and was a show chinchilla and part of a herd. She didn't have a lot of bouncing space so she's not as coordinated. And she didn't have a whole lot of people contact, so she doesn't talk to us. She's also less curious about Vincenza, probably because she was surrounded by other chins. They're scary smart animals though. They do have a great grasp of cause and effect and are incredibly agile.
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Jun 25, 2012 02:18
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:
I only have two boys (from kits) , so can't really speak from a wide range of experience, but I can tell you that there is a huge intelligence gap between the two I have. Max, my eight year old, will quickly climb new wooden ramps and stuff I build, and memorize room layouts and paths, and seems to understand cause and effect better. He also seems to recognize his name. My five year old, Oscar, is just as exploratory, but doesn't seem to remember what leads to where, for example. They have both figured out the flying saucer wheel, but Max did it in one day, whereas Oscar took about 5-6 months to really get it. Probably some of this can be attributed to personality differences, but I'm sure there's quite a big "IQ" disparity also.
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Jun 25, 2012 03:03
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Every chinchilla I have ever met drops food and acts like it disappears into the aether even when it falls just a few cm to their feet. Or maybe they are just trying to trick me into giving them another treat.
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Jun 25, 2012 03:45
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