Hello everyone, I’m feeling pretty worried about my chinchilla. He recently got a new cage that was a bit bigger than his old one (primary suspect). The other day, we realized that his two front teeth were missing. Gone out of his face. (Guess we know what’s at the top of his list for Christmas.)

But all jokes aside, I am very worried. Sugar’s about 12 years old now. I’m about to fly back home (I’m away for school) so I’ll send updates as soon as I can see him. I’m hoping he can grow them back properly though from what I understand that’s rare. I’m planning to take him to the chinchilla vet as soon as they open on Monday. Other than that, there’s not much I can do but stay calm so he doesn’t catch any bad vibes from me. I miss him dearly.

I suppose I’m just looking for a little bit of support and kindness from other chin owners. 🩶

Hey everybody! I just had a question for y'all who were successful in bonding your chinchillas. My first chinchilla named ninja is about 3ish years old, when I got him he was chill with the other chinchillas in his cage. Just recently I decided to get a second, he's about 10 months old and didn't have another chinchilla in the cage with him.

So far the bonding has its ups and downs. I have two cages side by side and I alter them every day. They have been with eachother for about a month. When playing together they are okay until the new one starts trying to hump him. I always remove him from ninja. Secondly, they will greet eachother and sometimes it's great and other times the new one will be aggressive after a bit.

I really don't want to have to give the new one back but I don't want ninja getting to stress or even hurt by the new one. My end goal is for them to be in the same cage. I'm not sure if this normal and that they just need more time to get to know eachother or the new one is just aggressive with other chinchilla. Happy provide more insight if anyone has answers.

I have decided to upgrade my chins cage since it is a critter nation and expandable. I currently have all the essentials in his cage so I am not sure what I should put in the top other than platforms. Should I move anything? He has a house, wheel, chinpal, cooling stone, and hay feeder and a bunch of toys. Also water and food dish. I want him to be as comfortable as possible so please give me your suggestions!

My chin’s poop is on the smaller side. No bloat, tummy is soft. Also he is eating, playing and drinking water. He is only on hay & water, İ took the pellets out because I am Acarer and I’ve been giving him gas drops. Should I be worried?

I need to know what type of wood i can use to make a house for my chinchilla. Thank you in advance

Hello everybody I'm a new owner of a Chin, she's 2 months old... I have bought everything I need for her, including a wheel that's appropriate for Chinchillas, I had positioned it in her cage and she didn't give it much attention but yesterday night I heard her going at it really really fast and for quite some time and reading some posts on here I panicked and rearranged all her cage as it was before the wheel in the middle of the night cause my anxiety was so high... but now I feel guilty because she was having so much fun... what should I do? Should I put it back or wait until she's older? Or maybe find a way to not let her use it when I'm out? Help please

Hello! I have carpet everywhere in my house & I was wondering what some of you guys’ tips are for managing your chin’s mess on carpet. I have a shop vac & I am able to vacuum up most of his poop/hay mess just fine, but I’m wondering if there is another way to go about this. I was thinking, maybe a wooden board (that is chinchilla-safe) under the cage & his play area? Currently I just have fleece laid out like a blanket when I let him out of his cage to try and stop him from peeing in the carpet lmao (+ it makes me feel safer, like he can’t get to the carpet & accidentally eat it, even though I watch him like a hawk when he’s out of his cage anyway). What do you guys do?

I have an older female chinchilla (around 11-ish, I believe). I started checking her weight semi-regularly last year because she was sick, but stopped when she started getting better. I checked the other day for the first time in a bit--440 grams or so (hard to tell, since she wouldn't stay still). I know that is a bit under. I syringe fed her while she was sick, and I started doing that again, but I'm not sure if it's helping. She still seems to eat pellets and treats (I put them in her bowl; next time I see her, they're gone). I don't know why she's underweight. Is this something that happens with age, or should I be concerned?

She's I think about 9 or 10 I can't remember off hand, a total sweetie but I travel for work a lot and am a single father so I hate her having a friend check on and feed her when I'm gone. I'm near Portland and more than glad to drive a good distance to meet up to find her the right loving home.

I can’t, hes so cute 😭

I just came back from work and found my chinchilla rubbing his belly on the floor and then he went to sleep in his hammock but he doesn't stay still in his sleep, he keeps moving around as if he is not well. My partner is calling the vet but in the meantime I would like to ask for some advice because I am very nervous. He is about two months old and last week he was pooping a little soft but not too much, it would dry and the shape was normal and right, we took him off pellets for two days and left him only hay and gave him very small pieces of vegetable activated charcoal to help the poop situation. Yesterday he seemed to be doing better and now we came home and found him like this. He peed and definitely pooped too but I don't know exactly how much he did today because it's mixed in with last night's poop. I thank you in advance for your help.

Hi! I have a problem with my chinchilla. A month ago she started drooling and not eating as well, so I took her to the vet. He told me that her masses had grown towards her cheek and that they had caused an ulcer. Then, the doctor filed her molars and gave her pain killers.

After 1 week, the chinchilla was still drooling, so I took her to the vet again. The doctor filed her teeth again and gave her 10 days of antibiotics. She is already on the 8th day of antibiotics and she is still drooling, just not as profusely.

At the first visit, the doctor also took x-rays and said that the masses are not grown into the root.

What do you think it could be? I am worried for her.

Hi so I'm adopting 3 and 4 yr old chin boys Saturdaqqqqqqq1111q1111111111q1111qqqq1111y. What is going to be the best way to build a bond with them I've done a lot of research but there's on taming and bonding older chinchillas

hi, so i just got two female chinchillas about a month ago, and they have a massive 3-story cage, access to hay and pellets on both levels and water at all times. they get rose hip treats a few times a week. they are literally spoiled, they get dust baths regularly and they get along very well. i let them out for 45mins-1hr every night before bed when they are active (my room is chinchilla-proofed). however, i have been trying to desensitize one of my chins to hands because she bites very very hard, and tonight i had my finger in-front of her mouth and she bit me so hard it immediately drew blood, it hurt pretty bad to be honest because it was the tip of my finger. i just want to know if anyone has any context or ideas on why she may have bitten me so hard if she was provoked or irritated beforehand. shes never bit this hard before and it honestly hurt my feelings😂.

We’ve had Ash for a week now and I’m aware it takes a while for them to warm up. He’s taking scratches on the top of his head (not past his ears tho) and sometimes bottom of his chin. He sniffs me and my boyfriend hands but then steps back into the corner of the cage. We want to start the process of bonding and everything but we don’t know how…

How do we take him out the cage to have free roam? I know they can’t have treats often so how do we get him to trust us? With hamsters, i can put treats in my hand and it goes from there. I can’t do that w Ash cuz of the rarity of having treats.

Please help i keep seeing stuff on how to get a chinchilla get closer to you but it never explains how to get it to happen…

My poor baby has passed just the other day after being switched to Full Cheeks foraging pellet diet as it was all that was available in my area at the time. I have looked into the brand further and found the outrageous amount of salt that is contained in the food. I am not sure if this is well known information as I didn’t see this when I originally researched healthy chinchilla food. The high salt content has caused hours long seizures of which no chinchilla could have recovered. Please keep your babies safe and do not get this pellet brand, or any other products without very careful examination. It can kill way too fast before any intervention can be done. Much love to every chinparent out there, I hope this informs someone who needs to hear it. 🫶

Last month we noticed that Kali (the black one in the picture) wasn't quite right. She was refusing her favourite treats and her poops were very small. She also was a lot more friendly and snuggly than her normal sassy self. When we weighed her and found that she had lost weight, that was when we made a vet appointment.

She had tooth spurs on her molars, so she wasn't able to eat normally. They were able to schedule her for a tooth filing within a few days. She handled it like a champ. No problems with the anesthesia. She didn't have any ulcers or abscesses so she didn't need any follow-up meds.

The day after the procedure, she was grabbing treats from our hands again and eating like crazy. A little over a week after the appointment, she has gained over 20g of weight back.

I just wanted to share this because I've heard a lot of horror stories about chinchillas with medical problems and it sometimes feels like it's always doom. Her tooth problems may return, but we know what signs to look for now and she's really actually okay right now.