has any one here have chinchilas

[Angel Lady]

They have to bathe in dust they chew up everthing they come in contact with take it from me they are not the pet to have if anyone here is thinking of getting one

 

[Feline]

Did u buy something for them to chew on coz I think their teeth grow! Same thing for rabbits n hamsters too! (n guinea pig, chipmunks etc I guess) Hamsters like to hav baths on sand too, only bathing sand tho, coz the particles in bathing dust r too fine for their little nose!

 

[Angel Lady]

i have had this for three years my boyfriend got hom for xmas for me yea he bathes in dust and sand mixed he is cool to watch but he sure is a handful if you know what i mean

 

[Feline]

Yeah I can imagine what's it like! My ham is a handful too, sometimes will have temper tandrum whenver u cleaned his cage etc! n it takes ages trying to tame him!! My another ham (now an angel) liked to stuff the beddings into a tube, blocking herself up!!

 

[Interfire]

Yeah, taming hamsters. Now theres a lost cause.

I'm just thankful I have two dwarf hamsters that sooo tame.

 

[crimsontsavo]

take it from me they are not the pet to have if anyone here is thinking of getting one

I wouldnt say (dont get one). Just that you should do your research before getting any animal.I know alot of people that keep Chins, and they adore them.
It helps to have things for them to chew, a nice kitty litter pan full of dust,(they need the dust in the wild to prevent certain parasites,and it fluffs the fur helping to insulate.Good grooming,lol.) .And dont let your Chin roam free in the house without supervision..They are little rascals,lol.

 

[Alien Anna]

Yeah I can imagine what's it like! My ham is a handful too, sometimes will have temper tandrum whenver u cleaned his cage etc! n it takes ages trying to tame him!! My another ham (now an angel) liked to stuff the beddings into a tube, blocking herself up!!

Hi - I used to breed and show hamsters. You shouldn't clean out his cage too often, and only rarely clean out his nest - it's his security. Also, when you clean out his cage keep back some dirty litter and sprinkle it over the top of the clean. That way everything will smell like him and he won't get so spooked.

It's not a "temper tantrum", btw, it's panic. Poor creature is having a nervous breakdown! How often do you clean him out? When I bred them, I used to clean them out every couple of weeks, unless their bedding got particularly soiled.

Any questions about hamsters and I'm your woman

 

[Feline]

Hi Anna, my ham Ginger is the most nervous ham I've had for the past 3 years. I guess this nervousness relates to the early handling in the pet shop. The ppl in the petshop don't care much on waking them when they r fast asleep, n with rough handling. So how can these little creatures develop a sense of secureness in this surrounding? There's no use for complaining (I've talked to the manager a few times, once on the danger of wire wheel, another the danger of fluffy bedding, n on living condition of the hams, once on ick outbreak of the clown loach tank. The manager listened, but everything's just the same as b4, no improvementS. That's the big chain pet store so that's the reason y) I've made the same complaint to the danger of wire wheel to another smaller pet shop n they r happy to remove the wheels n i've not seen them selling those no more!

Anyway, Ginger's one of the 2 left in the cage, with a nearly full grown size. I've given him 2 weeks to settle in before handling him n i've been sooo gentle n slow with him, whispering to him, doing everything in slow motion to gain his trust.

It's been 8 months since he came home n he'll a jumpy little guy. He's not afraid of my hand n stuff, but he'll jump to any noise or sudden movement given that he's in a very familiar surrounding with familiar smell (I rubbed my hand with his bedding b4 handling him). My past hamsters were nothing like this, they were sooo tame. So I guess it's the staff at the pet shop that shaped his nervous personality.

I don't clean out his bedding often. He likes to hoard his food, sleep, pee n poop in the "sky restaurant" (that's like the lookout tower) so everyday I've to wipe away the pee without taking out the toilet tissue after he's awake away from the bedroom. I'll clean out his bedroom once like every 10 days when the salt crust deposited on the "sky restaurant" real bad. As for the bedding in his cage, well he has 2 cages n I usually take out the bedding there once every month per cage, like I'll clean out the 1st cage on the start of the month, n clean out the 2nd cage on the 15th of the month. N I've left old bedding too. So that way, I can minimize the stress of losing his smell. The temper tandrum happened during the 1st 2 months he came home. I know it's bcoz he panicked, but that's just a funny way to say it

Sometimes even during the normal days when i've not touched his beddings, he'll sometimes get spooked from the way he pushed all the bedding on the cage to the entrance to his bedroom. Now, usually he's awake from 2am to 10am. So his surrounding is quiet n I can't think of anything that makes him nervous. N yet the next day the bedding has become a little heap! To this day I still havn't figured out y. On a less scientific explanation (coz I believe in spirits n stuff) I guess he's truely spooked. I've had experiences of ancestors communicating with me via dreams. N another experience of my hams seeing them. It was 2 years ago when I was keeping russian dwaf hams. I let them out at 4am (yes I stayed up late). Suddenly they both froze n looked behind me, didn't respond no matter how I touched them. I knew there's an old lady in the apartment coz my hubby sensed her, n with the help of a medium who's v. reliable (she could tell how the building looks like, how the apartment looks like with just an address we gave her the first time when meeting her). Then I know my ancestors would come n visit us now n then, n one night Ginger froze n looked behind me again, this time it's like he looked at something moving behind me, with his head following the object that's behind me (if u understand what i mean).

I know it's hard to believe, but I believe it's true, for I'm a buddhist.

Sorry for such a long post, but it's always good to share stories with hamster lovers!

 

[Alien Anna]

Feline - great to hear about your hammy! I still have one (it's my daughters) but had to stop breeding them due to allergies. We have a long-haired cinnamon (well, actually a moggy) called "Sunshine".

Hamsters from pet stores are generally from commercial breeders, who literally have thousands of cages stacked up in a warehouse somewhere. The young are never handled and are basically wild when you get them.

For future reference, the best way to tame such a hamster is to put it in the busiest part of the house, where it can see people coming and going all the time. Always wash your hands between hamsters, if you have more than one, so they can't smell hamster on you (hamsters absolutely hate each other). After a few weeks, put the base of your hamsters cage at the bottom of a large box, so you can easily reach in and touch the hamster, but it can't escape. Do this every day until the hamster ceases to bother about you stroking it's back (it is unlikely to stay still, but should hopefully stop spooking or trying to bite). Once the hamster is chilled in your presence, you can finally get to the stage of picking him up. Use both hands and hold the hamster firmly - a light touch is more likely to annoy him and result in a bite. Expect to get bitten at least once before you succeed!

I've never failed to tame a hamster, but when I bred them it was often impossible to handle them all, every day. However, once a hamster is tame it doesn't become untame.

 

[Feline]

Hi Anna, yes basically Ginger's tamed in a way that he's not afraid of me touching, stroking, picking him up, etc. He's not afraid of my hand nor me. He'll climb up n walk on my shoulders.

What I said he's difficult to tame is related to the sudden movement far away or sudden noise, but not bcoz of the way I handle him. He's a jumpy guy when compared to the past hams I've had. Thanks for ur advice, I'm not new to keeping hams tho, so I know very well of the ways to tame them n stuff coz I did a lot of research into this b4. Ginger's never bite me once since he came home as I introduce myself very slowly to him. Yes he's always been in the busiest part of the apartment - living room, coz I want him to get used to those different noise n smell. But then... oh well, perhaps it's just his personality!

Anyway the early handling I said is when they r 8 weeks old n time to go to different homes. So they hav to b kept in the small cages in the pet shops, n bcoz they r nocturnal, they r very often woken up by the ppl in the pet shop when customers want to hav a look at them. U know how they'll get so nervous when someone pick them up right after they r woken up, so this'll create nervousness n insecurity.

I always want to get hams from private breeders where particular hams r chosen to breed with good temperament n colour. But bcoz all of them r "out of stock" at that time, I've no choice but to head for pet shops.