Chin Q's, again! (also, answer for sugar gliders if you know.:)?

Question

(Please only people with experience with chins, or have done TONS of research and know what they are talking about. Also, anyone with the same knowledge for sugar gliders would be helpful:)

I have wanted a rabbit for a long time, and I am close to convincing my dad. (I know that chinchillas are close enough related to a rabbit to breed with them, so I consider them kinda the same.) and I wanted to make sure I knew everything there was before making an informed decision.
1) What is the difference between a chinchilla and, say, a holland lop? (is one more cuddly, easier to keep, etc) pros and cons of both?
2) what exactly and how much do you feed a chinchilla? (cost of this per month would also be nice to know)
3) can chinchillas live alone or do they need a friend? (I am home almost all day and would spend seceral hours with it daily.)
4) I have 3 dogs (a pig, a mutt, and a dobie/rottie). All have shown that they are good with small animals (have had mice, guinea pigs and ferrets and they played with all of them well!), but I want to know if my chinchilla would be too scared of them, or would get used to them. Honestly, the chin would be in my room and my dogs stay downstairs (we have a baby gate to keep them there), so would this bother it?
5) does gender matter with a chinchilla? Pros and cons of both?
6) are there any problems that come with NOT fixing a chinchilla, or is it recommended?
7) can they be litter box trained like ferrets, rats, and bunnies?
8) what are there sleeping habits?
9) can I use shredded paper as bedding for one?

I am really looking for a pet that wants to be held and cuddled as well as play. I am a responsible pet owner, and know that these animals live VERY long lives for a rodent, and would take this into great consideration before thinking of purchasing one.
Thank you for reading and answering![=

Answer 1

As the previous post stated, Chins and Rabbits cannot breed. You may be thinkging of the American Chinchilla and/or Giant Chinchilla.



1.) Chin temprament varys from Chin to Chin. I have one that is very social, but another who would rather not be held or anything.

They can be shy at first, with proper handling and socialization they can become social animals. As far as cuddling, Chins don't like to be cuddled. Some, will tolerate you holding them, but that's about it.

As for care, Chins are pretty easy keepers, but they can be expensive with their needs when first buying one, but upkeep is pretty simple.



Holland Lops can also vary. I know someone who has rescues and they aren't as friendly as mine. I got mine from breeders for fair. Mine I can hold, cuddle, they come right to me when I come to their cage. They are very friendly, outgoing. I think it depends on breeding.

As for care, Lops are probably cheaper first off, and caring for them is easy and not real expensive.



Sugar Gliders, can be difficult. They are social with their colony, but inturders they are vary and protective. If you want a friendly Sugar Glider you would have to get a baby and spend a LOT of time developing a bond. This will take lots of time. You could get an adult, but most adults aren't very cuddly, you would need to tame them and bond them with you, which can be VERY hard. If you want a friendly adult, you need to find one that has been handleld all the time, since it was a baby.

As for care, they are expensive, and out of the 3, they are the least friendly and can be hard to care for.



2.) I put a handful of pellets in their food bowl for both Chins and Lops. They also get some hay.

Sugar Gliders, they eat a mix of fruits, veggies, hardboiled eggs, chicken, crickets, ceral and sometimes mealworms.



For price, it depends on the brand of food and how big you get the bag. I suggest looking at prices at a pet store. Sugar gliders, I buy all my food at a grocery store, prepare it all myself. It costs a little more than my rabbit and Chin food.



3.) Chins can live alone, but it's unnatural for them since they live in big colonies.

Lops can live alone.

Sugars, NO NO NO! They need at least 1 other Sugar Glider.



4.) They should do well with other animals, as long as they are kept seperate. I would personally not let any of my other animals who can be classified as preditors near my animals who would be classifed as prey. I don't trust them together, even if they are well behaved.



5.) For all 3, it's personal preferance on gender. Some people would want females, other males, some (like me) don't care either way.



6.) Unfixed Rabbits and Chins can spray urine, be aggressive and can even have cancer risks.

Unfixed Gliders can stink and be aggressive.



7.) Lops and Chins yes. Gliders, no. They have very little bowl control. Some say yes, others say no. I have not seen or heard anyone say their Glider is potty trained.



8.) Chins and Gliders are both nocturnal. Rabbits are most active during early morning and late night.



9.) Paper can be used for Rabbits and Chins. It may not cover up the amonia smell, but it can still be used.

Gliders, no. It's toxic.



From your Questions, I'd say a Holland Lop would fit you better. Easy care, can be handled, held and cuddled.

Answer 2

Chinchillas live about 20 years, at least in my experience. I wouldn't get one again. Every day you go down to feed and play with him, and he runs the hell away as fast as he can.

Chinchillas are on the same mental capability of a mouse or hamster.

Rabbits (depending on the personality) are a much better pet, because they can cuddle, run around the house, and sometimes, with great concentration, they can be litter trained.

Chinchillas must be supervised at all times while out of the cage, and because of this, you are better off getting a big cage with lots of toys, so it dosnt get bored.



It is very important to get them fixed, especially the females as when they go into heat, it will be messy.



It will cost you anywhere from 50 - 100$ a month to care for a chinchilla.



Both male and female chinchillas will try to run away and bark if they don’t want to be held. If they are feeling particularly agitated they may give you a warming nip...but around this point the females, when feeling especially threatened, will stand on their back legs and spray you with urine. Also BEWARE they have annoyingly good aim from as far back as 6-8 feet. This nasty little habit is also used to separate fighting offspring in extreme battle royal situations.



Chinchillas are not like dogs, cats, or ferrets

They will not learn from scolding and rewards. Makes them impossible to train.



20 years is a long time to have a pet. Children grow up in less time. If you were planning on getting one, get a second hand chinchilla, that is already 10 years old.



You will need to spend atleast 2 hours a day playing with it, and a good hour or so cleaning the food and water trays, the cage, and any messes it makes.



Packaged chinchilla food is available in most pet stores, but alfalfa or hay is a majority of what they eat.

Treats include dried fruit like raisins, cranberries, etc. – but should be given these in moderation. Some also love fresh vegetables like steamed corn on the cob. Each one has specific likes and dislikes, so offer small titbits to see what they like. Be careful however, they have a tender digestive system and can get diarrhoea from too many treats.



Shredded paper works for bedding, but it will be very hard to clean and will make the cage smell all the time.

I would use recycled paper pellets, found in the cat litter section. They are the cheapest, easiest to clean, and they destroy oder.

Just dont use sawdust.



I perosnally would get a ferret, best pet ive ever had, and because they are not rodents, and eat meat, they are not scared of humans like rodents are.

Hope this helps, Good luck!

Answer 3

A chinchilla isn't all cute & cuddly with the owner until it has learned to trust it's owner. so that may take a while. also, don't try having your dogs play with it, it will most likely have a heart attack. The only way you can have two chinchillas together is if they are the both females and were born together, so you'd buy them together. males would fight alot, so i wouldn't recommend it. also, the temperature needs to stay below 72 degrees with hardly any humidity. this can cause your chinchilla to overheat & die of a heatstroke. Chinchillas live off of pellets & timothy hay, a package of food is around $10 & lasts about two months, a package of timothy hay is about $4 & will last probably one to two months. some chinchillas can be potty trained. They're nocturnal & usually sleep almost all day, very lightly. they're crazy hyper all night. & you can use shredded plain white computer paper for bedding, no newspaper or other papers, the ink stains their paws and can make them ill. hope i helped!

Answer 4

Chinchillas and rabbits can't breed. Two animals typically have to be the same on the genus level of their scientific name to potentially be able to breed. They also have to have the same number of chromosomes.



1) A chinchilla is much more wild than a rabbit. They are not domesticated near as much as rabbits are. They are naturally more high strung and likely to startle if they get loose and you try to catch them.



2) timothy and grass hay and pellets



3) chinchillas would prefer to live in a group but only if they know each other, one may stand guard while the other sleeps as they do in the wild, a lone chinchillas can get very stressed



4) chinchillas are prey animals with little time spent domesticating them, if a dog scared them they could just die of a heart attack on the spot or run and get lost somewhere or hurt trying to get away. My aunt's chin got scared by her dogs and tried to jump on a chair and broke his neck by hitting the bottom of the chair with his head.



5) males can get aggressive toward each other, so be sure to get bonded males. two males who are bonded can fight if you put a female with them. Females will get especially stressed if kept alone.



6) same problems that other pets can have, not like female ferrets who die if not fixed



7) They can be about 50% litter trained like a ferret or rat



8) Chinchillas are mostly nocturnal but very light sleepers since they are prey animals



9) shredded paper is fine. Old towels or fleece is better. They only need a soft spot to sleep in, the whole cage needn't be covered unless its wire bottomed.



You forgot to ask about temperature. A chinchilla must be kept cold, 70F or colder. They will overheat and die without it. A sugar glider is the opposite so they can't live in the same room.



Unsocial chinchillas can bite hard and both genders will spray urine.

Answer 5

first off, I'm really only here to point out that chinchillas are not very much like rabbits at all. They have very different temperments, they eat a different diet, and they have different care needs. I don't know what this nonsense about being able to breed with them is, but rabbits and chinchillas are not that closely related, and CANNOT breed. It's physically impossible for them. Don't believe me? just google their genetic makeup - rabbits have 44 chromosomes, chinchillas have 64, that doesn't match up, so no babies.



That said, they are fantastic pets. I haven't kept them myself so I shan't try to answer all your questions, but I know a few people who have, including my sister, so I can tell you that if you put in the time to research properly and give them a good home and lots of love you'll get a great companion out of it. If you don't handle regularly from a young age though, they can get nasty and resistant to being held. So get them as babies. They're skittish by nature and you need to be slow and gentle with them, let them decide to trust you in their own time.



I wouldn't advise sugar gliders. They're cute, and very sweet. But they're nocturnal, and much harder to convince to alter their sleeping habits to suit you. My sister also kept these and rarely saw them for more than an hour before she went to bed. They're also expensive.

Answer 6

Mink, Bounce, Rio, Ari, Binx, Truffle, Kyri, Nykko, Kalila

Answer 7

Dont know much about chinchillas, but do know some about sugar gliders. (No expert but do own 2) First they are not rodents but marsupials (related to kangaroo.) And like chinchilla's live long in captivity.



Bonding with a glider takes time, but once they are used to you they are so sweet. I often end up "Napping" with them on the couch either in my hand or cuddled on me. They love being held, hanging out in pouches, loose pockets, hoods of shirts and mine love hanging upside down on back of shirts. In the evening we set up a tent and they love it. They will climb up the sides then jump to you. We are teaching ours tricks (jump on command, go to cage, go to pouch, come and my favorite wink.) they are supposed to be as smart as dogs. One person I know taught hers the name of various objects in room and when she would point and say that object the gliders would go.



Eating: I do pellet food provided all day and apple slice with other fruits and veggies at night. Also 1/4 slice bread every couple of days or so. (all organic) Bugs freak me out so no insects for mine, but they get their protein from high protein pellet food. Also they tend to be messy eaters so we have a "dining room" which is a plastic tub with lid upside down to hold their food.



They prefer a friend unless you can contribute 2 hours daily. However that is not 2 hours pure play time. they are happy to be placed in a pouch hung around your next while doing your daily routine.



I have ferrets and the ferrets leave the gliders alone and vice vesa (however we will not leave them unsupervised together.) Gliders are good jumpers and very fast. They have been known to get along well with other pets, but make sure they are supervised. Even though gliders are fast,, once bonded to you it is easy to get them to come to you should they go off to "explore."



Gender not a big difference in my book... Some say girls easier than boys, but our girl is much more temperamental than the boy.



Fixing: Since they are marsupials, dont fix girls. If you have girl and boy I would rec fixing boy unless you wanna make babies (which I would leave to experts.) Most breeders can have bos fixed for you prior to sale.



Litter box training NO. However the poop is pellets half size of rabbits. Prior to playing we usually massage their tummies for about thirty seconds then put them in their cage for a few minutes to "clean their system." After that as long as we are not feeding them snacks they are good to go for a couple hours.



They typically sleep during day and active at night. However my young kids will pull them out all times of the day to play and as soon as back in cage they go back to sleep. Some say they are noisy at night but their squeaks are no louder than a ferrets, and we dont allow real loud toys. They are prone to "crab" while getting use to you, feel threatened, or mine do it when ever I wake them up, but as soon as I start petting them they stop.



I dont use shredded paper fearing they will eat it. I do keep paper in bottom tray to catch droppings. Other than that they have pouches in thier cage the sleep in.



And NO BATHING!!! :) They are very clean animals