Chinchilla

[fashionfobie]

Love My Chinchilla — Do Chinchillas Have Bones?

Every chinchilla owner knows that a chinchilla's bones are delicate. You may have also heard that the issue specifically relates to the chinchilla's rib cage. So, do chinchillas have skeletons, and if so, why do their bones break so easily?

lovemychinchilla.com

Chinchillas do have rib cages. Apparently the confusion is somewhat a myth, but also they do have a few floating ribs. You should not squeeze them because they are very fragile, not because of an absence of a rib cage.

 

[Emma&pico]

my chameleon river off back to hide when I open door

my gargoyle gecko mimi fire down
Fired up before all my plants died I need to replace them all and redo my soil potos killed everything and took over

dash my leopard gecko might to say I did have two more snowy rosie but rosie died

I do have two dogs and two fish as well

maybe my husband right when he says I own zoo

 

[Emma&pico]

@Wally&Eva do you have a picture of your chameleon

 

[WikiWaz]

I love chinchillas. I wanted to get one, but since birds and chinchillas have different temperatures, we felt we could not accommodate them both. I spoke with a breeder who suggested I could put an air conditioner in one room to make it cool for the chinchilla and keep the rest of the house warm for birds. We decided it would be more work than what it was worth. Ultimately we decided on guinea pigs instead. We have NO regrets, we love our piggies.

 

[fashionfobie]

Ultimately we decided on guinea pigs instead. We have NO regrets, we love our piggies.

Piggies are the best!

Story of my Punkin. He was the best guinea pig!
My guinea pig, Punkin, passed away when he was 8 years old. I loved that little dude! He had a whole room that we made into a palace for him, using those wire grates and zip tying them together. I used one corner of the room for my desk and he had the rest. He loved to leap over cardboard tubes. He was a jolly little guy. I was gutted when he passed away. He was healthy until one day he coughed. He had never coughed in his life so I took him to the vet. He had an xray, the vet didn't see anything that alarming, but gave Benadryl as a preventative. This ended up being the biggest mistake! Since he was a senior piggie the antibiotic upset his entire digestive system. He ended up having sezieurs.. I drove back to the vet in tears within 12 hours of his first dose.. we looked at a treatment plan, but his organs were already shutting down. We decided to humanely euthanise him... I still feel bad about it. He didn't want the Benadryl. I had to put it on his high reward treat to get him to eat it, and I feel like my tricking him caused him so much suffering. He was such a sweet and kind being. I still miss him. The vet sent me his paw prints and a very sincere handwritten note.

I originally got Punkin when I was 14 and I was told since he was a male I should only have 1. I now know this is NOT correct and I have deep remorse about not having a little herd for Punkin. I think he had a full life and enjoyed my company, but of course, I would not be able to provide him the joys of other piggies. Someday I hope to adopt guinea pigs again.

 

[WikiWaz]

Piggies are the best!

Story of my Punkin. He was the best guinea pig!

Oh, thanks for sharing! And I'm sorry about what happened but I don't think you should blame yourself. You were acting under the guidance of a veterinarian. I think today much more is known about how to care for pigs and yes, they do have very sensitive digestive systems.


The reason I adopted Momo from our local humane society was to make up for my past mistakes in owning guinea pigs as a middle schooler. My parents refused to listen to the pet store employees and believed buying hay for them was a scam. Our pigs only got pellets and water. That's it. They rarely got vegetables, except sometimes my sister and I would give them grass clippings from the yard in summer. Also, their cage was waaaay too small. We used a big plastic storage tub (sans top) that we filled with pine shavings. Guinea pigs have sensitive respiratory systems so putting them in a container like this was probably just terrible air flow. And finally, they were kept in our basement. The basement was finished, but pigs are social animals and should be kept in an area with high traffic. The end result was once my sister and I were "bored" with them, they got little attention other than feeding and watering. It's just so sad and I'll always feel terrible about it.

Our current pigs, Hana and Momo, have unlimited hay, 16 square foot enclosure with plenty of hiding spaces and tunnels, and fleece wee-wee liners that are changed once to twice daily. They live in our living room and we interact with them every day. We also have a kiddie pool in the basement lined with blankets they can use to run around and play.

 

[fashionfobie]

@WikiWaz Punkin loved hay, capsicum, oranges and pretty much any green you can think of. When he was a senior I started offering him wheat germ with his food. It sounds like you have a great set up! Space to frolic and zoomies!

 

[fashionfobie]

Also I made a typo I meant baytril ! Not benadryl whoops big difference but my auto correct suggested the wrong one and I didn't think on it.

 

[Wally&Eva]

View attachment 418928
my chameleon river off back to hide when I open door
View attachment 418929
my gargoyle gecko mimi fire down
View attachment 418930 Fired up before all my plants died I need to replace them all and redo my soil potos killed everything and took over
View attachment 418931
dash my leopard gecko might to say I did have two more snowy rosie but rosie died

I do have two dogs and two fish as well

maybe my husband right when he says I own zoo

I used to have 2 animal rooms, I had uromastyx, skink, chameleons, baby tortoise, alligator, ferret, chinchilla, lovebirds, brackish fish, salt water fish, I forgot what else, but all at one time. It was a lot haha. I’m down to 2 birds, one old cat, and a recently adopted tortoise

 

[Wally&Eva]

@Wally&Eva do you have a picture of your chameleon

Oh my, I’ll have to dig through but I know I do! Will attach soon! This used to be film camera

 

[Wally&Eva]

This ended up being the biggest mistake! Since he was a senior piggie the antibiotic upset his entire digestive system. He ended up having sezieurs..

That’s kind of what happened with my best friend, my cat Rajah. They have to get rabies shots before being treated too so they pumped him full of antibiotics and medicine and his eyes were hugeee. He like couldn’t close them. They were so dilated. It was the biggest mistake I made. I vowed from now on, to follow my instincts. Especially since my vet had moved up north and he was being treated by a different vet. He was really callous and made me feel pressured. Like if I didn’t do what he said, I wasn’t doing the right thing. But who is to say more than me what my cat needs, after 15 years together. Certainly not a vet that has known my cat for 8 minutes. We can only learn and vow to do better by them

 

[WikiWaz]

@WikiWaz Punkin loved hay, capsicum, oranges and pretty much any green you can think of. When he was a senior I started offering him wheat germ with his food. It sounds like you have a great set up! Space to frolic and zoomies!

Thanks! I forgot to mention our piggie girls get 2 to cups of fresh veggies a day, like red bell peppers, red lettuce, green lettuce, 1/4 orange (absolutely daily for vitamin c), romaine lettuce, rainbow chard, kale, parsley, and cilantro.

Who ever decided guinea pigs are "starter pets" are just plain wrong. They have complex dietary needs that I was just not aware of as a child. Currently, our pigs eat better than we do.

 

[Sparkles99]

I used to have 2 animal rooms, I had uromastyx, skink, chameleons, baby tortoise, alligator, ferret, chinchilla, lovebirds, brackish fish, salt water fish, I forgot what else, but all at one time.

An alligator?!

Who ever decided guinea pigs are "starter pets" are just plain wrong.

No living creature is a starter anything. But I hope that you start to eat as well as they do soon. I went down that path with my first rabbit (RIP). You're worth it too! You can split the good stuff.

 

[WikiWaz]

No living creature is a starter anything.

Yes, I totally agree.