Posts Tagged ‘chinchilla’

Valentine’s Day 2010

February 14th, 2010

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Winnie Valentine 2010

ps: Winnie is supposed to be holding a heart-shaped paper.

Tags: ,
Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Chinchilla pictures | Comments (3)

Violated!

December 8th, 2009

WARNING: this post contains adult material that may be considered offensive.
You may choose not to read this post if you are easily shocked or offended or
if the standard of your community do not allow for the viewing of
sexually mature chinchilla materials!

Tubby was violated .. 4 separate times:

Tubby fur ring1

21st of October 2009

Tubby fur ring2

22nd of October 2009

Tubby fur ring3

1st of November 2009

Tubby fur ring4

5th of December 2009
Since I hadn’t cleaned Tubby’s penis in awhile, this fur ring is quite thick

A common problem in non-breeding male chinchillas is fur ring, which is when fur is caught inside the sheath of the penis making it uncomfortable for the chinchillas. I noticed that one day, as Tubby was cleaning himself, there was a black-looking thing around his penis. I suspected fur ring & in order to confirm my suspicion, I had to (literally) violate him: I had to hold him still, retract the sheath of his penis, & pull his penis out. I sure did find a thick fur ring (1st picture). It must have been super uncomfortable for Tubby.

The next day, I again noticed a black-looking thing around Tubby’s penis has he was cleaning himself. He wasn’t happy when I had to clean him again; fur was slipping everywhere as he was trying to escape my grip & by the end of it all, I was covered in grey fur. The second picture shows a dirty-looking fur ring because I had to use petroleum jelly. Just as male humans may need lubricants to prevent dryness, chinchillas do too (sorry to be candid, haha!).

After the second try, I did not want to bother Tubby anymore, for fearing that he may distrust me (chinchillas can easily distrust their owner, especially after experiencing two horrible, traumatizing incidents). I noticed that his penis was slightly red (the skin was probably raw from all that cleaning) & I wanted to give him a break .. which only lasted for a little over a week, when I had to clean Tubby for the third time (3rd picture).

Not all non-breeding male chinchillas have fur rings. For instance, I have never noticed fur ring on Winnie. And some chinchillas are just better than others in cleaning themselves, while some are hopeless & need help from their human companions. As the weather is getting colder, chinchillas’ fur are becoming thicker, so fur rings may be unavoidable.

The following third party video is a guide on how to remove chinchilla’s fur ring (except it doesn’t tell how to handle a super hyper chinchilla like Tubby).

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Chinchilla care, Chinchilla health | Comments (1)

Gifts

September 8th, 2009

I was recently in the Tiny Island. During my stay, I did not dare to brave the crowds and the expensive taxi fares of going into downtown despite all the new shopping places. Because of that, I didn’t buy anything for myself, but I didn’t forget to bring back some gifts for the animals:

Gifts from SG

Since I’m stingy & I don’t want these foods to run out too fast, these foods will only be treats & not part of the animals’ daily diet.

I like Marukan :-)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Chinchilla products, Hamster products, Rants | Comments (3)

Angry Tubby

August 22nd, 2009

Having a lot less out-of-cage playtime these past 2 weeks due to my busy schedule, Tubby managed to devise a way to get back at me:

Tubby sharp apple

Yep, the ever-so-sly Tubby created sharp threatening tools out of apple sticks just to get back at me, I’m sure. I’m scared .. that one of these nights he’ll escape from his cage and really attack me.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Hamster care | Comments (2)

Summer Goodness - Strawberry

August 2nd, 2009

Leaves that is!

Tubby strawberry leaf

The chinchillas love dried strawberry leaves! They can’t eat the strawberries because they’re too wet (& may lead to diarrhea). Since I don’t have a dehydrator (which is on my wishlist), I wash the leaves clean and just air-dry them. I have a tupperware full of strawberry leaves that I picked from my garden. Hopefully that’ll last for awhile.

To see how the garden has progressed throughout the summer, see here.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Chinchilla adventure | Comments (3)

Summer Goodness - Cilantro

July 22nd, 2009

Since it’s summer, I’ve been keeping a vegetable garden growing all sorts of things. One of the things I’m growing is cilantro & my cilantros are going crazy! They keep going to seed every week & I have to keep trimming them. That’s surely a good thing for the hamsters :-)

DH cilantro
Daddy Hamster (above) & Baby Hamster (below) enjoying freshly picked cilantro

BH cilantro

To see how the garden has progressed throughout the summer, see here.

ps: the chinchillas also like cilantros, but they like them slightly crispy & dry.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Hamster adventure | Comments (2)

Good News

April 26th, 2009

The fur on Tubby’s tail has fully grown back! Took a lot of loving & affection :-)

Tubby's tail

Tags: , ,
Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Chinchilla care, Chinchilla health | Comments (4)

Return After Holiday

January 12th, 2009

Returned to Stateside on Wednesday, but didn’t reach home until Thursday. It was nice to see all the animals again! I was busy cleaning, unpacking, cleaning, and more unpacking.

I bought a bunch of treats from the Tiny Island. I bought this lavender dust bath for the hammies, but they didn’t know what to do with it!! Instead, they just peed in it 0_o
They love the new treats though! I also bought this new wooden box where I put treats in it and the hammies have to figure out how to open it & get to the treats. So far, only Brain figured out how to open the box. The Robos only bit the wooden box and the Syrians are completely clueless. The (hired) petsitter didn’t know that my hammies like to hoard food. So, she kept refilling their food bowls thinking that they’re running out of food! But when I was cleaning their cages, I found food hidden inside the beddings .. that’s why Brain, Dee Dee, the Robos, and the Syrians all gained weight.

Sad news for Tubby though .. I think I’ve spoiled him with 30 minutes+ daily of out-of-the-cage playtime. When I was gone, he was down to 15 minutes for every 2 days. Even though I filled his cage with apple sticks & perches, lava ledge, lots of hay, & other chew things, he must have been bored out of his mind. He chewed off some of the fur on his tail, leaving a bald patch :-(

Tubby's tail1

I’ve been playing with him a lot since I got home and I’m not going to leave Tubby for that long again ..

ps: Winnie is fine and dandy though. Maybe because he’s used to not being let out at all from his days at the breeder.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Chinchilla care, Hamster adventure | Comments (3)

Winnie is Eating ..

November 6th, 2008

.. on his own! Yay!

Proof:

Tags: , ,
Posted in Chinchilla care, Chinchilla health | Comments (5)

Another Vet Visit

October 24th, 2008

Today, Winnie went to see the vet .. AGAIN! Good news though :-D

From the last vet visit, this is what we’ve noticed:

  • The papaya enzyme tables that were supposed to help Winnie break down any build-ups in his stomach didn’t work.
  • What seemed to work real well is the fresh pineapple juice. Winnie has been given 3 ml of freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Apparently, it’s a homemade remedy for rabbits to get rid of hairballs.
  • Winnie IS getting better: he’s been more jumpy, has been eating pellets on his own, & doesn’t refuse treats :-)

I didn’t take Winnie, but this is what I was told:

  • That Winnie is getting better & not as gassy. Yay!!!
  • He doesn’t need to go on any medications, except for the GasX which we’ll have to continue for the next 3-5 days.
  • Maybe with a little help of electrolytes, his poop will become better.
  • Winnie has lost quite a bit of weight, Winnie was 480 grams at his first vet visit & today he weighs 410 grams.

The vet is optimistic about Winnie’s outlook & I’m glad that we decided to wait it out before proceeding to surgeries. In the meantime, we’ll still have to keep an eye on Winnie for the next week & reduce his syringe-feeding to encourage more pellet-eating.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Chinchilla care, Chinchilla health | Comments (4)

« Older Entries