We've gathered various poll results from around the web (mostly from the Chins & Quills forum) and consolidated them here. These are the ones we found interesting and hope you do too.
Our vote for each question appears bolded.
1. Do your chinchillas have a hammock?
Yes and they hate it: 7%
Yes and they love it: 66%
I don't have one: 27%
Total votes: 62
2. What is your chinchilla's favorite treat?
Fresh Apple: 2.25%
Plain Cheerios (1 or 2): 3.44%
Dried Cranberries: 8.74%
Plain Shredded Wheat (1 tiny square): 5.17%
Raisins: 52.32%
Organic Cranberry Juice: 0%
Prunes: 0.66%
Fresh Grapes: 0.93%
Bran Flakes Cereal: 0.79%
Dried Apples: 2.78%
Frozen Grapes: 0.13%
Banana: 3.05%
Uncooked Elbow Noodle: 0.66%
Wheat Germ: 0.40%
Peanut (unsalted in the shell): 1.06%
Other: 17.62%
Total votes: 755
3. What type of pellet food do you use?
Briskys: 0.33%
Alice Kline: 6.06%
Kaytee: 8.49%
L & M: 2.76%
Mazuri: 57.33%
Other: 25.03%
Total votes: 907
4. What type of water do you use?
Always tap water: 38.31%
Only bottled water: 23.38%
A Britta filter (or similar): 34.42%
Both tap & bottled water: 3.90%
Total votes: 154
5. How long did your chin take to start using its wheel?
Less than a week: 78.38%
2 - 3 weeks: 12.16%
3 - 4 weeks: 2.70%
More than a month: 6.76%
Total votes: 74
6. What is the worst aspect of owning a chinchilla?
The mess they make: 15.13%
When they have health problems: 14.42%
Cleaning the cage: 9.69%
The noise they make especially at night: 1.18%
The expense of taking care of them: 2.36%
Behavioral problems e.g. biting, spraying: 3.31%
Their daily care needs and time commitment: 1.18%
They chew on everything: 11.35%
You can't leave them alone for days: 2.84%
Having them die on you: 18.68%
Birthing problems (for breeders): 0.71%
Always worrying about them: 6.38%
They don't like being touched and/or held: 8.98%
Other: 3.78%
Total votes: 423
7. What kind of bedding do you use?
Carefresh: 25.83%
Aspen: 21.19%
Pine: 41.72%
Cell-Sorb: 1.32%
Other: 9.93%
Total votes: 151
Entries (RSS)
June 18th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Hi Alex,
Congratulations on your new chinchilla!
Not sure what you mean by mineral chews. We don't have any of those.
Diarrhea can be caused by stress and a change in food. Hopefully all is better now.
Most chinchilla owners who have been at it for a few years avoid Kaytee food. We do too. We have no idea if the other food is healthy or not since you didn't provide a name. However, if your chinchilla is eating more than a couple of tablespoons a day, there may be something wrong with it i.e. more like a treat than food.
Good luck!
June 16th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I am a new chinchilla owner and I have a couple questions that hopefully I can get some answers to!
Are mineral chews OK to leave in the cage?
She has diarrhea, but it seems to be getting better. Was this from the stress of moving to my home or should I bring her to a vet? O gave her some plain yogurt from a syringe and it seems to be helping.
I bought two different kinds of pellets, the kaytee brand and a brand with dried carrots and some little things in it. My chinchilla wasn't really eating the plain Kaytee pellets so I mixed some of the other pellets with extra stuff in it and she is eating them like crazy… Are these other pellets OK? They don't have raisins or anything like that.
I know that I have a lot of questions, but i just want to make sure that I'm doing everything right and if I'm not O want to fix it because I've absolutely fallen in love with my little chinchilla!
If someone could please help me out I would appreciate it greatly!
-alex
August 13th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
The rose hips and apple are fine. We haven't heard anything about spinach. Having said, we suggest sticking to "regular" chinchilla food until you've had her for a while. At this time you can't determine what's normal for her when it comes to eating and digesting foods. As such, you won't be able to tell if any problems are related to the foods you're feeding her.
August 13th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Last night was the first night that I had Lacie. She's four months old. This morning I gave her some freshly picked rose hips and red apple without the peel and some spinach. Are these good fresh foods for her?
August 9th, 2006 at 8:38 am
Monee,
Sorry, but we haven't heard anything about cactus. We don't know if it is good or bad.