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Their adoption papers say about 16 months old (they’re brothers from the same litter)
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Oct 13, 2020 05:17
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Hey maybe you guys can give me some advice about my chinchillas, I see a lot of conflicting information when I search online. I got them from my coworker because she was moving to california. They are brothers and about 3 years old now. I am feeding them the Mazuri Chincilla feed and regular timothy hay. For a treat I give them dried goji berries. I just leave food out in the dish for them and let them eat whenever they want. I don't think they're getting fat but I don't really know. I had to put 2 bowls in their cage, along with 2 of pretty much everything else because otherwise the big one would pick on the little one and try to chew on his whiskers. They are inside a metal cage. If I give them anything wooden they will chew it into nothing in a matter of days. Sometimes I give them paper towel rolls or some wicker balls to chew on from kaytee. Every once in a while I'll buy them a wood hay feeder or a hutch and they'll just eat it. I've heard some horror stories about metal hay feeders so I just throw the hay in a big pile and try to keep the cage clean. Can anyone recommend a safe metal hay feeder? I put regular tap water in the water bottle. I was perpetually worried about their environment so I bought both a portable air conditioning unit and a dehumidifer to try and keep the temperature below a maximum of 70 and the humidity below 55. I give them a dust bath 3 times a week unless it is very humid and I can't reel it in, in which case I'll give them more dust. Anyway, I don't really know what I'm doing so if I'm loving something up please let me know.
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Oct 22, 2020 06:49
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You should provide wood specifically for them to chew apart. You can probably find plenty of sites online that sell chinchilla chewing sticks. They chew for entertainment and stress relief, and one reason that chinchillas can be mean to each other is boredom. Having sticks will greatly slow down the process of demolishing their house/feeder/whatever. Wheels are also good entertainment, and should be metal. They will probably also get chewed into unusableness eventually, but I've never had any chinchilla have problems from doing it until they chewed it to the point they had jagged edges and one got a cut. Cardboard tubes in general are a no no for chinchillas. They will eat the shredded cardboard and it can block up their insides. The environment control and dust baths are a bit more extreme than needed, but won't do any harm. They can handle temps well into the 70s just fine, although it shouldn't go above 80, and once a week dust baths are fine
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Oct 22, 2020 13:20
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Ok word, I've been ordering the apple branches off chewy recently. They seem like they get real mopey whenever the temperature is above 72 and I didn't like it. Thanks for the advice
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Oct 22, 2020 21:42
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What should I be looking for when examining guinea pig day-to-day activity? People say to look out for lethargy, but my pigs pretty much sleep until they get hungry or thirsty. One does love floor time and popcorns around, but the other will either beeline to his hidey or just lay there occasionally following his brother if you remove the hidey.
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Oct 22, 2020 22:10
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Not sure what you mean look for lethargy? They're pigs, it comes in spurts probably at night when you're sleeping. My two boars are over 3.5 years old and they're still active and feisty. Also, I really wouldn't worry about overfeeding unless you're feeding them strange stuff like nuts, beans, or those weird high sugar treats pet stores sell. My pigs daily get: infinite hay(small pet select, they love it) infinite water(two bottles) nearly infinite oxbox pellets(i refill it typically within hours of going empty) 4-5 large pieces of romaine lettuce 2-4 baby carrots and mixed in few times a week cilantro, green peppers, maybe some sweet stuff like grapes, strawberries for treats occasionally.
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Oct 22, 2020 23:51
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I’m probably being paranoid as these are my first pigs, but just trying to be vigilant of potential health issues. I walked over to see my pig passed out in a pile of hay like a tiny, furry drunk and was wondering what constitutes “normal” pig behavior.
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Oct 23, 2020 00:29
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That sounds like normal pig behavior to me 
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Oct 23, 2020 00:52
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Yeah. If you're actively checking up on them and keep up with the consistent feeding schedule you're doing better than probably 90% of other pig owners. People put guinea pigs in cages meant for rats, feed them garbage, and then wonder why they're sickly and depressed.
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Oct 23, 2020 01:11
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coco is bleeding from her vagina. when that happens to hamsters, is it a period thing, an infection, cancer, or what? I've never had a hamster do that before but I was holding her earlier and she was sleeping in my shirt, and she left just a mess of really smelly blood all over my chest where she had been sleeping. man I hope she's not dying. that's really not something I need right now.
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Nov 2, 2020 14:02
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Captain Invictus posted:coco is bleeding from her vagina. when that happens to hamsters, is it a period thing, an infection, cancer, or what? I've never had a hamster do that before but I was holding her earlier and she was sleeping in my shirt, and she left just a mess of really smelly blood all over my chest where she had been sleeping. I don't remember any of my female hams having periods.
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Nov 2, 2020 17:25
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One of my hamsters did have a vaginal prolapse when I was a kid. Freaked me out and I swore never to get another after that, my mum took her to the vet and had her put to sleep. She was an adult when we got her and had probably been bred in the past. https://animals.mom.com/hamsters-menstrual-cycles-1772.html Seems like a vet-visit thing. Could be a pyometra, that happened to my dog, I thought it was a bad heat, but in reality her womb was on the verge of exploding. Bad times.
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Nov 2, 2020 17:36
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Oof, jesus. I'll see if I can take her over then. I don't know if they'd be able to do anything if it is, though.
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Nov 3, 2020 02:08
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Captain Invictus posted:coco is bleeding from her vagina. when that happens to hamsters, is it a period thing, an infection, cancer, or what? I've never had a hamster do that before but I was holding her earlier and she was sleeping in my shirt, and she left just a mess of really smelly blood all over my chest where she had been sleeping. Sounds like pyometra (open if they are already bleeding) it’s a Uteran infection that will be fatal to your animal. The only cute is to have her spayed, this is a very serious condition and should not be ignored at all.
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Nov 3, 2020 04:56
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Yeah I'm going to see if I can take her over tomorrow. Not sure if they can actually operate on her since she's closing in on two years old, but we will see.
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Nov 3, 2020 07:37
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Yeah... With my dog it was like "Whoa yeah she's lost a ton of weight, but you walked her here so she's probably fine, leave her with us for a couple of hours and we'll ultrasound" to a phone call an hour later with "We're taking her into emergency surgery, Now. It'll be £450." They're nasty.
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Nov 3, 2020 12:05
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Yeah, she's bled a couple times the last week and a half or so, how long does it usually take to get bad? She's currently running on her wheel like nothing is wrong, eating everything I give her, and isn't underweight, doesn't seem to be in pain or recoiling/defensive or anything. It's weird. I know rodents hide injuries instinctually, but she doesn't seem to be affected by it at all, if it's supposed to be immensely painful for them. I've been told by the nearby vet who has a surgeon able to do hamster spaying to call first thing tomorrow and they hopefully will have an early morning cancellation. Fingers crossed. Captain Invictus fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Nov 3, 2020 |
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Nov 3, 2020 14:47
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Good luck with your little ham, Captain Invictus. My pig Mavis is back at the emergency vet right now. She had been doing well since her last visit a few weeks ago, but obviously there is more going on than just arthritis. I got up this morning and she was getting chased by my other pigs, had a real severe nystagmus and head tilt. The vet just called me to say they did more x-rays but couldn't manage bloodwork because she would immediately go into respiratory distress, and that they don't really know what is going on. Now I am waiting on a call for an estimate for 24hr of hospitalization which will probably be tremendous. :[ Edit: 24hr hospitalization is $1900 
Sirotan fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Nov 3, 2020 |
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Nov 3, 2020 17:38
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Why the heck do my pigs immediately make a rumbling sound when they hear a knock? It’s the only time they make this sound, and it’s never accompanied by other sounds or behavior. They can chill in my lap and will hear a knock and rumble briefly without moving or follow-up noises. It’s so weird and consistent.
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Nov 5, 2020 06:00
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So I wound up not taking her to the vet. She's not bled since I last posted, and she's still happy and doing things normally like nothing's wrong. Calling the vet about it, they said they would be unlikely to perform surgery on a nearly two-year-old hamster anyways. A goon from the thread contacted me and said it's probably cervical cancer as opposed to a pyometra considering her age, which wouldn't surprise me. So I guess I'll just make her days as happy as possible if it's indeed cancer.
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Nov 7, 2020 17:58
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Pretty sure my pigs are smarter than I think they are. I gave them a few small pieces of romaine lettuce and baby carrots - one pig gladly found a carrot piece, trotted away, and then chowed down. The other pig, further away, found the romaine first and began to eat. I waited ~30 seconds, then pointed at the carrot he missed and said "Look! You missed it!" He then immediately jumped to the carrot and began to eat. crazy stuff man
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Nov 8, 2020 03:07
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Their eyesight isn’t great, so if they drop a treat then they sometimes fail to find it and just waddle over to eat some hay. One of mine thus morning dropped his vitamin c cracker three times and needed me to guide him back to it.
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Nov 8, 2020 17:32
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what am I looking at here? this isn't a prolapse, right? I had a syrian long ago who had a prolapse and it was quite a bit different from this. linked for those who don't want to look at bloody hamster genitals she hasn't bled since I posted about her bleeding last, until now, and this appeared.
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Nov 15, 2020 11:43
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Yikes, best wishes to your ham uhh, on a lighter note...  My husband is having too much fun with his new figure. And Kirby.  My mom's reaction is killing us
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Nov 17, 2020 18:47
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Kirby is very handsome
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Nov 17, 2020 20:44
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Pasketti posted:Yikes, best wishes to your ham Kirby seems like an inquisitive little sweetheart  .
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Nov 17, 2020 20:51
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 Kirby thrives off of your compliments I'm gonna sound like a crazy cat lady, but we have a really good communication system with Kirby. Like, for example, we call floortime in the bedroom WITHOUT his shithead brother a "journey" and we call this:  his "burrito". So if I put his burrito down on the floor of the guineapig zone and say something like "Kirby wanna go on a Journey? Go Burrito! Burrito Burrito!" He'll hop in so I can airlift him to the bedroom for his daily Journey. When he's done exploring and playing, and/or he has to go potty, he hops back in the burrito to tell me to airlift him back to the cage. He has not dropped a single turd on the floor ever. It definitely complicates the simple process of "Want guineapig? pick up the guineapig.", but doing it this way makes Kirby way more relaxed, I guess he feels more in control. Russer will have nothing to do with any of this. His first "journey" just consisted of a lot of chattering and then he pissed under out bed. Pasketti fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Nov 23, 2020 |
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Nov 23, 2020 17:08
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Guinea Pigs can be surprisingly polite about not wanting to piss on you when they want to. The ones I had as a teen would both start getting real fidgety when being held to let us know that in a few minutes they were gonna take a piss and it could either be on whoever was still holding them or in the comfort of their cage.
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Nov 23, 2020 17:38
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Neither of my pigs are really tame yet and bolt all over the place when I go to pick them up. Even then, I have never been pooped or peed on. In fact, they never peed during floor time until I put down a blanket.
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Nov 23, 2020 18:45
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I give mine about 20 mins of laptime before he gets very comfortable and begins to pee/poop. It's just natural I think. Just bring a towel
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Nov 23, 2020 19:45
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Just learned that my compounding pharmacy has been making a prescription for my guinea pig chicken flavored the entire time she's been on it????????? No wonder she loving hates it.
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Dec 5, 2020 19:32
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Poké has started to do the thing where she will drag any food or favorite items to her food dish for safe keeping. I got her a new loofa cube the other day and I'm guessing she really enjoys it as it used to be on the left side of the cage next to her nest house with a bendy bridge on top connecting the two. This morning I saw that she had moved the cube over to her food dish and destroyed the nice climbing perch I had made. It must have been a hard decision as she was on that bendy bridge platform most of the time before she destroyed everything.
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Dec 9, 2020 18:44
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HAPPY HOLIDAY TIME FELLOW RODENT FREAKS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwL07XXFysU  HIGHLY recommend Oxbow's Enriched Life lollipop treats. They're just made of timothy hay and a bit of dried fruit or veg. I let kirb gnaw on it for a few minutes every day, he goes nuts for it. They're really hard and crunchy and good for grinding teeth. Also its just really drat cute to hold a giant swirly lollipop and have your rodent pet lick and bite it like an old timey child.  
Pasketti fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Dec 11, 2020 |
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Dec 11, 2020 18:36
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Neat, I've never seen those before and will have to check those out. You have a very cute pigge.
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Dec 11, 2020 19:17
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Pasketti posted:HAPPY HOLIDAY TIME FELLOW RODENT FREAKS Aww Kirby is one festive pig  Happy Holidays from Dipper and Pokè  
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Dec 22, 2020 05:50
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Nooblet's condition seems to have stabilized a bit. She's still pretty gross and drooly, but she's eating normally and has even gained a bit of weight back. So even though she's probably on her way out, she doesn't seem to be suffering. Well, unless we're dressing her up for holiday photos, that is.
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Dec 23, 2020 00:57
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well, coco's gone. she hadn't bled in a while and had returned to normal, I think it was cancer that had made her bleed previously. She had gotten really thin lately and today she was tottering around her cage, looking for a place to die I think, so I'm at least glad I was able to be there for her to keep her warm when she went.
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Dec 28, 2020 19:00
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I kept walking over to coco's cage the day she died before I removed it, and felt I needed to have at least one hamster in the room at all times. it just didn't feel right without one. so I went to a pet store I've bought from previously(if you're in the west of boston area, New England Tropical Pet is the place, a small store run by I think only one dude now who works his rear end off for the place and is very helpful and nice. Most of my coolest hamsters were from his store. He told me he's not doing well due to COVID really loving up small businesses so I helped him out a bit and recommend anyone who might stop in to do so too) I thought I'd pick up one or two, but he also had a male chinese dwarf hamster who was shockingly friendly and crawled onto my hand, so I got him too. So I left with two large champagne-haired syrian hamsters who were cagemates and a male chinese dwarf hamster. I've named them Tom, Dick, and Harry. for some reason, I seem to be far, far more allergic to the champagne-haired syrians than others I've had before. I wonder what the cause is, I had one in my shirt and well, now my entire upper torso and shoulders/neck area is inflammation and hives linked image of hoivs I figure after extended exposure my body will chill the hell out a bit, since I also used to be very allergic to any hamsters at all. hopefully that's the case, I like to hold them and let them crawl around in hamster-dedicated shirts, and it'd be a bummer not to be able to do that.
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Dec 31, 2020 13:48
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Harry is the type of hamster to stand up straight as a rod to sniff at something on the top of her cage like, say, my hand, and occasionally fall over backwards as she leans too far into it. She is also the type to flip over onto her back in defensive position when I open her cage and then when she realizes I have treats she takes them and just noshes on them while on her back, feet in the air. I wish I could've gotten a picture of that one. Good hamster. I'll try and get some pictures soon, but they are extremely jumpy little shits so it's hard to get a clear shot.
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Jan 1, 2021 15:20
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I'm sorry to hear about Coco, Captain Invictus, I'm glad you were able to find some new hams while supporting a small business. Definitely post some pictures when you can, seeing all the cute rodents is one of the best parts of this thread. It just happens to be that the New England Tropical Pet store you mentioned is only an hour from me. Once COVID cases fall and it's safe/acceptable to cross state borders again I will have to take your recommendation to stop in next time I am in that area since I am long overdue for a trip to H-mart in Burlington and the Okipoke in Westford (which is actually where Pokè got her name from since I had one of their menu's in my car that we used as a shred toy to keep her busy on the drive home).
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Jan 2, 2021 03:19
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