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Miscellaneous |
OrinocoThe chins have spent the last year living in luxury in one of those converted aviary cages (looks good even if I do say so myself!) and were getting on fine, until one terrible day last month. I adopted three chinchillas a year ago from a local animal rescue centre. They didn't have much experience with chins, and had only let me take them on the condition that I promised not to split them up. They are a group of three siblings, one female and two males, the males are castrated. These chins had lived all their lives together in the rescue, so I thought the centre must be right and they would be ok together. I went on holiday for two weeks and left them with a friend. There must have been a terrible fight one night and poor Orinoco was nearly killed. The lady who was looking after them didn't notice and just thought Orinoco looked scruffy so gave him even more sandbaths! When I returned Orinoco was on deaths door. I bathed his wounds and quickly saw he had badly infected ears and a missing toe. I rushed him o the vets who said his gut was shutting down as well (his weight dropped to 300g) which posed the biggest threat. I spent the next couple of weeks giving his wounds daily baths in hibiscrub, syringe feeding him supreme science recovery, and giving him antibiotics (and probiotics). Orinoco has recovered really well and has put loads of weight back on. But, this story illustrates that even if your mixed sex group appear to be getting along, having more than one male in a cage of females is a recipe for disaster, they can turn on each other in the blink of an eye. And your chin might not be as lucky as Orinoco was.  |
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