Going away to school. A couple questions.

[alfie]

In the next week I am going to be going off to school and I have been lucky enough to be able to bring my chinchillas with me since I will be living at my grandmas house. I have a couple questions though.

As I will no longer be working at the pet store during school I wont have my employee discount to buy food and such. When I asked one of my coworkers about it, we got to talking about buying food in large quantities. I have only two chinchillas, but she said what she does for her rabbit is she buys a 50 pound bag of food and freezes it in individual ziplock bags and takes out portions to defrost as needed. She said it is a lot cheaper, she only pays 14 dollars for a bag that size. I was wondering. With just two chinchillas it will obviously take me a long time to go through 50 pounds of food. As long as it is frozen, will it retain its nutritional value? Also, she told me that the Mazuri food I use is Purina brand. Can anyone confirm that?

I was also thinking of getting an excersize pen for my chinchillas so that I can let them run out of the cage with a little less supervision so that while I'm doing my homework, I can have them in the same room with me but not have to worry that they are getting into trouble or destroying my grandma's baseboards. The one I have been looking at is 65 inches in diameter. Will running in here be of the same value as out of the cage excersize as long as I provide enough stuff to play in and jump on?

Also, of anyone has any tips on making the drive less stressful for them, its only a half hour and I have good air conditioning in my car, but any tips would be appreciated.

[ABC Chinchillas]

You can often find food much cheaper online than in a pet store. I am not sure about the excersive pen though. They will be fine on the short drive, give them some hay in the carrier and don't blast your music and they will not even notice the little trip

[MischievousChins]

Yes to everything Kristy said...
a 30 min car ride is nothing, they will be fine.

And yes, buying the large bags of food is much cheaper, and generally fresher than the stuff in pet stores.
You can freeze the food too, just be care and make sure the food does not get moisture in/on it while it is defrosting, otherwise you will get mold.
There are many breeders who sell thier food online, and ship in flat rate boxes so it's really cheap.
Or look for a breeder near you and purchase your food from them.

You can try the playpen, I had one years ago, I never had luck with it. Sure they stay contained.... for awhile... I couldn't put anything taller than a kleenex box in there otherwise they would use that as a "step" to bounce on out.
Also had a few guys who would run laps until they got up good speed, then bounce off one side, and over the other....
So I guess it just depends on the chin.

[alfie]

thanks for the advice.

Im not worried about them getting out of the pen because I found one that has a cloth top and bottom. The reason I'm considering the pen is because I don't want them to not get their excercise just because I'm busy doing homework, and I dont want them to chew anything at my grandmas because the last thing I need is for her to tell me I have to take them home and just leave them with my mom. They bring me too much happiness for them to be away from me. Now its just a matter of finding one at a decent price. Its internet deal searching time.

Does anyone know from experience? they have a farm and fleet by their house. How would their bulk prices compare to an online breeder where you have to pay shipping?

[alfie]

one more thing. does anyone know any sources where I could order chinchilla food from a breeder in joliet, aurora, chicago IL area?

[MischievousChins]

Dawnna, Chocolate Chinchillas, http://www.chocolatechinchillas.com/

She's in Naperville, which, I believe isn't too far from Joliet. Just up 53 a ways?


Kristy's in the Chicago area too... not sure where tho... I'm sure she'll be back to reply... she may know some other people in the area.
I dont frequent the area much anymore.