i've read all about 'death balls' and i wouldn't even put a hamster in one now!
and yes, Gery getting too warm is one of my concerns, especially with me using my apartment hot water heating to keep my tanks between 76 and 80. her cage is in my bedroom which is two doorways and a hall away from the main living area where all my tanks are, so i can crack the bedroom window with those doors closed and the temp around the tanks doesn't change at all while giving Gery a comfortably cool room. from what i've been reading on the forum i mentioned, many chin keepers have AC installed in their 'chin rooms' but not for the rest of their houses. spoiled critters? lol.
as for her food, it's one of those bags of mixed, erm, crap. there are pellets in there that are timothy based so that's good, but there are also seeds, raisins, dried fruit, biscuit type things, and these chocolate chip shaped things that i think are made of some dehydrated yogurt type substance (read: pure sugar). what i've been doing is picking the pellets out of the bag and only feeding those to her, not the rest of the crap. i've also bought some good quality timothy hay, which should be the bulk of a chin's diet.
the silly little thing, still hasn't figured out that the fleece hammock is comfier to sleep IN rather than under, lol. but at least there's a towel on the wire shelf under the hammock so she's sleeping on something soft and not bare wire.
and yes, Gery getting too warm is one of my concerns, especially with me using my apartment hot water heating to keep my tanks between 76 and 80. her cage is in my bedroom which is two doorways and a hall away from the main living area where all my tanks are, so i can crack the bedroom window with those doors closed and the temp around the tanks doesn't change at all while giving Gery a comfortably cool room. from what i've been reading on the forum i mentioned, many chin keepers have AC installed in their 'chin rooms' but not for the rest of their houses. spoiled critters? lol.
as for her food, it's one of those bags of mixed, erm, crap. there are pellets in there that are timothy based so that's good, but there are also seeds, raisins, dried fruit, biscuit type things, and these chocolate chip shaped things that i think are made of some dehydrated yogurt type substance (read: pure sugar). what i've been doing is picking the pellets out of the bag and only feeding those to her, not the rest of the crap. i've also bought some good quality timothy hay, which should be the bulk of a chin's diet.
the silly little thing, still hasn't figured out that the fleece hammock is comfier to sleep IN rather than under, lol. but at least there's a towel on the wire shelf under the hammock so she's sleeping on something soft and not bare wire.
