A Broken Leg

We have a young chinchilla with a broken tibia. We are not sure when or how it happened because it either occurred right before or right after she came into rescue. Although we don't know exactly which day it happened, we can guess that the leg broke due to an accident in a cage. She had been living in a tall cage with a couple wire mesh shelves and steep ramps. Our guess is that she broke her leg by catching it in the wire mesh .

Chinchillas love tall cages in which they can climb. However, make sure that the cages are arranged as safely as possible. I setup my tall cages so that there are no long falls, in other words so that the chin cannot fall from the top of the cage all the way to the floor, or on top of a wheel. Using an arrangement of shelves, ledges, hammocks, etc., you can make a tall cage a fun "jungle-gym" for your chins while trying to minimize accidents. If you have wire mesh shelves and ramps (bigger than 1/2" by 1/2" mesh), you might want to consider replacing the shelves with wood, covering them with tiles, small towels, or newspaper.

Note: The picture is of her first splint, which only lasted one day. :-)