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[Mannybilly1030]

Not pointing fingers about your studies... relatively new to this myself, and I find that my own little fella is a *HUGE* commitment... not as bad as having a human baby though, my friends with infants in the house are run RAGGED.

Chinchilla's aren't anywhere as near as demanding as human babies, but they're pretty high maintainence among the animals... I try to allocate an hour or more every day for my little guy (used to do 2 hours a day without fail, but that's just too much for me... awww...), and you DO feel the daily reduction in free time and leisure activities. (though this is still leisure, it's a different kind)

Having owned both dogs and a chinchilla, I would say that chinchillas do give back joy so it's worth the amount of work you put in, but they have a far lower input/output ratio than a dog:
1. For a dog, you put in a *bit* of effort, and he treats you like his best friend. Spend 5 minutes a day giving him your full attention, and he worships you. "You're going to pet me??? I'm SO HAPPY!!! May I... may I PLEASE cuddle? I'll understand if you don't want to, but it means the world to me... I love you so much, please hug me and love me forever!"
2. For a chinchilla, you have to put in a LOT more effort, just to make them "not uncomfortable with you touching them". ... "Oh, hello... you want to scratch my itchy spots? Ok, I'll give you just 1 minute of my time, *IF* you do a good job! Oh you want to cuddle? I'm not really into cuddling. ... Let's play! And by play, I mean you entertain me when I feel like it, and when I get distracted I'll go do something else."

... BTW, I'm going to post that last bit on a separate thread and on facebook lol.

Thanks and i really dont get mad or upset if my knowledge for chinchillas is bring criticized its life. But yes i do know they are high maintenance and that they take time but my dogs are really old and there in there last moments and i have cats but they come eat and leave. I have fish but thats not a big deal. But yes i do understand they are high maintenance. And thank you very much.    

[Mannybilly1030]

That's great that you found a pet store that knows to how properly care for chinchillas and *gasp*! Provides them with chew toys. Pet stores usually don't demonstrate good husbandry for chins by any means. I am glad your store has a good caretaker there.

I still recommend, if you can, to obtain your pets from a breeder that is reputable.

One reason chinchillas are known for having tooth problems is because it is often hereditary. Reputable breeders take interest when dental malocclusion occurs in their chins and will often necropsy the animal to determine if it is likely hereditary and remove the parents from breeding. This makes it more unlikely (not impossible but way less chances of problems) that you'll get a maloccluder from them.

Malocclusion can also stem from improper diet and/or having no access to wood to chew on. Although I can't prove it I suspect my first chinchillla, which I had euthanized, had malocclusion because of that. The vet did seem to think is was hereditary but I realized some days after I got him that he was not properly cared for or healthy as I was led to believe (I'm giving the owners the benefit of a doubt because I don't think they knew).

Another reason to get your chin from a breeder is that a reputable breeder will handle their babies even before they are weaned. Typically this makes for much tamer animals that you can interact with in ways that are just not possible with chinchillas that have minimal interaction at a young age. Chinchillas are very difficult to tame. They are shy by nature and get set in their ways and it takes a lot of gentle and careful interaction to get them to want to be held, petted, and stay calm when being restrained or made to stay still. It's not that older animals won't make good pets but you'll have to interact with them more on their terms and you may never get them to that level of tameness.

If you get yours from a pet store I wouldn't do it unless it is younger than 4 months. 8 weeks is really ideal. At the pet store they might not know what the age is (and that can be very hard to tell by looking), or the gender of the animals they obtain.

Another advantage to a breeder is that you usually have several animals to choose from and you can observe their behavior and tell which ones are most calm around people. Like any animal chinchillas aren't always born with good temperaments that make good pets. In my case I got a hyperactive one but because it was significantly younger than the others I chose it anyway and it worked out well. You have to have a lot of patience with these creatures regardless. A good breeder will breed for quality and you should get a bigger and healthier animal overall than from a breeder that doesn't care. And when you go to a pet store you probably will never know where they came from.

Hope this helps

Thank you and i was super surprised when she told me about most things i was expecting but the closest breeder around me is up north and i live very far away i would love to go but then i do have to ask my dad and grandma but thing is my parents don't believe in that taking a trip to get something. Believe me that was one of my choices to do and i told them there is a farm that has 1000 of them and they both said "well theres a pet store here, just get it from there instead of wasting gas." I still would love to go because they have most chinchillas in different mutations and i really wanted a white or a mosaic, BUT that doesn't matter as long has you have a healthy chinchilla mutation really doesn't matter to me after all I'm not stingy haha. But yes i thought to myself when petco and petsmart were treating animals like Crap. But i have been going to petsmarts and petco and i dont see unhealthy or abused animals like i would see 8 years ago. I would see birds with plucked feathers. I would see reptiles with no tails some with missing eyes. I would see dead fish with some sort of parasite popping out of its stomach. now i see them there on top of all the animals. Reptiles are healthy no missing eyes or limbs, fish are really healthy and if dead they take them out asap. As with the chinchillas and the rabbits they are fed and often look healthy. And yea i know they do hide there symptoms but i know of that if there eyes are watery or if there stools look really wet and or if they drool and i dont see anything like that and the lady that helped me she owns  a pair of chinchillas and she knows so i was lucky

[GrayRodent]

It sounds like you have a good situation at that store. You're probably okay if they have a good place where they get their stock from and if they have had them for a couple of weeks the caretaker should be able to pick up on any problems. I have nothing wrong with buying pets from the store but going straight to a breeder has its advantages.

As far as commitments go it really does depend on how far you want to go with your pet. Because I work from home on the computer I take frequent breaks and often times that involves scooping my chin from his cage or playing with him in his cage. You can pretty much leave your chinchilla in his cage for several days at a time (if you have a decent sized one) with an exercise wheel and shelving and you shouldn't have any negative health or psychological problems. In fact on fur ranches breeders are often kept like that for years just going between different cages and would likely be stressed if let out into unfamiliar an open space. The animals will become accustomed to what they are afforded.

Ideally chinchillas should be let out for an hour a day to roam around in a chinchilla safe room. It's a good way to give them exercise but the biggest benefit you'll gain is if you're there interacting with them. Personally I don't do that. Sometimes I'll let him run around in the bathroom when he seems really hyper but usually I'll handle him about about an hour or two total but about 5-10 minutes at a time. Of course you must maintain the cage and water each day but it's not much more difficult than having cats and a litter box when the cage is set up well.
There is going to be a limit though on how well behaved you can expect your pet to be if you only rarely handle. There are going to be a wide range of opinions on how long chinchillas should be let out but I'll say do whatever works best for you and your pet. You'd be surprised how far 20-30 minutes a day can go if you are careful about how you spend that time.

[Mannybilly1030]

It sounds like you have a good situation at that store. You're probably okay if they have a good place where they get their stock from and if they have had them for a couple of weeks the caretaker should be able to pick up on any problems. I have nothing wrong with buying pets from the store but going straight to a breeder has its advantages.

As far as commitments go it really does depend on how far you want to go with your pet. Because I work from home on the computer I take frequent breaks and often times that involves scooping my chin from his cage or playing with him in his cage. You can pretty much leave your chinchilla in his cage for several days at a time (if you have a decent sized one) with an exercise wheel and shelving and you shouldn't have any negative health or psychological problems. In fact on fur ranches breeders are often kept like that for years just going between different cages and would likely be stressed if let out into unfamiliar an open space. The animals will become accustomed to what they are afforded.

Ideally chinchillas should be let out for an hour a day to roam around in a chinchilla safe room. It's a good way to give them exercise but the biggest benefit you'll gain is if you're there interacting with them. Personally I don't do that. Sometimes I'll let him run around in the bathroom when he seems really hyper but usually I'll handle him about about an hour or two total but about 5-10 minutes at a time. Of course you must maintain the cage and water each day but it's not much more difficult than having cats and a litter box when the cage is set up well.
There is going to be a limit though on how well behaved you can expect your pet to be if you only rarely handle. There are going to be a wide range of opinions on how long chinchillas should be let out but I'll say do whatever works best for you and your pet. You'd be surprised how far 20-30 minutes a day can go if you are careful about how you spend that time.

Yes i no where your coming from. And thats sounds really good 5-10 minutes a time. But i usually will be at home if im ever out and about thats weekends but i usually come back around 8 or 9 and i will have timefor them to play . But thing is...im trying to figure out how to chinchilla proof my room i do have a computer(auto-cool computer turns off when room is over 70 degrees or it will over heat) and TV. There are alot of wires but im thinking over cardboard to cover it but then they can chew on that so thats the thing. Or maybe there play time will be in the bathroom

[GrayRodent]

It's much easier to chinchilla-proof the bathroom. You can still play with him in your room as long as you can stop him from getting into danger. My desk area is not chinchilla safe at all but I can grab him before he reaches anything he shouldn't because he is tame enough that he won't jump off the desk when I'm after him.

[Mannybilly1030]

It's much easier to chinchilla-proof the bathroom. You can still play with him in your room as long as you can stop him from getting into danger. My desk area is not chinchilla safe at all but I can grab him before he reaches anything he shouldn't because he is tame enough that he won't jump off the desk when I'm after him.

Yes i now considered the bathroom to be the playroom cause my room has rug and if they poop its gonna be hard to pick up after a while. The vacuum i have picks up dust and things half the size of chinchilla poop so it would be even tough. I have a TV and Computer also associated with a bunch of cords under my TV.

Also i did finally get to convince my grandma to have my chinchillas inside. I showed her what illnesses they get. I also showed her that the poop and urine doesn't smell and that there clean animals since they take dust baths twice a week. So she said "ok but keep your room clean and keep feeding the dogs and school bring me 100 points in all 7 classes."

Super excited when i get them!!

Another thing is i know i wont have all the money at once to buy the cage, the chinchillas, the food, treats, food bowls, water bottles, and the bedding and so on. Im considering on getting the cages first to get out of the way