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Chinchillas
What is it?
Chinchillas As Pets
Housing Chinchillas
Feeding Chinchillas
Bathing Chinchillas
Playing With Chinchillas
Colors of Chinchillas
Holding a Chinchilla


What is a Chinchilla?

Chinchillas are rodents. They have big front teeth sort of like a rabbit and are always chewing on something. In the wild you can find chinchillas in the Andes Mountains in South America, but they don’t look very much like the ones we have for pets. Chinchillas grow to be the size of a small rabbit. (about 9 inches from head to bottom) They have beautiful thick, soft fur.
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Chinchillas as Pets

Chinchillas make great indoor pets because they don’t have any smell and their fur is so thick that they can’t get fleas. Some people are allergic to animals and can’t have them as pets. Chinchillas don’t have dander, which are tiny little pieces of fur and skin that bother allergies. This means that people who are allergic to other pets can usually own a chinchilla without problems. They are very social animals, so if you only have one you will become its family and will be responsible for taking care of it and playing with it every day.
Here is a video of a chinchilla being petted

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Housing

Chinchillas like to live in a wire cage so they can get lots of air and can climb and play. They need shelves since they love to jump and climb. Please don’t put your chinchilla in a glass cage like an aquarium. These don’t let enough cool air in and your chinchilla could get too hot and die.

Some cages come with a wire bottom and floor pan. In this kind of the cage the chinchilla walks on the wire and the shavings are put underneath it. This can be a good cage because the chinchilla can’t kick shavings out at night and you won’t have to sweep or vacuum the floor every morning. If you choose a wire bottom then the spaces in the wire must be no larger than 1/2"x 1/2". If the holes are bigger than that the chinchilla will have trouble walking and could hurt himself. If you do get this kind of cage you need to give your chinchilla plenty of flat places to rest his feet from the hard wire. This can be a piece of pine wood, or a house with a solid floor in it.

Other cages don’t have the wire floor so the chinchilla can sit right in the shavings. They make a nice soft floor for the chinchillas. They love to dig around in it and chew on the pieces. It can be a messier cage since the shavings will end up all over the floor but the chinchillas sure enjoy it! If you choose this kind of cage Kiln dried Pine, Aspen, or Cafefress shavings are best and can be found in pet stores. Cedar shavings sure smell nice, but that smell will cause a chinchilla to get sick with something called a respiratory infection. You can’t use any cedar in your chinchilla cage.
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Feeding

Chinchillas need fresh water every day which is given in a glass bottle hooked to the side of the cage. Chinchillas like to chew on plastic bottles and will probably put holes all in it. They need chinchilla pellets and hay daily. Timothy or Alfalfa hay can be used. You can buy it loose, which looks like a bag of weeds, or in cubes from most pet stores. Mazuri is the only chinchilla food that pet stores sell that we recommend. Don’t buy chinchilla food with nuts or fruit in it. These are treats. I’m sure if someone gave you a plate full of ice cream and cookies and topped it with green beans you’d be pushing out the green beans to get to the good stuff! Chinchillas will do the same thing. They will throw out all of the food pellets to get to the fruit and nuts. And just like you, chinchillas need a healthy diet. If you feed your chinchilla a bad diet he will get sick and will not live as long. Chinchillas come from an area that is very dry. They were made to eat dried leaves. This means that you can’t feed your chinchilla lettuce and fresh veggies like you would a rabbit. These foods will make your chinchilla very sick. You can give him a raisin once a day as a treat.
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Bathing

Chinchillas have a lot of oil in their fur called lanolin. In the wild they take dust baths in the volcanic ash. As pets we need to give them a dust bath at least 3 times a week. You can buy chinchilla dust at most pet stores. It is poured into a bowl and put inside the cage for about 15 minutes. The chinchillas will dive right in rolling and bathing in the dust! Don’t leave the dust in the cage all of the time. Too much dust will dry out your chinchilla’s skin.
Here is a video of a chinchilla taking a Dust Bath

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Playing

Chinchillas, like most animals, love to climb and play. Shelves and wheels can be added to the inside if the cage. Chinchilla wheels are best if they are a solid circle that hooks to the side of the cage. Chinchillas also love toys! You can buy wooden bird toys and small animal wooden chew toys from the pet store.
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Colors

Most chinchillas in the world are gray. This is what you find in most pet stores. However they also come in other colors called mutations.
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Holding a Chinchilla

Chinchillas have very tiny leg bones so you have to be very careful when you are holding them. It is very easy to pop their back legs out of place if you are holding a chinchilla that is trying to get down. It’s a good idea to leave your chinchilla in the cage until he is very comfortable with you. That way when you do pick him up he won’t be as wiggly. It’s also a good idea to take your chinchilla into a small room to play with him, like your bathroom. That way he won’t get lost and it will be easier to get him back in his cage. Chinchillas don’t like to be held down so just let your chinchilla walk around on your arms. Always sit down when you are holding a chinchilla. This way if he does jump he will be close to the floor.
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