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Author Carole Kessler
of Kessler's Chinchillas



CHINCHILLAS: WIRE MUNCHERS



Chinchillas are part of the rodent family and therefore, are only doing what comes naturally: Chewing!!! It is very important to have a safe area for you pet chinchilla to play in. It would be great if we could all have a special room for our chinchillas to play in, and to be free of any and all accidents. Since this is not a probability, we need to put our thinking caps on, and find a way to fool proof our homes.

Many of us owners can identify with horror stories about our chinchillas chewing wire. Sometimes the experience is not deadly or injurious for our pets. It takes having your chinchilla go through the experience of being injured to open up your eyes to the great dangers. Some people will say, ”I just took my eyes off them for just a second and he jumped up to the dresser and bit the electrical cord or ect.” Others will say they have been running around the house for years, and have never done this. At this point, I recommend they check all of those wires and see if they can still make this claim.

There must be ways for us too fool proof the chins play area. The first step, is not to allow the chinchillas free access and total freedom to run at will in the house. This is an open invitation for something to happen. I will give some ideas of what I have done for my chinchillas over the years, and will make a open invitation to all of you to send in your ideas and methods.

One of the best play areas, which we found over the years, has been a hallway. We close all of the bedroom doors and the bathroom door. At the bottom of the stairs, we place a high piece of plexie glass as a barricade to prevent them from going into other areas of the house. We make sure that the plexie glass is supported so they can’t knock it over as they bank off the barricade. If you have stairs, this is a great place of exercise for them. We place a few boxes and tubes to hide in. There are other things in there, which they can crawl up and play king of the mountain.

We have also used our family room, which again was sectioned off, and a barricade made to keep them in a controlled area. We remove all of the electrical cords from the sockets, with the exception of one. After all, we do need to see what the little darlings are up to. They can see in the dark, but we can not. The remaining electrical is taped to the wall and the socket covered also with the tape. The tape goes a great distance up the wall. Out of sight, out of mind is a good rule to follow. Most chinchillas will only pick up the cords that are laying on the floor in full view and accessible. Then, there are others who are more adventurous and smarter than we are.

With these smart whippersnappers, we need to exercise our brains to come up with some foolproof ideas. In our living room and dining area, we have also places electrical cords in a small pipe, which is carefully sealed. The TV and the VCR table is blocked off so they can’t get behind them. The unused electrical cords are removed from the sockets. All plants should be out of reach, and the floor policed for small objects. Naturally, since they can not find the electrical cords or other things to chew on, they will continue their search for something. This is where you can place some wood pieces or a wood box to chew on. Tubes to run and hide in. We need to be pretty smart because I have found them to be smarter and craftier than I am, most of the time.

I had a customer call me the other day in a panic. Her female, Sasha, had jumped up onto the dresser and took a bite out of the electrical cord. Needless to say, Sasha received quite a jolt and the lights were blown out. Her whiskers were singed and her lips had been burned. She was in a great deal of pain and was having trouble eating. We were very concerned for her, as Sasha had bred and was not due to litter for several more weeks. I gave her some instructions as to what to look for in case she began to lose her kits. My advice was to take her to the vet for a good check up. The vet believed she had escaped without serious injuries. We keep in touch and so far, so good. Her mom keeps saying, “I just took my eyes off her for just a second.” That is all that it takes!!!

Many people while working on their computers let their chinchillas run around them. There have been several reports of the chinchillas biting into the electrical cords. Not only should we be concerned for the injury of our chinchillas, but the damage, which could be caused to the computer system. I have had stories from people who have had to replace several of their major appliances in their homes thanks to the chewing of cords. With some good planning, we can not only save our pets from serious injuries or death but can save ourselves the expense of replacing our appliances.

I go into alt. Chins in my newsgroup each night looking for pet owners who have questions or are in need of help. Several weeks ago, a pet owner had placed a posting to the newsgroup asking for help. Her pet had a serious accident with heavy-duty electrical cord to the furnace.

The furnace is in the closet and the need to keep the door open for ventilation. They do their best to close the door when the chinchillas are out for playtime. When the chinchilla became missing they went looking for her and found her behind the furnace where she had bitten into the cord. It had blown the fuse. She was still alive, but her mouth was very badly burned and she was having trouble breathing. The chinchilla was taken to the vet hospital where they did the best they could for her and she survived the first critical 24 hours. She was taken home for some tender loving care. It was very difficult for the chinchilla to take food or medication as it appeared she was having trouble moving her jaw. Some of the chinchilla’s lips were GONE and all charred. The chin was babied for 5 days and appeared to be doing better. She was moving around and acting like her own self. But, on the 5th day she took a turn for the worse. Her breathing became very labored and she became weak to move. A short time later, the little chinchilla went to chinchilla heaven leaving very sad parents behind. She was taken to the vet to be checked. He found her lungs filled with fluids and he said her heart probably got off rhythm from the shock and finally gave out. Their furnace had to be rewired and they had them put metal cord “armor” around it. They have taken extra precautions with all the cords. They have submitted this story in hopes that it would help others prevent this from happening to their pets.

Yes, this is a very sad story and I firmly believe that stories and facts like this are very important. These can be a very important lesson in the need to take special precautions when your pet chinchilla comes out to play. My hope in presenting these stories is that future accidents like this can be avoided.


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