Important info about chinchillas?

Question

I might get a female chinchilla. Is there any important info that I need to know about them?

Answer 1

Just a few important things:

Chins need a good quality pellet with no treats in the food. Fresh hay, pellets and water daily. A roomy cage with some wood ledges, wood chew toys and a wood hidey house. Temperatures in the room the chinchilla will be living in should never get above the low 70's.

A great place for info is chins-n-hedgies.com!

Answer 2

Well first of all, before you get your chin you must have a cage and all supplies ready. I recommend a cage that is a minimal of 36x25 inches and has plenty of ledges or shelves to climb on and jump off of. Ebay has some pretty great deals, don't look at petco or petsmart because they charge ridiculous amounts for low quality cages. Also, you must have timothy hay pellets in a (suggested) ceramic dish so that it doesn't tip over. You need a water feeder (don't be alarmed that chins don't drink as much as other rodents). You absolutely need straight timothy hay in addition to the timothy hay pellets, the straight hay allows your chin to file down his constantly growing teeth while regulating his digestive system. I also suggest keeping your chin in the cage for the first week or so, just so it can get used to its surroundings before you let it run around. Also VERY important to chinchilla-proof your room (this means blocking off all crevices that are hard to reach under and that they can hide in, and making sure they can't chew on electrical wires/outlets/anything harmful to them). Be slow in your notions at first so the chinchilla can get used to you, do NOT by any means chase it around the room in attempts to catching it and putting it back in the cage, just let it come to you. Also they require dust baths, (you can buy the dust at any petco or petsmart, along with the plastic house for it) these are actually quite fun to watch, because they cannot get wet, they roll in dust. Good luck with your new chin!

Answer 3

They are group animals so it is better to have two and they are also night animals so when you are sleeping they are up playing. they need a dust bath and have a special diet to keep them healthy. check out exotic pets for infor.