Chinchilla Facts:
- Chinchillas have a life span of up to 20 years. That is longer than most dog breeds!
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- Chinchillas take a dust bath, not a water bath. Chinchilla fur can get a "greasy" look if not given a dust bath on a regular basis and is not healthy for the chin.
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- Chinchilla teeth never stop growing. They need wooden toys / shelves or pumice stones to help wear them down.
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- Chinchillas cannot get hot, they need to be kept indoors with a temperature no higher than 75 degrees. Imagine going outside in 85 degree weather in a fur coat!
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- Chinchillas should be kept indoors. They are not suitable for living outside (actually no animal is) and need A/C in the summer.
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- Chinchillas need playtime. What is playtime? Time outside of their cage to jump , run and just get crazy in a chew safe enviroment. No cords, open windows, un-safe situations for them to get into. What they don't need is a giant plastic ball, those work better for gerbils and hamsters, not chinchillas.
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- Chinchillas love to run on wheels, they are fun to watch. Watch out! Cheap plastic wheels , and metal with wide spacing are no nos. A good chinchilla wheel has a solid base, so no feet or tails can get caught. Chances are if you purchased a cheap wheel, more than likely it is not chin safe. Check out my links page to web sites that sell chin safe wheels.
Food:
Chinchillas need a good fresh pellets on a daily basis, with a food brand that does NOT contain treats. Treats? Those are the seeds, fruit and other unneccesary items that come in some brands of food. Mazuri and Oxbow are two good brands and fairly easy to find in stores and online. Fresh timothy hay is also something that Chinchillas need daily as well. Check around at feed stores, pet supply stores for a good brand of chinchilla food. In a pinch, Petsmart usually carries Mazuri, though it will be more expensive than if bought in bulk. Some of the food brands below are rabbit pellets which have been used for many years with sucess by chinchilla owners.
** Please note though don't just use any rabbit pellet those listed below have been proven to work. **
Look for these brands near you:
ADM Pen Pals Professional (rabbit diet)
Kline
Manna Pro Sho (rabbit diet)
Manna Pro Gro (rabbit diet)
Manna Pro (rabbit diet)
Mazuri
Oxbow
Purina Advanced Nutrition Show Formula Rabbit Feed (PANR)
Cage:
Cages are a very important part of owning a chinchilla. They will spend most of the day in this enviroment, thus caution needs to be taken when choosing a cage. Avoid pet store cages that say they are chin friendly. Most are not high enough, or have wire or plastic shelving and flooring. Lets first talk about plastic shelves. Being that your chinchilla will chew, he is going to chew on the plastic. One the shelf will not last, and two, the chinchilla is going to injest the plastic , which could cause some health issues. This is why that plastic igoos and shelving should be avoided. Metal flooring, this is the floor where all of the poop and pee can fall to the bottom of the cage. Nice idea, but chinchillas have tiny feet, and can lose a toe to those floors. The best cage set up is a pull out pan, with wooden shelves. Check out my links page for great sites to purchase a good chinchilla cage.
Toys:
I suppose that chins don't need toys, but what fun would that be? Keep their enviroment fresh, hanging toys, fleece hammocks, excerise wheels, cardboard tubes and more. Stay away from anything plastic, and toys made with cotton rope.
Toxic Woods:
These natual woods should be avoided as they are deadly to your chin.
almond/ andromeda/ apricot/ aralia spinosa / avacado/ ayan/ azalea/ beech/
benjamin fig/ birch: Betula pendula, silver birch, white birch
black locust/ black lotus/ blackwood/ box elder/ boxwood/ buckthorn/ cannabis/ cashew/ cedar/ cherry/ chestnut/
china berry/ chinese snake tree/ chinese popcorn or tallow/ chokeberry/ citrus woods such as orange, grapefruit,
lime or lemon/ cocobolo/ cocus/ common sage/ crabapple/ cypress/ dahoma/ datura/ daphne/ dieffenbachia/
ebony/ elderberry/ eucalyptus/ euonymus/ euphorbia/ fir/ firethorn/ flame tree/ foxglove/ ginkgo/ golden chain tree/
greenheart/ ground cherry/ guarea/ hemlock/ holly/ honey locust/ horse chestnut/ huckleberry/ hydrangea/
iapacho or ipe/ iroko/ ironwood/ juniper/ katon/ kentucky coffee tree/ kumquat/ laurel/ mahogany/ makore/
mansonia/ man-made board: plywood, chipboard, blockboard, hardboard, fibreboard stirling board/
maple/ mesquite/ mock orange/ monstera/ mountain laurel/ myrtle/ nectarine/ oak/ obeche/ oleander/ opepe/
peach/ peroba/ pine that's fresh ,fresh pinecones /plum/ privet/ rain tree/ ramin/ red maple/ redwood or sequoia
rhododendron/ rosewood/ sandalwood/ sassafras/ satinwood/ sloe/ sneezewood/ spruce/ stavewood/ sucupira/
sumac/ tan oak/ teak/ tomato/ umbrella tree/ walnut/ weeping fig/ wenge/ wisteria/ witch hazel/ yew
Chinchilla Safe Woods:
If using wood that has been picked or harvested it is a good idea to check if the tree was treated in any way. Also it is recommended to scrub / boil and bake any fresh woods prior to giving them to your chinchilla.
arbutus/ aspen/ bamboo/ barberry/ horse apple/ chinese dogwood- cornus species/ cottonwood/ dogwood/ elm/ fruit trees: apple,
pear, kiwi, grapevine, lyches, loquat, longan/ java wood/ horsewood/ hazelnut/ hawthorn/ larch/ magnolia/ manzanita/ mulberry/ pecan/ pine that's kiln-dried
pine cones that have been washed, baked and dried/ poplar/ willow
Vets:
If you don't have one , get one! Chins will get sick, and like any other animal should be taken to a proper vet for a diganosis. Be careful when choosing a vet, not all are created equal. Ask around, check references and don't be afraid to ask questions.
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