Husbandry

ENVIRONMENT

Chinchillas need cool temperatures. They would prefer their environment to be between 50 degrees F and 68 degrees F, so an air conditioner is a must in most parts of the United States. If you do not have an air conditioner, then plastic bottles filled with water and then frozen can be a substitute, however, on hot days, these bottles will need to be changed frequently. They will usually snuggle up against them. They also sell slabs of granite or marble called "Chin-Chillers" that can be placed in the freezer and then put in the cage. They stay cool longer than the frozen water bottles and will not leak. I cannot tell you how many pet chinchillas I have seen come into the Emergency room with heat stroke and there is usually nothing that can be done for them at that point. These guys also prefer low humidity (<50%) if possible. Chinchillas are nocturnal mammals, so they are the perfect pet for working people because they are awake when you wake up, they sleep while you are at work, then they wake up again when you get home! They prefer to be in a quiet place during the day, so their sleep is undisturbed.

HOUSING

I think the best type of cage for a chinchilla is a flat-bottom cage with 1" x 1/2" wire sides, although they are very difficult to keep clean. Because of the number of chins that I have, I have started using the 1/2" x 1/2" wire-bottom cages with the slide-out trays and they work very well. I have had problems in the past with chins getting their feet caught in the wire-bottomed cages, but this usually occurs with the 1" x 1/2" bottoms. You must be very observant when you have these guys in the wire-bottom cages. Most of my chins are in pairs and their cages are mostly 30" x 24" x 24". I think that if you are going to have just one chinchilla, the absolute smallest size cage would be 24" x 24" x 18". The best place to get cages is at martinscages.com. They will custom make any type of cage you want and they are much more reasonably priced than the local pet store. Chinchillas love to have a wooden house with multiple holes that they can fashion any way they want... and they will. I also like to litter train my chins. I have a corner litter pan in each cage filled either with pine shavings or the Oxbow Eco-straw. You can also use Yesterday's News and Carefresh (the recycled newspaper products). Chinchillas usually like to pick a corner to urinate in and that is where I place the litter pan. This works most of the time and helps to keep the mess and smell down to a minimum. I scoop the litter every day and replace it when needed. Cages should be cleaned once a week, but, if they are litter trained well, you can probably stretch it out to every 2 weeks.

DUST BATH

All chinchillas need dust baths at least twice a week. There is controversy about providing dust bath all the time. In my experience, I think that it is OK to leave dust bath in all of the time. I have a dust bath house in each of my cages and I simply change it every other day. If they start to develop any eye or skin infections, then it should be taken away and you can go back to twice a week bathing. Just remember to always use the specially formulated volcanic ash that can be bought at any pet store. I use the Blue Cloud brand.