Chinchilla Care Guide
This chinchilla Care Guide is meant to help keep your chinchilla safe and happy for life. Although not complete, it should provide the basic requirements and dangerous materials to avoid.LIFE EXPECTANCY:
10 - 15 years
GENERAL:
Avoid sudden movements and loud noises, so your chinchilla will trust you and let you handle them easily. They are naturally inquisitive and may sniff or gently nibble your finger. Children should always be supervised when holding chinchillas to prevent accidental falls and injuries. Daily exercise outside the cage is vital to good health and a weekly dust-bath is highly recommended.
HOUSING:
Avoid cages with wire floors, it could injure your chinchilla's feet. Make sure your chinchilla has multiple levels in it's cage or shelves as well as a hideaway house and a variety of safe wood chew toys. Avoid shavings and wood such as fresh pine, citrus wood, redwood, cherry wood and cedar, they may contain poisonous phenols and oils.
DIET:
A healthy diet is based on a specially formulated chinchilla pellet and a good quality Timothy or Alfalfa hay as well as fresh water daily. Chinchillas are allowed certain fresh or dried fruits or vegetables such as:
- Apples
- Grapes
- Raisins
- Papaya
- Dry Oatmeal
- Unsalted Sunflower Seeds
CLEANING:
Food Dishes, water bottles and the bottom of the cage needs washing. Clean soiled areas daily and change the bedding completely 1 - 2 times a week. You may use a soap made for specifically cleaning the cage bottom or diluted dish soap with warm water. Always rinse and dry the cage well before adding fresh bedding.
EXERCISE AND TEETH
Like many other small animals, chinchillas require regular exercise and should be allowed some freedom of movement within the cage. As mentioned above, a multi-level cage configuration will help challenge the pet and give it some exercise moving about the cage.
The teeth of the chinchilla are continually growing and must be kept trim and worn down through the use of a variety of chew toys and accessories. Excessive tooth length can prevent the chinchilla from eating and cause severe health problems. When providing chew toys, the safest ones for them include:
- Birch
- willow
- apple tree
- manzanita
- kiln-dried pine
Materials to avoid for the health and safety of your pet include conifer and citrus woods (like cedar or orange) where the oils can cause serious problems.
We hope you have found this Chinchilla care guide to be helpful. For further information on the care and proper maintenance of chinchillas and other small animals, please visit one of our six Centre d'Animaux NATURE Pet locations in and around the greater Montreal area.
