Manufacturers of most things made for animals have a
tendency bad habit of making claims they can not backup. In my personal opinion, this is definitely NOT what I would consider a "chinchilla safe" cage. Most manufacturers do not do the research needed. What could I do to make this cage safe? (1) I would have to replace the metal tray with one that is not painted/tented. (2) I would have to replace the shelves with wood or metal shelves. (3) The ladder would have to be replaced ... it appears to be looking for a chin to injure (their thin legs and feet can fall through and get caught and are often broken.). (4) The feeding dish would need to be replaced with a metal one, in a metal holder. (5) The plastic bottle would have to be replaced with a glass one (chins are notorious for chewing holes in plastic bottles and leaving puddles of water in the floor ... even when the bottle is hung outside the cage). (6) I'd trash the hay holder ...chinchillas have been known to get their heads stuck in hay holders made like the one in this cage. (7) I think the natural colors of bedding are much safer than those that are tinted, as it states in the 'extras' that come with this cage. (8 ) The size of the wire is much to large to be safe for a young chin or a kit, it would have to be replaced. Chinchillas have been known to squeeze through an opening as small as 1" x 1". {as seen in one of the pictures below ... this 12 week old young chinchilla squeezes through the 1" x 2" wire completely 4 times before I can get a camera shot of him partially out.} I strongly advise cage wire that is
no larger than 1/2 inch by 1 inch. (9) As for the security of the cage ... it is a "snap together" cage. If you have ever seen a chinchilla race around the sides of a cage or bound from one side to another, you need to realize that something "in motion" tends to have a much grater force than something sitting in place. Chinchillas bound from one place to another ... if they happen to bounce into a door without a lock, it is often easy of push open quite by accident.
Oops, I think I just got rid of 95% of the old cage and made a new one.
Then you have the smart chinchillas who live in cages with a different latches who will grasp the latch with their teeth, pull back and pop the door open. We have one that would do this when we were looking straight at him. He would always have that satisfied smirk on his little face as if to say "Ha! Try to keep me in will ya?" To this we purchased two very small hook-type locks ... it looks like those used to attach a key chin to your belt loop, but much smaller. We placed two on his cage door ... securing it to the cage wire. He was not happy, but he was safe.
See photo below. His 'come back' to that ... we think ... was to teach/communicate to other chins how to escape. We found ourselves having purchase about 30 more little locks to 'double lock' other cages after that. At that time we had over 200 chinchillas.
A few years later, we got a Great Dane. For a while each time we would leave, a chin would escape, our Great Dane, Lady, was sure to notify us and show us exactly where the chin was hiding. Then, one day, we returned a pair to their cage and they fussed and fussed and kept fussing. Lady went over to calm them, because she loves all the chins. They kept fussing ... then ... we saw Lady open the cage for the chins ... some of the now chinchillas' "great escapes" were due to Lady's solution for being bored while we were gone. She would open one cage and allow the chin to come out and play with her while we were gone. Lady never harmed the chins, she loves them and they love her. She still gets her good night kisses from many each night.
Jo Ann
