Hi, I'm going to be getting 2 chinchillas in about a month from somebody who can't take care of hers anymore. I have taken care of classroom chinchillas at my school, but I'm sure I don't know everything about taking care of them! I just had a few questions.
I know they're nocturnal. Now, I have a hedgehog, and they're nocturnal. For hedgehogs, you must have light 12-14 hours a day to make sure you don't throw off their schedule. Do chinchillas need a light schedule? I'm probably going to get them some sort of lamp since they're going in the basement where it's dark all the time, but do I need a specific time schedule?
Also, I know they need to run free outside of their cage every day/every couple days. I wanted to make them a corner in the basement near their cage, but I'm not sure how to block it off. I know they can jump really high! Does anyone have suggestions for kind of blocking a chinchilla corner in, or do I need to find a small room they can run around? (I'm not sure I can...)
Thanks for your time!
p.s. I know putting them in the basement sounds like I'm shoving them down there because I don't want them, but it's really just the only place that's cool enough in the summer without me running an A/C for them constantly (: