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[duari91]

Hey all!

I am new to the forums, but I have been lurking around Chinchilla related websites for a while now. Nice to meet you all!

I currently live in a large one bedroom apartment, and am considering getting a Chinchilla for a pet. I am no stranger to rodents. I had a rat named ETT growing up (lived over 5 years), and would also baby sit my cousins Chinchilla from time to time.

What is the general difficulty level for them? Is it hard for newbies to break into ownership?

I went to a nice chinchilla adoption center next to my house, and they are reasonably priced (125 for two Chinchillas), though they require specific habitat cages to allow ownership (4 foot ferret nation cage). Does that seem reasonable for a price?

Thanks!

[GrayRodent]

It's interesting since I pretty much went from rats to chinchillas myself although I've had experience with other animals including rabbits, small birds, poultry, and various livestock.
Compared to rats chinchillas are going to be a little more difficult. The fact is they are very easy to take care of once their cage is properly set up but they are very active animals at night and scatter hay and droppings all around the cage.
Hay is difficult to sweep off a carpet and will clog most types of vacuum cleaners. A shop vac with the large diameter tube takes care of that.
They also have to be kept at 75 or below degrees which is difficult where I live.
Psychologically and physically chinchillas are fragile compared to rats. They are easily frightened by sudden movement and noise. If they are put into a noisy envrionment with pets such as dogs and even small children it can potentially cause enough stress to kill them. It depends on the animal as well. My pets have proven to be adaptable but they are handled very frequenty and one of them is extremely laid back compared the other.

Physically chinchillas have long back feet and tails that can easily be damaged which is a consideration for handling. They are also very fast and learning to handle them at first is going to be an new and challenging experience. Always release a chinchilla at floor level. Never grab their legs or feet when they are struggling, and always grab at the base of the tail and never higher up when handling. I recommend going to your rescue and letting them demonstrate proper handling of a chinchilla and compare animals. Chinchillas can (and you'll eventually experience this) slip fur as a stress response which can complicate things even more.

Chinchillas are usually very tame when you get them as kits right from a breeder. If they haven't been handled they can potentially tame down but may never be as tame a kit. If they have been mishandled or abused that can be a serious challenge.

$125 to $150 is reasonable for a standard gray. Mutation colors can be higher. Prices should be a little lower for adults compared to kits. I own a ferret nation 182. It will be have to be modified slightly with a metal tray to accomodate chinchillas.

[GrayRodent]

Also will add children can be okay in short sessions and can be trained to be calm. Even dogs can be okay depending on the dog. Out of contrrl noisy children banging on the cage with toys for hours may cause permenent damage. The first month after relocation the cage needs to be in a calm peaceful location.

[duari91]

Thank you for the response Gray!

I do have a 5 year old daughter. However; Gone are the times of throwing toys around and annoying animals. I fostered a husky in my apartment for nearly 8 months. In this case, it was the Husky that was picking on my daughter . Though, I only have her for about 6 months out of the year. Now that I found the husky a permanent home, I don't have any animals here that would annoy it. I am very strict when it comes to my daughter and animals. I never leave them alone in the same room, and I always teach a lot of discipline.

I have also read a lot about the heat issues that Chinchilla's can face. Out of everything, this would be my biggest stress point. I live in Huntington Beach, California. About 2 miles from the beach. Needless to say, we have warm winters (average 65 a day), and mild summers (average 75 a day). However; it isn't uncommon for it to reach 85 in direct sunlight. I am sure that I can probably keep the temperature in my house down, but I am thinking it might be necessary to buy an AC unit just in case?

Also, are they generally nice animals? I know it can differ from each individual pet. But as a general rule, are they friendly? The Chinchilla I used to watch was very nice, and never did anything like my rat (who used to bite strangers handling him).

Thanks again!

[GrayRodent]

As far as friendliness your best option is going to be to get one freshly weaned from a breeder and interact it with it every day. I don't think anyone can go wrong with that. From a rescue if you handle a chinchilla that is older, maybe a year or two, you'll learn pretty quickly what kind of animal it has turned out to be. I've never had problems with rats but I did have a rescue chin for about a year. He had malocclusion and I had to euthanise him. He was very wild compared to the other chins I have now. As wild as he was I saw continual improvement each month I worked with him although I doubt he would ever have been as tame as my other pets.

I've found that chinchillas are every bit as social and friendly as rats although they're a lot more easily stressed than rats. The only times I've been bitten by chinchillas is when I have been training them to be held. My rescue chin took 4 weeks to tolerate being held but he was not handled much at all and he bit a lot that first month. It was 6 months before I could trust him around kids. My other two were much tamer from the start. I'd been bitten a couple of times within the first month but not since, at least from restraining them. The other times were dealing with my rescue chin that was also extremely territorial, didn't want me in the cage, and I had to just keep grabbing him and removing him from the cage when he acted aggressive. It was effective when he went through his occasional moods but it did get me some bite wounds. He was not anything like my other pets who I doubt will ever do that. As far as being good pets even that wild rescue chin turned out to be a valued pet. I have a standard grey who will crawl into my hand to get his back rubbed and a white mosaic who will press against my neck to get scratched and snuggled. They come to my hand when I open their cage and keep in mind I don't feed treats. They come for attention. They are generally very social and friendly animals but have a lot of energy.

As far as temperatures 85 degrees is probably going to fatal to most chinchillas. Of course no one should ever put a chinchilla cage where there can be direct sunlight. A freestanding portable AC or window mounted can be very effective. I use a portable AC myself and keep my room temperatures around 75-76 degrees. Sometimes it might spike to 80 when there are problems such as power outages or a central AC failure. I can sense they are effected at 80. I have a temporary cage that I transfer them to in the basement during such problems. I also keep a digital thermometer to monitor the room.

Thebest thing to do is use a digital thermometer. Most have a min/max temperature feature so you can see how low or high the temperature went to since the last reset. I recommend this kind of thermometer. You can test your room to see if you need an AC.

[duari91]

Well, it looks like I have some work to do!

I've researched some breeders in my area, and it appears as if there are not many. So far, the Chinchilla rescue that I found is the first place that i've see them. I see a few ads up on craigslist, but I am not sure if I am quite comfortable buying from there...I'll keep looking and see what I can find.

It looks like I will also go out and buy a digital thermometer and an AC unit to prepare for the summer time. If all goes well I should be ready to get a Chinchilla in about 3 weeks. I'll be buying the cage, accessories, food, etc first.

Thanks for the help!

[GrayRodent]

Certainly don't discount rescue chins but if you go that route make sure to handle the prospective animal for a while before you buy to get a feel for it. Some rescues can be very tame and others can be a big challenge. A nice thing about going to a reputable breeder is that good breeders will typically produce healthy chins that are free of congenital defects that propagate in herds of chinchillas that have no quality controls. The chances of ailments like malocclusion and seizures are lower. Another important thing about avoiding malocclusion is to obtain an animal that has been properly cared for. Chinchillas that have been given poor quality food or no loose hay will probably have dental problems and once those develop there is rarely ever a cure. I recommend oxbow pellets and timothy hay which is what I feed. If you want to go with other diets please consult with us first. There are some terrible diets that are made FOR chinchillas that are very popular and very bad for chinchillas causing a lot of pet owners heartbreak. Chinchillas should live to be around 10-15 years.

Also we have a breeder directory with a few entries for California here: http://www.chinchillaclub.com/breeder/

I hope all goes well for you.