Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Q & A => Topic started by: Dan50 on November 08, 2013, 10:50:05 AM
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I really don't like them to release him out of its cage he bites on cords and hard to catch him when it's out in the cage. They think having him inside the cage is unhealthy even he has exercising wheel in its cage. Is this true??
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No that is not true. You should let them exercise in a chinchilla proof room about once a day for an hour or so but although that is ideal it still unnecessary to do that every single day. It is more unhealthy to let your pet roam around the house because he could chew on something that is hazardous such as plastic that can cause a bowel impaction, toxic houseplants, get stepped on and killed which is common, get trapped in an inaccessible space, or even get loose outside the house. Also it is often reported on this board for chinchillas to be electrocuted to death from chewing on power cords.
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They said chinchilla needs time outside of its cage to stay healthy and when I said do it once every few months they said that's not enough
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Pet chinchillas are treated quite a bit differently than chinchillas on fur ranches. Those chinchillas do very well without getting let out of their cage to exercise and they are raised by the thousands and most do not have exercise wheels. I'm not saying that's right or wrong I'm just that it's proven that chinchillas can do well confined to a cage. I do agree that once a month is not enough unless you are handling your pet regularly outside of its cage. I would say three times a week is minimal for a pet that you want to stay tame.
Regardless of that if you are going to let a chinchilla roam in places that have not been made safe for them you will soon have a dead chinchilla.
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Pet chinchillas are treated quite a bit differently than chinchillas on fur ranches. Those chinchillas do very well without getting let out of their cage to exercise and they are raised by the thousands and most do not have exercise wheels. I'm not saying that's right or wrong I'm just that it's proven that chinchillas can do well confined to a cage. I do agree that once a month is not enough unless you are handling your pet regularly outside of its cage. I would say three times a week is minimal for a pet that you want to stay tame.
Regardless of that if you are going to let a chinchilla roam in places that have not been made safe for them you will soon have a dead chinchilla.
Would you still suggest to let him out more than once a month even if he has taller cage?
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Your pet won't be tame if you don't let him out and interact with him regularly no matter how large the cage. He should have a cage big enough that he can jump from ledge to ledge.
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We have 1 chin in a 4'x32"x30" cage and we try to let her out at least once a week, but she is in our living/dining room
so we can talk to her and see her every day. When we let her out we take her into our bathroom and let her play in there and either myself or my husband (sometimes both of us) are with her at all times! That is after we remove the rugs, trash can, and anything on the counter that she can reach. If you let yours out in the bathroom make sure the toilet seat is down! I have read where some people have left it up and their chin jumped into it and drowned.