Caitlin's Chinchillas

Chin Facts

Here are some fun facts for you to read.  I have highlighted the important words in each sentence, so that you can skim through and read the ones that interest you the most.

Chinchillas live 10-15 years and can even live up to 22 years in captivity.

Chinchillas live at very high altitudes (up to 3 miles high) in rock crevices in the snow covered Andes Mountains of Argentina, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia.

The area is very desolate and it is often very difficult for them to find water, so they depend on the morning dew on grasses and leaves, and the water inside some cactus species.

Chinchillas are nocturnal, that is to say they are active at night. This is also the time they search for food.

In the wild, Chinchillas eat grasses, roots, bark, leaves, fruits, and some species of cacti.

The gestation period for chinchillas is 111 days.

Chinchillas have 1-4 kits, and in extremely rare cases, the can have up to 6.

Kits are born with all of their teeth and fur, and their eyes open.

Their average birth weight is 1.4 ounces.

The average adult chinchilla weighs 14-21 ounces.

Their average body length is 10-14 inches, with an average tail length of 6-8 inches

They become sexually mature at 4 months of age, but should not be bred until about 10 months (I wait until they are 1 year.)

In the late 18 and early 1900's, due to fur trapping, chinchillas had become almost extinct in their natural habitat.

In 1923, Mathias Chapman brought almost a dozen chinchillas from Chile to California and started a successful breeding operation.

It takes about 150 chinchillas to make a coat.

There are thousands of chinchilla fur breeding farms in the United States.

Chinchillas have around 80 hairs per hair follicle.  Humans only have one.

Chinchillas are in the rodent family, and are closely related to guinea pigs and squirrels.