Caring for a chinchilla is not a difficult task, as long as you have love, time and devoution. They make fantastic pets for the right people. Those of us who are chinnie lovers cannot get enough of our small furries! Chinchillas are full of life, energy and constant antics. They are nocturnal, so the bedroom is not the best place for them, unless you like being woken up!
In my experience, they are awake when I get up, at around 7:30am, then go to sleep shortly after, they seem to wake up around 7:00pmish. Chinchillas can live to be 20 years old, so they are not like a hamster, or other small rodent, that you can buy on a whim and have 3 - 5 years with. They do live in a cage, and this is highly recommended as opposed to "free run" they like the security a cage provides them while they sleep, and this keeps them safe as well. They do like to be out and running free when they are awake, but you must ensure that the rooms they run in are "Chinny Proof" this is much the same as baby proofing. There should be no cords, or small spaces they can get stuck in, the floor should be clear of anything they could chew or eat. If there are wall boards, you may want to cover them with a metal to prevent them from being chewed. *Chinchillas will make treats out of anything they find tasty, and it does not take them long to destruct things!* One of my fellow chinnie lover friends, mentioned to me the other night, the inconvienience he has watching T.V. now, with all the buttons on his remote chewed off!
Not only do they love to chew, they NEED to chew, this keeps their teeth from becoming too long and endangering their lives. Chinchilla teeth are constantly growing. While chinchillas are awesome pets, I do not recommend them if your intention is to make them a child's responsisbility. Not to say that if you have children, you cannot have chinchillas. I myself have 7 children, of various ages, and they are fantastic with my chins, however I would never leave the responsibility soley to them, and they are always within my site when handling the chins. Chinchillas are VERY fast, and could easily slip out of a young childs arm, and get hurt. They are small animals, and thus easily hurt, but with proper monitoring, there should be no reason your child could not play with your new pet. There are responsibilities as well, such as cleaning the cage, providing dust baths and feeding at the same time every day (Chinchillas like rigid schedules) that must be performed and children can quite easily forget such tasks, leaving your chinchilla stressed and unhappy. Your cage should be cleaned at least once a week, with fresh shavings(NEVER use Cedar! It is fatal to small animals). Water should be emptied and the bottle cleaned daily. I use only Spring water or boiled water, to prevent any chemicals in the water from being consumed by the chinchillas. Fresh food and hay should be provided daily. Chinchillas must have a dust bath at least every three days. There is much more to consider than just this when thinking about purchasing a chinchilla, for more information, look at our Supplies page.
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