Setting up housing and a routine for a chinchilla

Before buying any accessory it is worth understanding how a chinchilla is built, because each of its traits translates into a precise need. The extremely dense coat, made for mountain cold, leaves it unable to shed heat: a chinchilla starts to struggle above twenty five degrees and risks heat stroke well before other animals. Legs made for leaping between rocks call for height and footholds, not a floor to dig in. Ever growing teeth demand a fibre rich diet that files them down continuously.

• Very dense coat: it fears heat and must never get wet, or the fur will not dry and the skin macerates.
• Agile, jumping body: it needs a cage that develops upwards, with shelves at different heights.
• Ever growing teeth: without plenty of hay it heads towards malocclusion, a serious and common problem.
• Delicate digestive system: abrupt diet changes and sugary foods cause upsets, some of them severe.
• Crepuscular activity: it is most awake at dawn and dusk, and should be left to rest during the day.

A chinchilla's cage develops upwards, not outwards. It must let the animal jump between shelves at different heights, offer hideaways to retreat to, and withstand a creature that gnaws everything it touches. Materials matter: plastic and treated wood are to be avoided because they get eaten, while untreated natural wood and metal are safe.

Two things make the difference between a healthy chinchilla and one that falls ill: the climate of the room and the way it cleans itself. The chinchilla never washes with water: rolling in fine sand is its only way to keep the coat dry and in order. Water on the fur, by contrast, gets trapped, does not dry and encourages skin infections and fungus.

1. 1

   Put a thermometer and hygrometer in the room

   Keep the temperature preferably below twenty degrees and never above twenty five, with modest humidity. Check the readings every day, especially on warm days.

2. 2

   Cool the room in summer

   Use air conditioning or a cold ceramic tile the chinchilla can lie on. Avoid placing the cage in direct sun, near radiators or in rooms that overheat.

3. 3

   Offer the sand bath every other day

   Put out a tub of chinchilla specific sand for ten or fifteen minutes, then remove it. Leaving it available all the time dirties the sand and, with constant use, can irritate the eyes.

4. 4

   Use only chinchilla sand

   The sand must be very fine, the kind sold specifically for this species. Coarse or building sand ruins the coat and does not clean, and dust that is too fine can cause breathing problems.

5. 5

   Never wet the chinchilla

   If it gets dirty in one spot, clean only that point with a barely damp cloth and dry it at once. A full water bath is dangerous and must never be given.

A chinchilla's diet is simple but strict: hay to appetite as the base, a measured amount of specific pellets and very little else. Hay is not a side dish, it is the main food, because fibre keeps the gut working and wears the teeth down. Fruit, seeds, nuts and sugary snacks are to be avoided or reduced to very rare exceptions: they cause digestive upsets and dental problems.

1. Fresh, clean hay always available, checked daily and renewed when it gets dirty.
2. A measured portion of chinchilla specific pellets, with no coloured pieces or seed mixes.
3. Clean water in a drip bottle, changed every day.
4. Untreated gnawing sticks, to help wear the teeth down between meals.
5. No abrupt change of diet: any new food is introduced very slowly.

On the health front, watch a few signals that matter more in the chinchilla than in other species: weight, which should be checked regularly because a drop often points to a dental problem; droppings, which should be plentiful and dry; and appetite, because a chinchilla that stops eating is an emergency. These animals need a vet experienced in exotics, since not every practice follows them.