Putting together a safe chinchilla cage can be done very easily by taking a few precautions. Chinchillas overheat very easily. The cage will need to be in a cool place that does not get direct sun. If they are going to be in a hot area be sure to read about how to prepare their cage for temperatures above 72 degrees.
Getting a wire cage that is tall and has at least a 24″ x 24″ floor will work for your chinchilla. Vinyl and plastic will not be healthy for your pet because they like to chew on these items. Do not put anything in the cage that has a vinyl cover or is made of plastic.
Put shelves and ladders in the cage for the chinchilla to climb on. This will be how they get most of their exercise and they like to climb. Be sure to put thin wood planks on floors and shelves, if they are made of wire, so that the feet of your pet will be protected.
Using aspen wood shavings or newspaper in the chinchilla cage is best for your pet. Many types of shavings splinter when they are chewed and can be unsafe for a chinchilla. Adding a nesting box that has newspaper is also a good idea. Your pet will like a place to hide when it wants.
Using glass water bottles with chew guards on them is an easy way to keep your chinchilla hydrated. The feeder should be a hopper style that hangs in the cage. If you are going to use a bowl for water and a bowl for food in the cage, they will need to be made of a heavy ceramic and be thoroughly cleaned every day.
Adding a pumice block for your chinchilla cage will also be important. When chinchillas are in the wild they chew of small rocks and pebbles. This keeps their teeth from growing too long. By giving your pet a pumice stone you will be able to help them to maintain the length of their teeth.
Find out why it’s especially important to have a large chinchilla cage if you have two chinchillas, and things to be aware of when making your chinchilla cage plans.
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It’s funny that you would have this on your website as this is NOT HOW YOU CARE FOR YOUR ANIMALs. First of all, alot of this information is wrong, and dangerous for chinchillas, but that doesn’t seem to matter to you. I bought a chinchilla from this store because IF i had left it there, she would have died. I usually don’t support petstores that sell chinchillas that don’t care for them properly because the petstore will just get more so they can make profit. They didn’t even know what sex it was–which btw it was a female. They also didn’t know which mutation she was, she was an Ebony. They had her in a superpet cage with no jumping room, no ledges to jump on, NOTHING to chew on (chinchillas teeth never stop growing, they need chinchilla safe wood to chew on), a wire latter–THIS IS DANGEROUS AND SHE COULD HAVE BROKEN A LEG–,a ferret hammock (poor girl was chewing on the zipper because she needed something to chew on, anti-pill fleece is the safe material because things like that hammock can sting when chewed and be ingest), and finely fruit in her food bowl. Chinchillas need a pellet feed and that’s it. Treats such as fruit have TOO much natural sugar in them. Chinchillas have a very sensitive digestive system. They need pellets and lots of timothy hay (this petstore didn’t have ANY hay in her cage).
As soon as I walked into the petstore I noticed how hot and muggy it was, uncomfortable for a human so I was horrified when I noticed the little chinchilla lying at the bottom of the hammock panting.
I asked a sales woman about her and she had no information on the little girl. The only thing she said to me was that, “I’m about to change her food out and give her a dustbath.” I told her about how fatal all those treats where to chinchillas, but she ignored me and still put MORE. My boyfriend and I left. I was crying so much at how that chinchilla was suffering so we decided to go back and get her. The same sales woman was so happy, telling the cashier “This girl knows all about chinchillas! He’ll have a good home!” SHE did have a good home with me. Much safer then this store. The cashier answered by telling me, “Oh, I have two chinchillas, too. They’re normal.” She meant Standard, the common color of chinchillas, but she didn’t know the term?? And if she had 2, why was she letting them neglect this one this way? I quickly bought the chinchilla and left. I made an appointment with the closet exotic vet and he found that the female had a skin condition from her living environment (either from the store or the backyard breeder) and that her fur was desperately in need of a dust bath.
I named her Rem. She didn’t seem to know how to take a dust bath, but she quickly learned. Rem had to learn to eat hay and soon decided she loved it and loved the wood chews I gave her. After a month she seemed like a bubbly happy chin despite her previous living conditions, but sadly an infection took to her, and because of a hidden previous condition from her environment before I took her in, she had succumbed to her illness and within 72 hours had to be put to sleep. It was the worst moment of my life. I loved her. But because of how she lived before me there was nothing I could do to help her insides. Rem’s illness had caused her intestines to exit her body and she chewed them destroying them further. To end her pain, it was decided by the vets at West Esplanade to put Rem to sleep as the best interest of her. It’s with a heavy heart I write this, and it’ll probably never be published on the site, but someone will read this before it’s deleted and I just want them to know how Rem came to her end because petstores don’t buy chinchillas from good breeders and don’t care for them properly. I just want someone to here Rem’s story. It should have had a happy ending. Rem (?- November 30, 2009)
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