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Quick Reference:
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Fun, furry, cute, soft and cuddly, these domesticated animals from the rodent family can make very good pets for older children and adults, who have experience of handling less lively and less robust pets. Before you decide that a chinchilla is the pet for you, here are some helpful hints to help ensure that your chinchilla is happy and healthy.
The Laniger Chinchilla is commonly bred in captivity today.
Chinchillas have been bred in captivity since 1923 when, according to
records, 11 of them were trapped alive by an explorer, Mathias Chapman.
Originally found living wild in areas including the Andes of Peru and
the foothills and mountainous areas of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, their
thick dense coat gives them protection against the cold. It was, in fact,
this thick dense pelt, which saw numbers decline to near extinction in
the early 1900’s as hunters sought after their blue, grey fur. Numbers
are now on the increase.
General Information
Chinchillas can be kept separately, in mixed sex pairs or in family groups
(a colony). If kept singly a chinchilla will bond closely with its owner,
answering to its name, and look forward to interaction with its owner
when it is allowed to play outside of its cage. If living in pairs, although
they will recognise and form a bond with their human family they will
be very close and look towards each other for security and friendship.
They will often groom each other and sleep curled up together. If you
do not want to breed from your chinchillas, it is worth having the male
of the pair castrated; ask your vet for more information.
A family colony usually consists of mother, father and one or two litters
of offspring. Their behaviour will be very similar to that of wild chinchillas
and they will look to each other for support. Due to the size of an enclosure
needed for a colony of chinchillas to live happily, they are not often
kept as large groups. Most people are happy to keep Chinchillas singly
(and enjoy the closeness with their pet) or as a pair.
Quite shy and easily frightened, when dealing with people or situations
that they have not encountered before, some would dispute Chinchillas
are boring and spend most of the day hidden in their boxes. They are,
indeed, mostly nocturnal but, once accustomed to your routine, they can
be very active during the mornings and later in the evening, providing
lots of acrobatic fun for you to watch.
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Behaviour
Chinchillas very rarely bite, but a frightened threatened chinchilla will
nip as a last resort, they will firstly squeak at you, then if still threatened
they will raise up onto their hind legs and grunt, before nipping. It
is not unheard of, especially in males, for a chinchilla to run around
his cage and spray urine towards the cause of an upset.
As they are nocturnal, thought has to be given to where in the house
you are going to situate your cage: your chinchilla will flourish away
from draughts, somewhere where the atmosphere is dry and out of direct
sunlight. Keeping in mind that, when active, Chinchillas can be noisy
(bouncing and running circuits around their cage); the noise, if you are
used to a quiet house, can be disturbing and take some time to get accustomed
to.
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Colours
The most common colour for Chinchillas is known as Standard; this is the
natural blue/grey with darker fur across the back in an almost saddle-like
patch. The under coat being almost silver white.
Other colours now being bred in captivity include:
| White | With either brown or pink eyes. |
| Beige | Similar to the standard but instead of deep grey, sand colour to deep beige is portrayed. |
| Mosaic | White with grey patches along the back and hindquarters. |
| Black | Usually with a grey undercoat (similar to a smoke coloured cat) |
There are also a few dilutions of colour now being selectively bred these include:
| Lilac | a very light grey. |
| Points | usually light grey or beige with darker colours on the ears and feet (similar to Siamese cats). |
| Velvets | a slightly shorter coat in appearance that has the same colour undercoat as the top coat. |
Choosing the right cage for your chinchilla:
Time should be spent thinking, before you purchase your cage, on where
in the house you are going to situate your Chinchilla; how much room is
there available for the cage. Put simply, the bigger cage you can offer
your chinchilla the more room they will have to exercise and the more
things they can have to investigate.
Ideally, the room should be well ventilated and the temperature should
vary between 10.0 and 20.0 degrees Celsius.
As chinchillas are vivacious gnawers, they enjoy chewing on [and would
quickly make light work of] any wooden constructed cage, wire weld mesh
is preferable; the mesh should be approximately 15mm by 15mm. Cages like
this are available from pet shops and usually come with a loose, removable
bottom. This means that the bottom of the cage is made up of wire and
any droppings or discarded food particles simply fall through to the drawer
area, below. There are some cages on the market, which are supplied with
solid wood or metal floors; these are perfectly adequate although care
must be taken to remove droppings very frequently to reduce the risk of
fur soiling.
As Chinchillas are very active and acrobatic, a cage of 2m x 2m x 1m is
ideal for one or two chinchillas, (many commercial breeders, unfortunately,
use much smaller cages). It is important that the correct accessories
are provided within the cage, these include: A wooden box (for your chinchilla
to rest in or on top of) and daily access to a sand bath (this is essential
to help keep their coat clean and free from grease). Special sand is available
from good pet shops and veterinary surgeries; this lightweight, white
coloured sand is finely powdered volcanic rock. Enough sand should be
offered for the chinchilla to roll over in, usually about 1-2 inches deep
is ample, given in a tin or specifically designed chinchilla bath available
from some pet shops. Ideally, give the sand bath for a period of one-hour,
daily, removing it after use. This reduces the risk of the chinchilla
soiling in the sand, and also stops over grooming, a habit which some
chinchillas may get into.
It is advantageous to add wood to your cage environment; apple, pear or
other fresh fruitwood can be washed with clean hot water then, when dried,
put into the cage for them to use as ramps and to chew on. There are now
commercially available wooden chew toys, usually triangular or square,
these can bring a little excitement into your chinchillas cage. Also,
enrich the environment by adding tubes, large enough for them to sit in,
food can also be added to these to make feeding a more interesting time.
Feeding
Little is known about the diet of the wild chinchilla except that they
do eat a wide variety of vegetable food.
For chinchillas that live in captivity, there are now a wide and varied
range of chinchilla foods on the market. The majority of them consist
of a mixture of pellets and maize with some grains. As well as feeding
a quality food, your chinchilla will need a supply of good quality hay
(longer lengths) to nibble and graze on, it is usually better for this
to be offered in a hay net or basket, this keeps the hay off of the floor
of the cage and means that is less likely to be urinated upon. A further
benefit of using a hay net is the alleviation of monotony, which many
caged animals can suffer from, by encouraging natural foraging instincts.
It is beneficial to hide food or treats in pieces of wood or cardboard
tubes.
As well as feeding a Chinchilla Mix or complete pelleted food with hay,
treats can be offered in moderation There are fruit and cereal bars on
the market specifically designed to accompany a chinchilla diet, but many
chinchillas also enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables, a slice of apple, or
banana, cucumber, lettuce or tomato, carrot sticks, or dried fruits (but
not dried coconut) and peanuts in shells are all usually taken from your
hands. You can also offer your chinchilla a few sunflower seeds but they
must not have more than 3 or 4 weekly as these can cause a deficiency
in the chinchilla’s calcium levels if fed too much.
| Nutritional Requirements: | |
| Protein | 15% (increased during pregnancy/lactation) |
| Carbohydrate | 35% |
| Fat | 4% |
| Fibre | 30% |
| Minerals | 6% |
| Moisture and trace elements | 10% |
Most chinchilla food contains around 18% protein and like many other
animal foods needs to be fed fresh as the vitamin content decreases with
age. It is also advisable to buy only sealed packets of foods; these will
have a best before date similar to human foods.
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Handling
Chinchillas are not difficult to handle and rarely bite. They may be picked
up by holding them round the shoulders; you must remember that grasping
the fur or rough handling will result in shedding of fur, in patches (fur
slip). In order to avoid this it is advisable to pick up a chinchilla
by the tail close to the body using your other hand to steady the body.
This is usually only needed with new or frightened chinchillas; as they
become used to you, very few of them will dislike being held by their
owners.
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Reproduction
Female chinchillas are polyoestrous (which means that they are receptive
to males on multiple occasions within a fixed breeding season), their
main breeding season being between November and May.
Oestrous cycles (the length of time it takes from being receptive to the
male on one occasion, becoming non-receptive and then returning to receptiveness)
last between 30 and 50 days. When "in oestrus" (i.e. receptive),
the usually tightly sealed vulva is open and a mucous is generally visible.
The gestation period (i.e. length of pregnancy) for chinchillas is 111
days, by day 90 there should be visible enlargement of the abdomen and
the nipples will be reddened. Births usually occur early in the morning.
The young are born fully furred and able to see, they can move around
freely and are surprisingly fast. The male can be safely left with the
female and will partake, with the female, in the care of the infants.
It is advisable to remove him as the first litter are born (but keeping
visible contact), as the female will have a postpartum oestrus (a time
when she may become pregnant again) within the first 24 hours after giving
birth. It is strongly advised that any female should only have 2 litters
a year, otherwise her health, as well as that of any young, can suffer.
Chinchillas can be bred from 7 months of age, care should be taken when
introducing a male and female for the first time, placing 2 cages adjacent
to each other for a period of time (a week or two) or by placing the female
in a smaller wire cage and introducing this into the males cage. Either
way allows the chinchillas to scent each other and bonding to begin. It
is not unheard of for Chinchillas not to accept each other and fights
may occur Even through cages, (if adjacent) ears can be torn, so time
and careful supervision are essential.
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Common Health Problems
Please always contact your vet if you are concerned about your chinchillas’
health.
| Slobbers | This is probably the most common of health problems with chinchillas. The molar teeth may become very overgrown, as may the incisors, which loose their orange pigment and become ridged, in the later stages of this condition there seems to be a constant drooling, which wets the chin, chest and front feet. |
| Fur Slip | Chinchillas slip areas of fur when fighting or if they are roughly handled. The skin is left clean and smooth; re-growth may take from 4 to 6 months. |
| Fur Ring | Adult males can suffer from paraphimosis (an inability to retract the penis from its exposed state). This is often caused by the presence of a ring of fur around the penis inside the prepuce (the foreskin). The ring of fur needs to be removed by a vet. |
| Fur Chewing | With this condition the chinchilla chews its own or its mates fur. Leaving the coat with a moth-eaten appearance. The causes are not fully determined but diet, husbandry, dirty fur, hormones or boredom may all be implicated. |
| Shock | As with many ‘small furries’ shock can be brought on by many things. Progressive weakness and inco-ordination can be early signs. It is very important to remove the cause of the stress immediately. Keeping the chinchilla in a dimly lit, warm, and quiet room can help.If your Chinchilla is ill in any way it is important to seek veterinary advice as soon as possible. This will normally mean you taking your chinchilla to the surgery for an appointment with one of the vets, where a diagnosis can be sought and treatment initiated. |
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THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN COMPILED BY TRACY GREENHALGH FOR BLACKNESS VETERINARY
SURGERY
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