TRACY'S CHINCHILLA PAGE

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.

History

There are two species of chinchilla:

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.


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.


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:

There are also a few dilutions of colour now being selectively bred these include:

Caring for your Chinchilla

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. 

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.

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. 


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.


Common Health Problems

Please always contact your vet if you are concerned about your chinchillas’ health.

Compiled Mrs Tracy Greenhalgh for Blackness Veterinary Surgery.