Chinchillas

## Feeding

90% of what chinchillas eat is hay. Now, you don't have to go out and make it yourself out of grass (you could if you wanted to.) You can buy it at the local pet store. I'd recommend Timothy Hay, it is the kind my little sister uses for her Standard Gray Chinchilla. But, they occasionally eat chinchilla food, little pellet capsules you can also buy at the local pet store. As for the chinchilla, and most animals, I don't usually trust local pet stores. My little sister got hers from a breeder. To give a chinchilla water, buy an special animal water bottle, with the top with the tube sticking out of it, and stick it on the side of the tank, with the tube thingy sticking inside the cage, so if the little critter ever gets thirsty, he can go up to it and drink from it. Feed the chinchilla's chinchilla food 3 times per day, and refill it's bottle once per day. Whenever the hay is empty or looks almost empty, refill the hay. Be warned the hay is not hypoallergenic (source, my dad.)

## Housing

Chinchillas should be in a cage with plenty of room to jump around and explore. Chinchillas are inquisitive and curious. If they are not, that could mean they are sick. Regularly change the tray on the bottom of the cage every other day - every week. They have no control over their bowels, so they cannot control when they poop. They can however control their pee and can be trained to only pee in a certain spot.

## Cleaning

NEVER give a chinchilla a water bath. It could permanently damage their fur. Chinchillas in the wild take "dust baths." Buy chinchilla dust, and a dust bath house, and let him go in twice per week for 10-15 minutes at a time. Also, a chinchilla's fur is so thick they cannot get fleas or ticks. So no need for flea and tick medicine.

## Playing

Don't think it's not okay to handle and play with a chinchilla, because it is! In fact, it's healthy for them to get used to humans. Take him/her out of his/her cage into an enclosed room, where he/she can run around and explore. Make sure the doors and windows in the room are closed, and alert the household you are playing with the chinchilla so they don't barge in and step on him/her. If a chinchilla escapes he may be gone forever. There is still hope you may find him, but he may get lost and never be heard from again. So be careful playing, and make sure again all doors and windows are closed in the room, and there is nothing dangerous in the room, like a hole he could crawl through or poison under the sink with the cabinets open.

## Pairing

The same goes for most rodents: NEVER pair two chinchillas of the same gender together, pair a male and a female, not a male and a male or a female and a female. They will fight until one dies. If you're worried about babies, only buy one.

## Other information

-If a chinchilla's ears are pink or red, it means it's overheating. To prevent this buy a marble cooling rock for them to stand on and cool down.

-Gray chinchillas are the cheapest

## Image credits

http://strattonschinchillas.webs.com/ourchinchillas.htm

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/pets/chinchilla.htm

https://www.flickr.com/photos/chinnieshop/8403654548/

http://www.chinchillachronicles.com/chinchilla\_genetics.html