By  Liz Fischer

    So you were in a pet shop the other day, and you saw the most adorable ball of fluff in the world. When you asked, you were told it was a chinchilla. And now you can't think of anything else. (Or maybe you're just curious about that little fuzzy rodent you saw a picture of somewhere...either way, read on.)

The first thing to think of with any animal you're thinking of purchasing is, "How much do I really know about this animal? Is it the right pet for me, and am I the right owner for it?" So what do you do? Research of course! Remember, your various pets are going to be with you for as much as twenty years or even more (chinchillas live 10-15 years on average, and can live 18-22 years with excellent care), and those cute little babies do tend to grow up. Learn everything you can about them, before you buy, and both you and your new little (or not so little) friend will have a much more rewarding and happy life.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you buy a chinchilla:

• Is there a vet nearby who can and will treat my pet if it gets sick?

  Call around and find out. Often the pet store can refer you to a good vet. Can I afford to keep this pet? The original purchase price is only part of the cost of an animal. Chinchillas can be fairly expensive pets to maintain. They need lots of different kinds of food (see the section on Nutrition) to keep them happy and healthy. They also need new bedding regularly, and a special bath twice a week.

• How much attention will my pet need?

  Chinchillas are great pets if you work all day and want something energetic and happy to see you come home. They sleep most of the day, and are awake in the evening, at night, and in the early morning. They don't require holding and cuddling, since they're independent and usually dislike being forced to stay still. They prefer running around freely, and should be allowed to do so under close supervision in a limited area, like a room with all doors and windows tightly closed, and preferably no cords to be chewed or small places to hide. Sometimes, once the chinchilla trusts you, it will come to you of its own free will and sit in your lap for a little one-on-one snuggling (of course, it always helps if you have a raisin or two in your pocket).

• Will my new pet be happy without companions, or do I need to get it a friend or mate?

  A chinchilla that has never been mated (you should always get a young one) will be fairly happy alone as long as you have a fair amount of time to spend with it during its exercise period each evening. If you can't spend some quality time every day with your chinchilla, it would be an excellent idea to purchase two or more of them. You will need a larger cage, of course, but it'll be worth it to see your chinchilla so happy. You do not need to get a mate for your chinchilla if you don't want to deal with babies, however. As with all pets, you want to be certain you have somewhere for any babies to go long before they're born, so don't put yourself in the position of having unwanted babies just because, "they look so cute in the books, and my chinchilla seemed so lonely." If you simply get two (or more) litter-mates of the same sex at the time of the original purchase, you'll have happy chinchillas without the hassle.

• If I have children, how will my pet interact with them?

  Chinchillas are not good pets for households with children. Children love them, but they don't like children. As mentioned before, they prefer being allowed to run around, and they hate being woken by loud noises during the day. Chinchillas just aren't for petting, and the stress of it can lead to illness.

• What kind of noise will this animal make?

  Chinchillas are night creatures, and will make noise at night. If you're a light sleeper, and the chinchilla won't be far enough away to muffle any noises, this is probably not a good pet for you.

• How much space am I going to need?

  One chinchilla needs a cage at least 50x50x40 cm (see Housing), but the larger the space, the happier they'll tend to be. They also need to be out of the draft, and need to have a confined space they can run around in safely while you watch them.

• How will my other pets get along with my new pet?

  If you live in tight quarters and have an animal (like a dog, or a bird) that makes a lot of noise during the day, and will keep your chinchilla awake, it's probably not the best combination. If you have a cat or other animal that hunts and/or eats rodents in the wild, and you can't keep them separate, that's also not a good combination.

• Do any of us have allergies that might be triggered by our new pet?

  Bring everyone in the household to meet the animal before you buy it. Everyone should handle the animal, and even take a deep breath of its fur. If any allergies are going to present themselves, you want to know it long before you get your new friend home.

How did you do on the checklist? If you live in a quiet household, with a fair amount of room, a regular income, and no children (or, and parents, be really honest here, older children who can resist holding a cute and cuddly-looking new pet against its will), then you probably did great, and are looking forward to having a new chinchilla join you, and brighten your life with its shining eyes, insatiable curiosity, incredibly soft fur, and comical eating and bathing habits. But before you rush out and buy your new friend, get its house all set up for it, so when it comes home, it has a familiar and comforting place to go after the stress of its journey. Which leads us to housing...

Housing

One chinchilla needs a space of at least 50x50x40 cm, but is always pleased to have more. The temperature should be approximately 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Colder is better than warmer because the chinchilla's thick fur will protect it from cold, but it can overheat fairly easily. Coarse small animal litter should be used, and it is important to note that your chinchilla will pick a corner of its cage in which to urinate. Watch to see which corner this is, and from then on, put some extra absorbent bedding there. This will help keep the smell under control (urine is basically the only bad/strong scent a chinchilla creates).

There are several items your chinchilla should have in its cage. These are:

• A pumice stone or rabbit gnawing stone.
• A platform or platforms about halfway up its cage. These should be at least 4.5-5 inches wide.
• A piece of clay or ceramic pipe, 4 inches in diameter and 12" long. Plastic tubes should not be used, since the chinchilla will eat it. Cardboard tubing can be used, though it should be replaced with the clay or ceramic as soon as you can get one.
• A little wooden box for a sleeping house. This is very important. It should be about twice as large as your chinchilla and be completely enclosed on three sides. If you have more than one animal, you should also have more than one sleeping house, so they can get away from each other if they want to.
• A glass rabbit bottle (the chinchilla will eat a plastic bottle) of water which should be room temperature.
• A stoneware food dish.
• A bath bowl (preferably stoneware) with high sides.
• Branches for chewing and climbing are optional, but your chinchilla will be ecstatically grateful if they're provided. You'll also be glad, because the sight of a chinchilla scurrying up and down a climbing branch is not to be missed. If you bring in branches from outside instead of buying them at a pet store, wash them before giving them to your chinchilla, and be 100% certain that they haven't been exposed to pesticides and didn't come from anywhere near a street, where exhaust could have build up pollutants on them. Never use chemically treated wood like you would find at a hardware store. Poison oak and similar trees are, of course, not good. Pine branches are not recommended, and fruit tree branches are always best.

Each evening, your chinchilla should be allowed to run around a small room with all doors and windows tightly closed, and all other non-Chinchilla pets outside the room. During this time, a sand box should be available, or else they should have easy access to their cage (if their cage is up high, a ladder or small set of stairs can help the chinchilla reach it). They will defecate anywhere, but they much prefer to urinate in the designated corner of their cage. Their feces are small and dry, and easy to clean up, so have no fear.

Nutrition

There's almost nothing your chinchilla won't at least try to eat. The plastic bag or cardboard tube of food you left on its cage, the shirt you left draped over the top, the couch that's pressed up against the left side...all of these and more rapidly become chinchilla munchies. Unfortunately, neither plastic nor upholstery contain any vital vitamins and nutrients, so the chinchilla is going to have to eat something else. The best idea is to buy a commercially available chinchilla food. Each chinchilla gets one slightly rounded tablespoon of food in the evening (though chinchillas rarely eat more than they should, and most can safely be offered free-choice food). Be cautious when you buy the food, and check the expiration date. If the food is more than four months old, don't buy it! The vitamins will have lost their effectiveness. Also, though some pet stores have been known to suggest rabbit pellets as a more economical choice, testing has proven that long-term use of the rabbit feed will damage the chinchilla's liver, and it should not be used except as a brief stopgap if at all.

Chinchillas also need lots of other items to round out their food. Even the best commercial diet is not enough by itself. At every meal, besides the commercial pellets, make sure your chinchilla has: One to two handfuls of hay in a bowl (not a rack, as the chinchilla can harm itself on the rack). This provides roughage, which is very important to keeping their digestion regular and healthy. The hay should be available all day. A clean water bottle with fresh, room-temperature water. Soiled hay should be removed daily, and if your chinchilla isn't eating all of its hay or pellets, slowly cut back on the amount given until you have the right amount. Remembering that a chinchilla will try almost anything once, be very careful about any houseplants you leave near the cage or in the exercise room. It's far too easy to poison your little friend through inattention, so while you're setting everything up in the very beginning, take out your plants (do you really want them chewed on anyway?) and all household cleansers and other chemicals.

Chinchillas are incredibly adorable when they eat, and especially adorable when they get those rare, longed-for treats. You want your chinchilla to be both happy and healthy, so lay in a good supply of goodies, but remember not to overdo it, or your happy lively chinchilla will become a fat, sedentary and unhappy one. Some healthy and tasty treats are:

• Raisins. Only get the blue ones that don't have sulfur in them. Offer these only one at a time, never in a handful, as too many liquid-filled treats can cause diarrhea. Remember, your chinchilla comes from a very dry environment, and you don't want to make it sick!
• Rose hips. You can find these in most health food stores.
• Dried thistle (a favorite treat with many chinchillas).
• Willow, hazelnut, or fruit tree branches. These should be passed through the bars of the cage in a corner so that they're at about eye level for your pet. They should have the bark still on them, and be very dry, with no sap left in them at all.
• Very dry bread can also be offered rarely if your chinchilla likes it. Not all of them care for it.
• A small piece of apple or carrot.
• Half a hazelnut or peanut.

These are all best offered only one per day, and that doesn't mean one of each per day, much as your chinchilla will beg you. These treats are probably better (and less expensive) than many of the treat sticks offered in pet stores. Chinchillas also need calcium, and a calcium supplement is available at most pet stores in powder form. This can be sprinkled lightly on top of the pellets. As another option, ask your vet about tablet calcium supplements.

A major concern with a chinchilla is always how to tell if it is getting enough to eat. With all of their soft, fluffy fur, this isn't an easy diagnosis to make. Do your best by regularly holding your pet and feeling its ribs and back. If you can easily feel the ribs and spine, the chinchilla is too thin. It should feel slender, but with a padding between the skin and bones.

There are a few things besides the obvious (chemicals etc.) to remember never to allow your chinchilla to eat, no matter how willing and happy it seems to do so. Never give your chinchilla any kind of commercial food except chinchilla food as a regular diet. The hamster, rabbit, guinea pig, and even parrot food may look very much like those chinchilla pellets to you, but they're not the same thing. Every animal requires specific vitamins and minerals to survive and flourish, and these are provided by their particular food. Feeding your pet with the wrong food can lead to liver damage, constipation, extreme thinness, and even early death. Greens are also not good for chinchillas. Leaves, grass, and lettuce should not be given to them, though a single stalk or small leaf won't hurt them, so don't panic if your pet gets a little taste of something green. Hay harvested in the fall should be checked for unfamiliar leaves. There is an extremely poisonous plant (meadow-saffron) that grows during this time, and it can kill your pet. You shouldn't harvest your own hay from wild fields, either, since it can also contain deadly plants. Citrus woods, cherry, walnut, cedar, and pine should never be given to your pet.

Grooming

Your chinchilla grooming itself is probably one of the cutest things you'll ever see. They, like most rodents, self-groom by balancing on their hind feet, then licking their fur directly or licking their hands, which they then use to clean those hard to reach spots, like behind the ears. They will keep themselves very clean, but they do need our assistance in one way. Sand baths!

By now you should know that you're supposed to have a large, high-sided stoneware bowl in their cage, but why exactly? Chinchillas don't take regular baths with water. No matter how filthy your chinchilla gets, never bathe it in water. Instead, put a moderate portion of either a commercial chinchilla bath or your own home-made version in the stoneware bowl, and then sit back and leave your chinchilla to it. You're in for a treat when your chinchilla climbs in and creates its version of a dust devil.

You should give your pet a "bath" at least every few days, and many experts recommend having a bath available every evening during the chinchilla's exercise period. You'll know you're not giving enough baths if your pet's fur begins to look greasy, sticky, clumped, or even shaggy. The commercial bath is highly recommended, and can be found at most pet stores. You can make your own out of 1 cup of bird grit or gravel plus 1 teaspoon of talcum powder, but again, there's really nothing as good as the actual bath specifically made for chinchillas.

Don't worry about brushing your pet too often. If it's getting enough baths, the loose fur will deposit itself all over the carpet without any help from you.

Illness

It's always important to know what potential illnesses could strike down your pet and what causes them, so you can be on the lookout. You don't want to notice one day that your chinchilla has unusually small, dry, hard droppings, think nothing of it, and a few days later find your pet dead and wonder what happened?! From the moment your pet comes home, familiarize yourself with the brightness of its eyes, its energy level, how much it likes to eat, any patches or thinner spots in its fur, and how its droppings usually look. A change in any of these things can be an indication that you need to take your little friend to a veterinarian. Here's a list of the most common illnesses.

    So now you have a bird. You did all your research, you have just the right bird for your temperament and the amount of time you can spend with it, and just the right home for it to live in. You’ve put the cage far away from drafts and direct sunlight (and your cat). But how, exactly, do you go about taking care of it now that you’ve got it?

     First off, remember that your bird is really scared. It has no idea who you are, what’s going on around it, what this new place is, and whether or not you plan to eat it. So the best thing you can do for it is to establish a routine of feeding and watering, stick to it, and let it just relax for a day or so. No loud noises, no frightening sights, and especially, whatever you do, no hands in the cage! Your birds' cage is its' sanctuary, the only place it knows it’s safe and in control. Always remember to give it that feeling of safety, and your bird will learn to come to you for love.

    Now it’s been 24-36 hours. You left the bird alone, fed and watered at a regular time (preferably in the morning). So what now? Your bird has to get to know you. Sit near the cage and read to your bird, use its name a lot. If you know a song with the name in it, sing that, or make up your own song with your bird’s name in it. Trust me, your bird will love to hear its name set to music. Then, at long last, open the cage. The bird will learn to come out when the door is opened, and will learn that when it says no, YOU LISTEN! Just like with a human being, sometimes your bird just won’t be feeling particularly sociable. Forcing it to come out in these circumstances is a fast road to mutual tolerance at best, not love.

    Hopefully, your bird’s wings are clipped. This is best for both you and the bird, if you want to be able to handle it. In the wild, bird hierarchy (who’s the boss) is determined by how high you sit in the tree. If your bird is higher than you, the bird is boss. This leads to attitude and biting problems. Not a good thing. The cage should be set no higher than chest level on you, and the bird should not be allowed to perch or fly to a point higher than your chest (yes, including your shoulder) for at least a week, longer with some birds. Once the bird knows you’re Boss Bird, you should have few problems thereafter. The cage should always be low, but shoulder perching is fine once hierarchy is established. Never let your bird sit on your head. Not only is it embaressing to have bird poop in your hair, but your bird is again more likely to have attitude problems because he or she is "taller" than you.