Chinchilla - caring for a fluffy pet, simple tips. How to care for a chinchilla at home

Fluffy chinchillas were brought to our continent from South America.

In the wild, you can find two types of this amazing animal: short-tailed and ordinary long-tailed.

Chinchillas are now fashionable to settle in apartments as a pet.

These animals belong to the genus chinchillas, the chinchilla family, a detachment of rodents. Animals live in the Andes, at an altitude of about 3 thousand meters. The cold, dry climate, as well as the lack of food, taught rodents to conserve the energy that comes from food. In this they are helped by a unique fur, which is so frequent that there are more than 25,000 hairs per square centimeter.

To keep its thick beautiful fur in excellent condition, the chinchilla takes very good care of it by bathing in sand or dust. Because of this, in the process of evolution, the animals developed ear membranes that protect the ear canal from dirt.

A distinctive feature of the chinchilla is considered autotomy - the ability to shed small pieces of wool under stressful conditions.

Probably - this is the protective function of the animal from predators.

According to external data, the chinchilla vaguely resembles a rabbit. The weight of the animal ranges from 400 to 700 g. Body length from 19 to 37 cm, the tail grows up to 17 cm. The females are always larger than the male.

The hind legs are much longer than the front. Thereby Chinchilla is able to jump to great heights. On the expressive muzzle are large black eyes. They see perfectly both during the day and at night. Rounded mobile ears, ranging in size from 3 to 5 cm in length, are located on the top of the head.

Whiskers are well developed, which are called vibrissae, up to 10 cm long. With their help, animals navigate in the dark, looking for food.

In comfortable conditions females reach sexual maturity by two or three months of age, males by four or five. Chinchillas are ready for mating as early as six months. The animal bears babies from 105 to 115 days. As a rule, there are only two cubs in a litter.

A fairly developed offspring is born: covered with fluff, having incisors and three molars on each side. The fourth pair erupts already on the 25th day. Babies are active from the first moments of life. After about a week, they are able to eat food. Puppies weigh about 50 g. By three months, body weight reaches 250–300 g. Then the weight gain slows down. At 9 months, rodents will already weigh 450-500 years. Medium The life expectancy of chinchillas ranges from 15 to 18 years.

Chinchillas take root perfectly in captivity, without causing unnecessary problems to their owner. They are clean and easy to train.

Question	Answer
Does the animal have an unpleasant smell? How much does he shed?	Due to the fact that the chinchilla lacks sweat and sebaceous glands, the animal does not exude unpleasant odors. And also they do not shed, only sometimes in a state of stress they can shed small pieces of wool.
Can chinchilla cause allergies?	Chinchilla fur is hypoallergenic.
Do they get along with children?	Chinchillas are harmless animals. They are incapable of harming children. Therefore, if the child does not annoy the beast, then they will get along very well.
Is it possible to let a chinchilla out of the cage?	Walking a rodent can be released only under the vigilant attention of the owner. Otherwise, it can ruin furniture or walls.
Can the animal live alone? Does he need a mate?	Chinchillas thrive on their own without needing a mate.
Will the veterinarian be able to help if the animal gets sick?	There are no narrow specialists in chinchillas, so if the animal shows signs of illness, it should be taken to a regular veterinarian.
The nature and behavior of the animal, contact with people.	Chinchillas, like all animals, have four types of temperament: phlegmatic - a rare type; sanguine - the main type; choleric - come across infrequently; melancholic - almost never occur. In relations with a person, they are quite sociable, getting used to the owner, willingly make contact. This Animals do not tend to display aggression, therefore, they are unlikely to bite or scratch you.
Conditions for keeping a pet at home.	The chinchilla must be kept in a special cage. The pet needs to allocate a place where there are no drafts and sudden changes in temperature. For rodents, the following conditions are suitable: the pupil is placed in a darkened quiet place; the optimal temperature for chinchillas is 18-20 ° C: high temperatures cause heat stroke, and low temperatures cause a decline in activity and illness.
What does a chinchilla eat?	The main food is hay or specialized granulated feed. During the day, the animal eats about two tablespoons of food. You can feed the animal with dandelion or nettle greens. Chinchillas love to feast on dried apples, pears, and hibiscus. All this must be purchased at pet stores.
What is forbidden to give a pet?	You can not feed the chinchilla with fresh vegetables, fruits, seeds, raisins, nuts.
Temperature and cage requirements	It is best to choose a combined cell: glass with grating. A rodent dwelling is installed on a hill. The house for a chinchilla must be spacious, at least one meter high. The bottom of the crate is best made of glass so that debris does not fall on the floor.
care requirements	Basic rules for caring for a chinchilla: pour clean boiled water into the drinker every two days; freshen bedding once a week; it is good to wash the cage once a month; chinchilla bathing sand must be sieved every week and filled with new every month.
Stress tolerance	Chinchillas are completely stress resistant. They are afraid of sudden movements, loud sounds. With a strong fright, the animal may fall into a stupor.
Contact with other pets.	Animals get along well with rodents: hamsters, rats, guinea pigs. With cats and dogs, they prefer to remain neutral.

Ability to tame

Basically, chinchillas bought in a nursery or from a breeder are accustomed to humans and do not require special training.

But it happens that even the pet store employees cannot give an answer about the past of the animal.

If you have acquired an animal that does not know human hands, then you will have to be patient so that the chinchilla begins to trust the owner.

It will take the pet a few days to get used to the new place, unfamiliar smells and sounds. When the beast stops hiding, you need to try to treat the baby with a treat: for example, dried apples.

Curiosity and a pleasant aroma will force the chinchilla to get out of hiding and approach the delicacy. You need to be very quiet so as not to frighten the animal. If the pet, sniffing the palm, touched it, and then took a treat, this can be considered a success.

It is important to perform such manipulations daily, in the period of maximum activity of the chinchilla is in the evening. As soon as the rodent starts to immediately take a treat, you can try to scratch it under the chin. If the animal runs away, do not despair, keep trying to find a common language with the pet. After a while, the animal will understand that you want to make friends with it.

After the chinchilla accepts affection, you can try to pick it up. For the first time, you need to put the little animal on your knees, gently holding it. At this point, treat the animal with a treat to calm him down. If the rodent begins to resist, then you need to urgently put him in his place and try again the next day. It usually takes a few days for the pet to begin to accept human hands in a friendly way.

To teach a chinchilla to behave calmly with the owner, it is enough to follow simple recommendations:

it is important to pay attention to the animal every day;
with a shy fluffy one cannot be very persistent;
you need to talk in an affectionate, calm voice;
do not spare treats;
maximum care must be taken;
if the chinchilla is worried or unhappy with what is happening, it is immediately worth returning it to the cage.

Diagnosis of possible diseases

To come to the aid of a pet in time, It is important to be able to correctly diagnose the state of health of the animal. To do this, you should pay attention to the following factors:

These aspects should be considered when buying an animal from a breeder or in a store. And also, if you find one of these signs in your pet, you need to contact a specialist for advice.

Chinchilla

Class: Mammals,
Squad: Rodents,
Suborder: Porcupines,
Superfamily: Chinchillas
Family: Chinchilla
Genus: Chinchilla.

All chinchillas can be divided into 2 types: small long-tailed (lat. Chinchilla Lanigera) and large short-tailed chinchilla (lat. Chinchilla Brevicaudata).

In nature, chinchillas inhabit the mountains and foothills of Chile, Peru, Mexico and some parts of South America. They live in large flocks of 10 to 35 individuals, with a pronounced matriarchy. The whole flock is ruled by one female, who has several successors. Males occupy the lowest position in the flock, and, with a lack of food or during difficult climatic conditions, they are expelled from the flock or may be killed by females.

Due to the rather harsh climatic conditions of habitat in nature, the body of the animal is covered with rather thick and long hair. Due to the fact that the fur of chinchillas was highly valued throughout the world, hunting for these rodents eventually turned into their barbaric extermination, and, at the moment (in most countries of South America), it is considered poaching.
The chinchilla was domesticated, first of all, precisely because of its fur, and to this day it is kept on fur farms around the world, precisely as a valuable fur animal. Only at the beginning of the 19th century, with the appearance of various coat colors, these animals began to be acquired by humans as a pet.

The body structure of the chinchilla resembles a squirrel, it has a curved spine, short fore and well-developed hind hocks, which causes the movement of this rodent by jumping and allows it to develop significant speed. With a body length of 15-20 cm, they can have a tail 5 to 10 cm long. The hair on the tail looks like a brush, but, unlike degus and gerbils, it covers the entire length of the tail.

The head of the animal is triangular in shape, set low, the neck is almost absent. On the head there are well-defined auricles, practically not covered with hair. The eyes are mostly black, rarely red. The chinchilla has 20 teeth (16 chewing and 4 incisors), which grow throughout the life of the animal and require constant grinding. With an insufficient amount of roughage in the diet or in its absence, the teeth grind down poorly and pathological growths (“hooks”) form on them, which subsequently, when eating food, injure the mucous membrane of the tongue and cheeks. In nature, such animals die quickly, and domesticated chinchillas require long-term treatment from a specialist. quite common, so you should carefully monitor their condition.

Chinchillas bring offspring 1-2 times a year, the gestation period is 110-130 days, there are from 1 to 5 cubs in the litter. Chinchillas are born with open eyes, hair and rudiments of teeth.

To keep these rodents in apartments, you need a spacious cage or showcase. When choosing a place for a cage, it must be taken into account that the chinchilla is afraid of both drafts and overheating. Drafts can lead to serious respiratory diseases of the rodent, and overheating can be fatal. The normal body temperature of a chinchilla is 36.6 ° C, but if direct sunlight hits the habitat of this mammal, its temperature can rise to 39 ° C, and this is dangerous for the development of heat stroke and cardiac arrest.

Chinchillas are predominantly nocturnal. Putting their cage in the bedroom is not recommended. Rodents will actively move in the cage, make various sounds, and, thereby, prevent the owner from sleeping.

It is necessary to ensure the presence of a large number of shelves and passages so that the animals can jump and move around for their own pleasure. You should also equip a hay feeder, several feeders and a drinker. Although in nature these animals like to hide in holes, special houses or shelters are not necessary for this in a cage, but if they are present, chinchillas will definitely settle in them. Running wheels for animals are not needed, as they can be injured while running.

At the bottom of the cage it is necessary to pour the filler and put the tray. The act of defecation in chinchillas is involuntary, so it is almost impossible to accustom them to the toilet. However, these animals cope with a small need in one, maximum in two corners of the cage, where the tray must be placed.

When keeping chinchillas together, placing a male with a female should be very careful, as many cases have been recorded when female chinchillas maimed and even killed the males planted with them. First, the animals must be placed in individual cages located nearby, and their behavior should be observed, and only then placed in one cage under strict control.

Feeding.

The diet of these animals consists of dry foods. 50% is hay and dry grass. Hay should always be present in the diet of these animals, however, it should not be scattered throughout the cage, but in the feeder, since the dust present in any hay can cause rodents. You can use various herbs (mainly dandelion, plantain, nettle and clover), the main thing is that they are not poisonous and toxic.

The remaining 50% falls on dried fruits and specialized feed. Dried fruits can be used almost everything, but always completely dried. Currently, the choice of feed for chinchillas on the market is very wide. Basically, these are compound feeds consisting of cereals, nuts and herbal components.

Also, the bark and young shoots of any fruit trees can be included in the diet of these rodents.

Care.

It is very important for chinchillas to clean their long and thick coat. Since water procedures are prohibited for these animals, rodents should regularly bathe in special fine sand, thereby cleaning their coat. The filler in the tray and the bedding in the cage must be changed as it gets dirty. Water in the drinker and feed in the feeder must be updated daily. Replenish the hay in the hay feeder as it is eaten.

Chinchillas are very mobile rodents. They need to periodically walk around the apartment, but it is undesirable to allow this without supervision and restrictions, as they like to gnaw on furniture and wires, which can lead to obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract and burns of the oral cavity. It is best to carry out walks in special walking balls. In them, the rodent quickly orients itself in space and develops sufficient speed. The main thing is that the coating of the ball is as transparent as possible.

The prerequisites for going to the doctor with a chinchilla are profuse salivation, refusal to feed, lack of urination and defecation, immobility of the animal, characteristic moaning sounds and pressing the ears to the head. If at least one of the above symptoms is present, the owner must urgently show the chinchilla to a ratologist.

Chinchilla lives happily in a cage. It is best if the cage for one animal is 70 cm long and 50 cm wide and high. It should be made of metal rods, the cell sizes for the walls are 2 × 2 cm, and for the bottom - 1.5 × 1, 5 cm. A prerequisite is a pallet. It should be metal and filled with sawdust or small chips, which should be changed every other day.

In nature, a chinchilla likes to retire sometimes. To make her feel as comfortable as possible, a wooden house must be installed in the cage. It should be twilight, then the animal will love to hide and sleep there. Shelves, tunnels, ladders are welcome, where animals can rest and hide.

The drinker and feeder should not be placed on the floor: the chinchilla will turn them over. The best solution is to attach them to the cage walls. Separately, you can install a manger for hay, and next to it is a mineral or salt stone. The animal will sharpen its teeth about it and at the same time receive valuable minerals.

Chinchilla loves to swim in the sand. Sand baths help improve the condition of her fur. For this procedure, containers with clean sand are placed in the cage once a day for half an hour.

A cage with a chinchilla should not be kept in a draft, it is advisable to avoid direct sunlight. The best temperature should not be higher than 25°C, at normal humidity.

When and how to feed a chinchilla

It is necessary to feed the South American animal according to the schedule. It is best to do this at a certain time in the evening. The basis of the diet is vegetable food. It is best to use concentrated legumes and grains, as well as green oat sprouts or young greens. All year round chinchilla should receive hay. Without him, she will die. There is also a special ready-made feed in granules. Additionally, you can feed the animal with branches and leaves of willow, oak, birch and aspen bark. Sweet and high-calorie foods should be avoided, because obesity can become a consequence of such feeding.

Under natural conditions, the chinchilla almost does not drink water. But in captivity, a pet should always have fresh water in a drinker. Boiled water is fine.

How to make friends with a chinchilla

The first step is to call the animal by name as you approach the cage. This can be done by offering the animal some kind of treat through the cage, for example, half a raisin, but no more than 1-2 raisins per day. Gradually, he gets used to the owner's voice and begins to study his hand. Then you can gently tickle the rodent under the neck and behind the ears. After 2-3 weeks, the pet will get used to the owner and stop being afraid of him.

Chinchillas are very cute animals. Simple care and concern is the right way to acquire an interesting and funny friend.

Chinchilla is a rather whimsical pet.

Chinchillas are native to the Andes. For life, they choose places higher - from 300 to several thousand meters. However, now more and more often they can be found in ordinary living quarters as pets.

How does a chinchilla behave at home

Many, having fallen under the charm of a chinchilla, cannot resist and buy it for themselves and as a gift, not always thinking about the consequences. But the decision to get a chinchilla at home should be approached as seriously as the decision to get a dog. What should a future rodent owner know? What features does a chinchilla have - an animal, reviews of which may meet the most unexpected:

As a rule, these rodents are not aggressive and do not bite those who pick them up.
Chinchillas do not have an unpleasant odor, unlike other rodents.

They are smart and quick-witted enough to learn to go to the tray and respond to the nickname. And with some effort, a chinchilla can be taught to perform simple commands. Of course, you will not be able to learn the Voice command with her, like with a dog. But it is quite possible to make the pet respond to its name, for example.

This is a nocturnal animal, with the onset of darkness, they begin to run noisily, gnaw, play. Therefore, they are not suitable for people who have sensitive sleep.
Unfortunately, like all other pets, furry rodents can get sick, and finding a competent veterinarian can be tricky.
For such an animal as a chinchilla, the price can be quite high. Some rare breeds can cost over $2,000.

In addition, chinchillas are very independent and can show a character that each individual has its own. And also some owners note that these rodents do not get along well with other animals, especially with ferrets and cats.

Breeding and keeping chinchillas

Breeding chinchillas at home is quite realistic. Another question is for what purposes it is done. Some sell 1-3 cubs a year to people who decide to have a rodent as a pet. Others arrange entire farms where they raise animals for sale for fur products (after all, chinchilla fur is incredibly highly valued, for example, expensive fur coats are sewn from it).

In any case, if breeders want their pets to live comfortably, then they need to provide proper care.

A chinchilla at home should be kept in a large cage: the minimum size for one animal is 50x50x50 cm (more is better), and the distance between the bars is up to 2 cm.
Inside it is necessary to place several perches, a ladder, a “house”, a “bath” with dust (chinchillas clean their fur with dust), as well as food containers and a special bottle for water.
As feed, you can use special granular mixtures from pet stores, dried berries (rose hips, mountain ash, hawthorn), as well as hay.
In the room where the animal is kept, the temperature should be from +15 to +25 degrees with a humidity of 60-90%.

This will already be enough for the animal to feel normal. However, for its beautiful appearance, great efforts must be made.

Chinchilla health

Keeping track of rodent health is quite simple. It is necessary to regularly examine his eyes, nose and ears for discharge and stains. There should be no plaque on the teeth, healthy teeth in chinchillas are orange. There should also be no spots on the mucous membrane in the mouth (these animals are somewhat prone to inflammation of the oral cavity).

The most important thing is, of course, fur. In a healthy animal, it is even, shiny, velvety. If the hair falls out (especially in shreds), this may indicate severe stress, unacceptable conditions of detention, skin disease, etc.

But if you treat your pet with all seriousness, take care of it, regularly care for it and monitor its well-being, then it will please the owners for at least 15 years.

Irina

Recently, chinchillas have become increasingly popular among urban residents as pets. In fact, this is not surprising. Having many years of experience in keeping various animals in an apartment, I can say that chinchillas have practically no drawbacks in keeping! Of course, if you can, or rather, want to create the right conditions for them to live.

Let's start with a brief description:

Chinchilla - rodent. In nature, in their homeland - South America, there are very, very few of them left. Therefore, the chinchilla is listed in the international Red Book.

The closest relative of the chinchilla is the porcupine, although they do not look alike. Very similar to rabbits and squirrels, they are not directly related, although they are very similar in content to both.

This is a chinchilla of the usual, gray color. Such chinchillas were first brought to Russia in the middle of the last century for study and adaptation in our country. The experiment on acclimatization in the nature of our country was never completed.

The genus Chinchilla has only two types:

Chinchilla longtail, she is small or mountainous.
Chinchilla shorttail, it is large or flat.

Actually, the long-tailed chinchilla became the object of home maintenance and selection. Of course, initially chinchillas were bred to obtain valuable, warm and unusually beautiful fur, but over time, chinchillas moved from the category of fur-bearing animals to the category of pets.

It is better to buy an animal from breeders. Come home, see how animals are kept at home by people. Of course, not everyone is allowed into their home, but some pet owners even insist on personal contact. There you will be able to see live the parents, brothers and sisters of your future pet, and you can choose.

You can take a chinchilla to your home from two months old, it is even better to take a baby, and not an adult animal. they get used to hands and new owners better. A healthy, strong baby has clear and clean eyes, clean, not matted fur and a cheerful look! You need to see how the baby drinks and eats, take with you a little of the exact food that the breeder feeds. Look at how cages or display cases are arranged in which chinchillas live at the breeder to get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe content. You can read it many times and not imagine, and having seen it once, you can already draw a lot of conclusions for yourself. One such visit to a private nursery changed my life forever. I passionately "fell ill" with these little animals!

You can keep one chinchilla in a cage. The cage must be at least 50 by 50 cm along the perimeter of the bottom, and the height must be at least 60 cm. The rods must be metal, not laminated. Deep pallet with a grate above it. The distance between the rods should not be more than 1.5 cm. In the cage, at different heights, it is necessary to install several shelves 10-15 cm wide, a house, an automatic drinker and a feeder. All interior fittings must be screwed firmly to the walls. otherwise, all this will be toys - rattles for your animal. In a metal cage and the silence of the night, all these rattles will be an annoying factor for you, and when keeping and raising chinchillas, irritability and nervousness are unacceptable!

Feeding a domestic chinchilla is very simple. They eat special, granular food, some dried carrots, other root crops, oat seeds, a piece of dried apple and a raisin, and a pinch of hay - that's all! Do not give any fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs. They should not eat any human or other food - this will lead to a fatal illness! A raisin and a dry apple are a delicacy and an encouragement, and there shouldn't be too many of them. An adult chinchilla eats 2-3 tables per day. spoons of dry mixture and a small piece of hay, water in the automatic drinker should be in the cage all the time! Thus, at a cost of 100-200 rubles. per kilo and a small daily allowance - feeding will not be expensive!

White pink velvet.

When kept in a cage, sawdust or granules for cats and rodents toilets are poured over the entire area of the pallet and covered with a mesh bottom of the cage. When kept in a display case, nothing is poured on the floor - the filler is poured only into the tray - the toilet, where the animal will go to relieve itself. Shushi cannot control the process of producing boluses (poop), and therefore they scatter them everywhere, but they are dry and do not stick. All waste products of chinchillas have no smell at all! Even if you do not change the filler in the cage tray for a whole month, you will not smell the smell even then. Try this on a hamster, rat, or guinea pig.

In recent years, an extraordinary array of chinchilla colors has been bred. Gold Bar, blue diamond, violet, sapphire, white-pink velvet, etc. are all chinchilla colors. All of them are almost identical in appearance, but completely different in quality and color of wool.

More recently, a new breed of chinchillas, the Royal Persian Angora, was bred and appeared in our country. This is an absolutely unique animal! A big, round head, small ears, big eyes and a cheeky muzzle make Angora a completely cartoon character!

Royal Persian Angora standard color. Photo from the Angor website from the sales section.

I would especially like to dwell on the education of chinchillas

Even if you do not take into account the cute, funny appearance - chinchillas already have enough good qualities and character is one of them. Shushi don't bite or scratch unless, of course, you hurt her! The baby grown by you will be tame and devoted, like a puppy. Chinchillas are highly intelligent and can be trained to walk around the room and return to the cage on command. But thanks precisely to considerable intelligence and some kind of telepathic abilities (this has not been scientifically proven, but many breeders assure) some chinchillas literally subjugate their owners and literally sit on their heads. Proper upbringing, timely encouragement and regular communication - this is the main guarantee in growing a good pet.

White hetero ebony.

In breeding, chinchillas are very fertile material for selection. Many genetically fixed colors can interbreed and produce offspring, the color of which can be calculated in advance. Carrying different colors at the same time in one breeder can give very interesting combinations and colors with the right selection of a pair. The appearance of new colors is unlikely, but what we now have has an incredibly huge potential! White, gold, black, brown, blue, purple - an incredible variety of colors and shades of color - that's what we currently have in the colors of these wonderful animals.

I think that thanks to all that I have listed, thanks to what you yourself will know when you get this animal and tell others - thanks to all this, chinchillas will spread more and more in our homes and make our hearts a little softer and warmer!

Hetero beige.