What is your opinion of chinchillas?

Question

Longest answer wins, I want info and opinions. Sorry if you can't think up something but the only thing I want from websites is links to them.

I am getting a chinchilla soon (about 5 weeks)

Answer 1

well,
i have a chinchilla named kiara and i will tell you all about her. she is around 3 years old, and i got her when she was a baby, from petsmart. she doesn't really like to sit still, but she will tolerate being held for about 10 minutes and then she will get impatient and start wiggling until i put her down. i usually let her run around in my bathroom, coz she can't really eat anything in there. but she is sooo hard to catch when i try to get her to put her back in her cage, so that is why i have her in a smaller room with less furniture to hide under. also, they can jump up to six feet, so that kinda makes them hard to catch. she does chew alot of things, but i think she does it just to taste it. like in the bathroom, she chews on a basket, and a little rug, but she ALWAYS responds and stops what she is doing when i say 'no!' sharply. i let her run around in there for about a half an hour or so. also, she has a huge cage. it is 3 stories. and you can get big cages on ebay, or there are plenty of other sites. the one i have for her is made for ferrets, but it suits her just fine. so that gives her alot of excercise too. for supplies, she has a ceramic food dish because she would tip over/eat any other dish i put in there. and i give her chinchilla pellets every night along with a hay bin filled with timothy hay, and every other night i give her a small amount of treats (carrots, apples, raisins....). and she is not fat, not skinny, but just right. :-) also, every night i give her a dust bath. you can buy special dust houses for chinchillas to go into and bathe so it doesn't get dust everywhere, but i just use a tupperware container. also you will need chew toys. you can buy them, or make them. i bought her a couple of toys that she doesn't really use, so i just give her things that i find around the house that i think that she might like. she likes toilet paper tubes, and also she has 2 small stuffed animals that she LOOOVES. i had gotten them in my happy meal from mcdonalds and i left them beside her cage accidentaly, and the next morning i saw that she had pulled them into her cage and was sleeping snuggled up with them! it was so cute!!! so those are her favorites. :-) i also have what is called a waffle house for her. it is just a little plastic house that you snap together, and she enjoys sleeping in that. for the summer, if your chinchilla gets too hot like mine, you might also want to buy a a marble slap type thing. i forget what it's called but it is sold at petsmart. you can pretty much get everything you need at petsmart. including the chinchilla.
this is all i can think of right now...if you have any questions, feel free to email me!
good luck!!!

Answer 2

Chinchillas make good pets, but they are naturally skittish and are not considered to be good pets for small children. they are pretty delicate and dont like being held by children. However, some enjoy snoozing in laps and posing for pictures as well as being held, petted and gently scratched. As with most creatures, temperament depends largely on upbringing and to a degree genes. Intelligent creatures, chinchillas may be taught tricks (rolling over, sitting up, etc.) with enough patience, using clearly spoken verbal cues over time in a quiet room. Each chinchilla has a distinctive personality, even from birth. Some like being held more than others, some prefer certain types of food, and some are more sleepy and lazy than others. While females can sometimes be more territorial than males, gender mostly does not affect temperment in chinchillas.

In captivity, chinchillas can live past twenty years, and grow to about one foot in length, but they usually do not live for more than ten years in countries with a climate to which they are not adapted. Chinchillas that are kept as pets with proper care can live longer than chinchillas in large ranches, where chinchillas often are kept only in the most economical housing with little space. Differences in diet, environment, and housing may contribute.


heres a link for more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinchilla

Answer 3

I love chinchillas although all i have is a chinchilla rabbit. He is as cute as a button. i know you will need a special powder for him to roll in. Chinchillas are the softest animal in the world and that is what the powder is supposed to do, keep them soft. i wish you the best of luck with your chinchilla. You can try this site if it has any health problems: www.talktothevet.com

Answer 4

ummm well they are pretty hard to take care of cuz wen u give them a dust bath the dust gets everywhere and u should give them a dust bath daily. and if u are looking for a long time companian then u should consider it. there lifespan iz 10-15 years. and my cuzin just told me that u have to take them out the cage for a bit of excerise everyday or they will go crazy. if u are planning to travel like every year this is not the pet for u. cuz if u give it to someone the chinchilla will not kno wat to do and will get very scared and they will not kno the enviorment and some ppl dont kno how to handel and how to let a chinchilla have a bath and how much food to give. cuz u could overfeed them and they can get very fat very soon. u should only get one chinchilla's do not get along very well. it will be hard but if ur up to it go ahead :)!

Answer 5

I purchased my chinchilla at 6 weeks old form a breeder. He loves to be petted and is not afraid of people, but he doesn't like to be held or cuddled. I have had him 6 years. They live 10-15 years, but the breeder I bought him from had one that was 23 so with good care they can live longer.
Chinchilla's do chew on things and it is much safer to let them run around the house in a Giant Hampster Ball (made for chinchillas) Called a Giant Kritter Krawler This way they cannot get under or into anything they they shouldn't and they cannot chew cords or walls. They need a very large cage with multipul levels and a dark sleeping area. They are nucturnal and are very loud throwing things about their cage and jumping about so don't put it in your bedroom. They also cannot tolurate heat and should not be kept over 85 degrees F. When grabbed or frightend they can sluff off big chuncks of their soft fur and let out a foul odor. If they become too bored or stressed they will pluck out their own fur causing bald spots. My chinchilla did this at about 10 months of age and the Vet recomended that he be neutered and this helped calm him down and stopped his fur plucking. They do need dustbaths which can be messy and need to eat hays and pellets to stay healthy.
A large Exercise Wheel in the cage will also help them burn off a great deal of energy. You can get one from chinworld.com I have not seen them large enough in pet stores but have seen a few at Feed Stores. I bought mine online.
If you are looking for a pet to cuddle with and carry around don't get a chinchilla. If you are ok to just watch its antics and pet it and have time durring the night or early morning to spend with it then it is the right pet for you, Too Many people get them as impulse's because they are so cute at the pet store but most chinchillas at the pets store are old and not easy to socilize, get a younger one from a breeder.
Also males make better pets and are calmer. Females will spray urine and go into heat cycles which makes them moody. Males are also Smaller. All chinchillas do make noise, they whimper and squeak softly, and they have a louder bark. Ziggy, my chinchilla squeaks softly when I pet him or when he wants to be petted. He also grunts when he is mad or upset like when I wake him up to clean inside his bed.
Chinchillas cannot be litter boxed train an poop everywhere even where they sleep, but they do seem to pee in the same spot.
The cage should not have wire floors becuase when they are jumping or bouncing about they can get their delicate legs or toes caught and they break easily. My Cage was built of solid untreated pine shelves which Ziggy loves to chew. they need to chew to wear down their teeth which like all rodents never stop growing. The back of his cage is solid pine and the the walls are wire. The bottom is solid metal. It has 3 stories. I got my dust box which stay in the cage and has a lid that can be opened from the outside from Larry Flynn The breeder I got my chinchilla from.
They can be fed treats such as raisins but should not be fed peanuts due to the fat. One of the main health issues of chinchillas is liver Disease caused by to much fat in the diet. Banana chips and dehydrated apples and papaya make great treats if feed in small rasin sized pieces. Too many treats can cause malnutrition so only buy pellets that don't have treats mixed in this way you can hand feed the treats so the chinchilla conciders you the bringer of good food and he'll be happy to see you.
I've enjoyed sharing my home with my chinchilla. I hope this information has helped. E-mail for more help or pictures of my chin and his cage (if you can this is my first time on here and I'm not sure if they give you my E-mail address) Good luck with your Chinchilla!

Answer 6

I had one and after a couple of months it was a boring pet. It never really liked to be handled and it needed to be let out to excercise if you let it out it chewed wood door frames ,window sills.Bed post and it would hide in places that was very hard to get it out of. Inside the box spring on the ebds. The daily dust baths made a heck of a mess.
They are cute but I would not recomend one for a pet to much care and boring

Answer 7

Here are some good links:
http://members.aol.com/sirchin/chininfo.htm
http://www.etc-etc.com/chin.htm
http://www.chin.buffnet.net/
http://www.chinchillaclub.com/


Make sure you do the research on the healthiest diets and find a good exotics vet.
Not the longest answer but you should get helpful info on these sites

Answer 8

I like rats, Rats are easy to look after and they are not as bad as what people make out they are. Rats are one of the cleanest animals in the world They like to keep them selves clean like cats do They are just as loyal as dogs They are very loving They are very intelligent the list could go on!

Answer 9

Had a pair and they made good pets-similar to Guinea Pigs.

They need to be handled or they get so they dont like to be around people and will hide and run.

Answer 10

i had two of them, and I agree, when you let them out.... they chew. alot. theyre worse than teething dogs.