we just got a chinchilla given to us any help for care?

Question

ya,
we just got an chinchilla from my sister becuse she dident want it anymore. but so far the poor thing seems to be scared of everything and wont let you pick it up. she also seems to be losing hair in little bits. i just need to know what to feed it, what it need for cage size, some tips on taming her down and also. and is there anyway to teach it to use the bathroom only in the cage.

ok i was also wondering is there anything she can't have that could be really bad

Answer 1

Chinchillas are vegetarians, and primarily eat seeds and grasses. You'll definitely want to feed your chinchilla lots of hay and a commercial pellet mixture. If you can find a high quality chinchilla pellet at your pet store (one without a lot of fillers or artificial ingredients in it), great. If not, various chinchilla care websites offer suggestions for making a good chinchilla mixture by mixing foods for rabbits, horses, etc. together. They can also get fresh fruit or veggies in small quantities as treats, but you should only introduce one at a time in very small quantities to make sure the treats don't disagree with your chinchilla before you give him more.

In terms of a cage, chinchillas like to jump and climb, so you need to give your chin plenty of space. The minimum size cage you would want is 3 ft x 3 ft x 3 ft. Make sure the cage has different levels and platforms for your chin to jump onto. And you probably have figured this out already, but chins are master escape artists, so you want to make sure the cage is all metal (they can chew right through plastic or wood) and closes really securely.

Chins can become tame and friendly, but it takes lots of patience. Like other prey animals, they need a lot of time to build up trust with you. Only when they feel comfortable that you aren't going to hurt them or eat them will they warm up to you. Chinchilla care websites and books can give you lots of good ideas on taming the chinchilla, but basically you just want to be very patient and gentle with the chinchilla, reward it with treats (such as a raisin) for good, friendly behavior, and give the chinchilla time to get used to you. Once you have the chinchilla's trust, you can work on training it to only go potty in its cage. Until then, just make sure the out-of-cage time is well supervised.

Your biggest concern right now should be the loss of hair. This could just be a stress reaction from being in a stressful enviroment if the chin wasn't getting good care at your sister's house. However, this could also be a skin condition like ringworm (which is communicable to humans, by the way), so you'll want to have a vet take a look at it and, if it is something like ringworm, provide you with some medicine to give the chinchilla.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Just want to add to puffnpower's answer, make sure the chinchilla has dust in a container available otherwise they can get fungus on thier feet and fur wich can kill them. Bathing dust is extremely important to a chinchillas health.