I want to buy a chinchillla. any details?

Question

first off, chinchillas are hard to find.i rarely see them at petstores and if i did find one, how much would one cost? are they hard to take care of? and ive heard that they are nocturnal. because of this, do they make lots of noise at night? OH! this ones big, are they even friendly animals?

i dont know much about them, but they seem so cool. any advice would be appreciated. thanks!

Answer 1

They are cool.  I used to want one too!!! They cost around 150-200.  They are hard to care for because of all their unique needs. They are nocturnal an make lots of noise at night. They need "dust" baths. They don't like to be handled much. I opted out. They are better of in nature.  

Answer 2

Yes, they are nocturnal and therefore make noise at night. They also need to be kept cool and need air conditioning if you live in a hot climate. I had a friend that had one and it used to lay in it's hammock on it's back to cool off. She found the nocturnal noises more than she was willing to put up with. I would advise you to get a rabbit instead of a chinchilla. Rabbits are awake during the day, love to be held and petted and can be house trained to use a litter box. I has such a rabbit and it stayed in the house for it's entire life. It was my favorite pet.

Answer 3

I have chinchillas.  They are harder to find but they are out there.  Pet stores usually go for around 100-200 depending on where and what color you purchase.  The different colors of the chilla's the more expensive they are.  Grey is the norm, then beige, then white, then ebony.  There are also some mosaic ones as well.  I have not really seen any of them though.  They are not hard to take care of.  They just have special needs that a hamster or rabbit does not.  They do take dust baths about 1-2 times a week.  Which is really cute.  They roll around in the little bath house like crazy!!  They need to have a diet of chilla food, timothy hay, and alfalfa hay.  They also like peanuts and like to chew on wood blocks.  I give mine McDonald's happy meal toys to play with.  They like toys.  They can NOT have cedar wood chips.  That is a big no no.  They also need a cage that has levels in it so that they  get exercise and a wheel and ball to play in also.  They are awake at night.  I keep mine in the main level of my house and we don't really hear them upstairs at all.  They are VERY friendly if you work with them and pay attention to them.  They do not like to be handled but after a time of working with them they come right up to you and are very personable.  I am totally in love with mine.  I talk to them and they come right up to the cage and kiss me through the cage.  They are so different from any other animals.  I breed mine and I love watching the babies grow.  

Any other questions please fee free to ask!  Thanks

Melissa

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Answer 4

I used to own three chinchillas. They are cool. They're like big rats or rodents. But you might want to consider your space. Do you have a lot of space in your house? If so, you have chinchilla habitat. You need to let them out once a day. They p**p everywhere and you need to make sure that there aren't any wires around because they could chew them up. Also, they need to chew. or else their teeth will grow and it's really painful for them. That's all I can tell you except buy from a breeder not a pet store and Good Luck!