Should I Get A Chinchilla?

Question

I am 12 and am very good with pets. My mom and dad could be convinced. Money is also not a problem, but I would like to know about how much I'd spend monthly/weekly on the chinchilla. I would only get one. I could probably let the chinchilla out for playtime 3 days a week or so for about 45 min. So, my question is, should I get a chinchilla? If no, why/what would I need to change?

Answer 1

i heard chinchilla's aren't very friendly... obvioustly if u take good care of it it will be friendly but i'm not sure...

Chinchillas make a variety of vocalizations, including chirps, squeaks, and barks. They use these sounds to express themselves, from a calm, loving chirp given to a potential mate to a loud, aggressive bark when threatened. Chinchilla kits often greet their parents with a very high pitch chirp, usually to indicate that they are hungry.[16] Since they are active at night, it is not uncommon for them to vocalize in the early hours of the morning. If irritated or frightened, the female chinchillas may cluck loudly and spray urine at the offender.

Chinchillas can be housed with others of the same s*x; however, it is possible that they may fight. Fighting or getting along depends on the individual animals. If the chinchillas are either introduced when young, or gradually introduced when older, conflict can be reduced. Males and females usually get along well, although they must be spayed or neutered to avoid reproduction. However, reproduction rates are low with up to two litters per year of 1-3 kits (3 being rare).

Since chinchillas are very active animals, it is best to house them in a large enclosure, such as a room of their own instead of a small cage. If kept in a cage, the chinchillas need to have a large area replete with shelves or other obstacles on which to play. The cage should be taller than it is wide, as the chinchilla's natural environment is very mountainous. Chinchillas also need other forms of stimulation, such as hanging wooden toys, large wheels (over 16 in (410 mm) in diameter and not constructed of mesh, as chinchilla legs and toes can easily get caught), or paper towel tubes. Wooden sticks and chew toys are also good options, but conifer woods (especially cedar) should be avoided because of the high content of resins that are toxic for chinchillas. Birch, willow, apple tree or manzanita are all safe woods for chinchillas to chew.[17] Plastic in the cage should be avoided at all times. Chinchillas are often voracious chewers, and any ingested plastic can cause blockage in the intestines. As with most small animals, red cedar bedding should never be used due to its toxic nature.[18] The cage must have good air circulation. The chinchilla lacks the ability to sweat; therefore, if temperatures get above 25°C (80°F), the chinchilla could get overheated and may suffer from heat stroke.[19]

Active and inquisitive by nature, chinchillas need to spend some time outside of the cage (around half an hour a day and always supervised) to exercise and to satisfy their curiosity. Chinchillas will chew on inappropriate items including electrical cords.

that was some info i copied from a site... anyway... good luck!

Answer 2

I want a chinchilla also but it comes with a lot of needs and responsibility.

Their price range mostly on colors and or breeds.

I've linked some websites that I've read (you should too) for more info about chinchillas.

www.chin-chillas.com

There's lots more so I'll email them to you.

Answer 3

if ur onli gunna be playing with them for 3 days a week 45 mins each of those 3 days then i dont think u shud get chinchillas they will get bored without another chinchilla in the cage with them and since u arent gunna be spendingm uch time playign with them then i wouldnt get them if u were u they also get pretty big i saw 1 at petsmart and it was HUGE lol reaaaaaally fat 1 haha they need a lot of attention but if ur responsible then do wat u think is the right thing monthly the cost is 40-50 dollars depending on how cheap or how expensive the stuff u choose to buy for them is. hope i helped

sincerely nabil.

Answer 4

a chinchilla would be a cool pet. but i am not sure if you could tame one .

Answer 5

Chinchillas are awesome and they are very sweet and friendly.  I got one on Mother's Day.  He is all white and his name is Carlos.  He doesn't love to be held but will tolerate it.  He is excited when I go up to his cage.  He loves when I give him a couple of raisins for a treat and he loves his dust bath that I give him a few times a week.  To get set up it will be expensive.  For set up it cost me $350.  That included my chinchilla, the cage, and all the supplies.  Chinchillas are really fast and are high jumpers.  It is very hard to catch them when they get out of their cage.  I actually got mine the chinchilla starter cage with all the supplies at PetSmart and he was able to squeeze through the bars.  Make sure that you get a cage where the bars are very close together.  They need their pellets; I use Nutriphase.  Fresh water needs to always be available and they need an unlimited supply of Timothy Hay.  Use carefresh for their bedding.  It is the best things for them.  Wood shavings aren't good for them.  Clean the cage and change the bedding weekly.  Give them a dust bath a few times a week.  Less than that and their skin will get oily but if you give them a bath too much you will dry out their skin.  Get your chinchilla a plastic exercise ball to roam around in.  My Carlos loves his.  Don't let a chinchilla have the run of the house because you will have a hard time catching him.  When Carlos snuck through his bars it took me two hours to catch him.  With the exercise ball he is contained but is getting his exercise.  You can also put an exercise wheel in his cage.  Just make sure it is solid so that his tail and feet don't get stuck.  A Chinchilla is a very expensive pet so you want to give him the best possible care.  They live up to 15 years so you need to keep that in mind.  Don't get a chinchilla if you think that you will become bored with it after a short while.  After the set up, the care isn't expensive.  The supplies you will need are the pellets, the timothy hay, and dust for his bath.  Use Kaytee Dust in the clear container.  Also, put wood chews in the cage.  They love to chew on wood.  They teeth are continuously growing and it keeps them from growing out of control.  Chinchillas love raisins.  You can give them a couple daily as a treat but no more than that.  Chinchillas have a hard time processing sugar.  If they get too much they can become really sick and die.  Also, be really careful with hot temperatures.  They are sensitive to the heat.  Cold isn't good either but the hot is worse.  Anything above the mid to high 70s is too hot.  Mrs. Mitch Chinchillas are very clean.  Dust Baths don't make them dirty.  They make their very clean and shiny and remove oils.  They don't bath in actual dust.  They bath in a fine powder called Chinchilla dust that you get from the pet store.  It is extremely easy to give them a dust bath.  They love their dust bath.  It is adorable to watch.

Answer 6

First, you need to make sure you have space...chinchillas are fairly large animals and require a cage at least 3 feet by 5 feet. Make sure you can spend as much time with your chinchilla as possible, so it doesn't get lonely.

If you want to know how much you would be spending weekly and monthly, I would say about (this will vary, but you're going to need to buy food, bedding material, treats, and hay constantly) :

Weekly: 10 dollars

Monthly:  40 dollars

I would strongly recommend purchasing a book on chinchillas before you buy a chinchilla. Before I got my first guinea pig, I bought a book before and it was very helpful- it will also be helpful when you need to know something about your chinchilla quickly, like what foods are bad and good for your pet, or what is the illness your chinchilla may have, etc.

If you're keeping the chinchilla in a cage, note that they love little obstacles and ladders that lead to platforms. Chinchillas can be shy but they do make noise.

It sounds like your ready to get a pet, you sound like a good pet person, but just remember to study up on your chinchillas! Best of luck!

Answer 7

ok.

If you are gonna get  a chinchilla make sure you have the time/money/room.....I am 9 and gladly owned 2 chinchillas.

Get the biggest cage you can possibly get. at least 3 feet tall.

they will take a dust bath that u can find at Pet Smart like 3 or 4 times a week.

make sure u buy them a quality diet. here are some good ones: Mazuri chinchilla pellets,Kline chinchilla pellets, and oxbow chinchilla pellets. change the water in there WATER BOTTLE every day. also, i highly suggest you get a glass water bottle, because they can bite through a plastic water bottle. NO PLASTIC IN ITS CAGE.

here is a list of cage supplies and supplies:

food/ not plastic food bowl

water/water bottle ( glass )

I HIGHLY SUGGEST that oyu get a 2 or 3 or even 4 leveled cage! Make sure in the cage you put CAREFRESH BEDDING.! ONLY CAREFRESH!

make sure you have at least one wood house for your chinchilla. make sure you find out witch wood is safe for chinchillas. also, MAKE SURE YOU GET SAFE WOOD BLOCKS! IF YOU DONT PUT A LOT OF WOODBLOCKS IN THEIR CAGE THEY COULD DIE! make sure that the wood for the woodblocks that u buy are safe!!!! also,

give them some fun SAFE TOYS!!!

also, make sure the wire in the cage is not very apart no more then one inch apart! You should also have a vet in case of emergencies already picked out before you get your chinchilla! Let your chinchilla out for playtime in a SAFE room for playtime at least every 2 or 3 days for half an hour

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IS THE TEMPERATURE....it cant get higher than 79 degrees Fahrenheit!!!! Your chinchilla can die in higher temperatures than this!!!

REMEMBER TO GIVE YOUR CHINCHILLAS LOTS OF LOVE!!

( and sorry fro all that reading)!

Answer 8

Money may not be a problem in your household, but I spent about $500 on mine when I first got him, and it was only one!!

Chinchillas cost - $80-$120

Chinchillas cage - $180-$230

Basic supplies - $80-$175

That's just a rough estimate of what to expect.

Now, onto more details.  I bought hay and dust over a year ago and haven't had to buy any more, but I'm just now running low.  Hay lasts awhile, doesn't normally expire for two years, and dust lasts as long as you make it last to some degree.  

Food and bedding are a different story.  I only use bedding in his litter box and thus only have to buy it a few times a year--  A large bag of Healthy Pet (which is most recommended since it best deals with odor, absorbs better, and is hypoallergenic) costs only $20.

Food, says my mother, is less than $10.  This isn't a big bag, but it lasts a little more than a month.  

Now moving onto other fees, which are less as well.  The chin will need a home, preferably made of wood or edible nutrients.  These are like $8-$20 and lasts quite awhile.  

There is also treats, which cost around $4-$14 depending on what you buy.  Tiny packs or citrus fruit snacks are like $4 and last quite a few months or parrot fruit trail mix which is around $8-$14 and last around a year in a sealed container.  

Next there are things like a wheel.  I would recommend this:

http://www.rabbitstop.com/Merchant2/merc...

Plastic wheels will be chewed up, peed on and smell terrible.  Mesh wheels will cut up the callus on their feet, and a wire wheel has the potential to break their leg.  I recently bought that wheel and got it today, less than a week ago I ordered it.  

You should also consider buying a marble slab for them, those are like $10 I think for one or two.  They're not exactly necessary, mine doesn't use it, but recommended.

Leap'n'Ledges are less than $10 each and highly recommended.  You can even bolt some to the side of your cage if you have safe wood (please research safe woods for chinchillas) and make homemade ones.  I did!!  You don't even have to sand down the sides, the chinchilla will enjoy rounding them itself.

Tubes!!  It's really hard to find tubes you can use since they are too big for TP tubes..  My dad gets free ones from his work, but you can also buy a tube from the pet store which is like..$8-$15 for just one.  Yeah, they're expensive, but loved probably more than anything else in their cage *besides the ledges*.

Now, depending on the size of your cage, you may or may not really buy more things.  Expect the first month for cost between $300-$500, but after that, monthly charges would be like..$10 most months, $30 when you have to buy new food and bedding.  Then $15 for Hay and $20-$40 for chinchilla dust once a year.

I HIGHLY recommend getting two chinchillas.  I only got one, at first, thinking it would be happy on his own, but now, a little more than a year later, he's getting lonely.  I just bought another chinchilla which will get here Saturday on craigslist.org.  That website can really get you a good deal.  I got a chinchilla, with her cage, and with left over supplies for only $150.  

One thing to consider is the vet bill.  A chinchilla, if too lonely, will chew on it's feet until it bleeds.  If you freak out, you'll be spending $40 for a office visit at an exotic vet and $80+ on any medicine they give you.  

Chinchillas are very social, having any amount of them will not change this either.  It is recommended getting two of the same s*x unless you are sure that they are neutered//spayed.  Even if they are brother and sister, mother and son, etc they WILL mate.  I know chinchilla babies sound cute, but it's not really something to be left up to any one other than breeders.  Breeding chins is complex.  The dad has to be separated from the mother while she is in labor (or else he'll try to mate with her which could kill her or the babies), then the parents essentially have to separated from their kits after 5 months, I believe it is, or else the father will try to mate with the daughters and the sons with the mother and this will create deformities or mutations.  Not good.  ):  

I have a neutered male and I'm getting an intact female.  There will be no babies because the male cannot get the female pregnant.  So it's always a possibility to get one neutered and the other intact, but if you buy them from a pet store or breeder, there's a chance they're already fixed.

Anyways, back to your info~  45 minutes three times a week is perfectly okay.  I get my chinchilla out about the same amount of time and he's perfectly healthy, other than the fact he's getting a little lonely and bored.  :P  

Just make sure you're committed to these animals as they live a very long time.  They say that they aren't good for tiny children, but the only problem with that could be their tendency to lose interest or be too rough.  They can live anywhere from 8 years to 22 years if taken care of properly.  ^^  

I consider myself fairly chinchilla smart, so if you have any questions, feel free to email me!!  I will gladly add you to my contacts for as long as you wish to talk and give you answers and websites to any question you have.  (:

Answer 9

Did you know chinchillas take dust baths? Do you want to deal with that? If thats okay with you then go right ahead, but I personally would go with a cleaner animal :) Good luck!