CHINCHILLAS GALORE SOUTH FLORIDA

Quick Facts 

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Background Information

Chinchillas are nocturnal animals from the Andes mountains. They have a lifespan of around 20 years, so chosing to have a pet chinchilla is a long time responsibility, and not a decision to be taken lightly. Chinchillas are around 12 inches long, and about the size of a small rabbit, about 500-950 grams, on average, with the females being quite a bit larger than the males, and the standard color usually being larger than the color mutations. 

Chinchillas have the softest fur of any animal, and have more hairs per square inch than any other animal as well. Because of this, chinchillas were nearly hunted into extinction for their fur. Sadly, it takes about 100 chinchillas to make one coat! Luckily, Mr. MF Chapman spent 3 years in the Andes mountains trying to catch chinchillas. He caught only 11, and only 3 were females. All domesticated chinchillas come from those 11 animals.

There used to be a species of giant chinchillas, but they have been hunted to extinction. There are also dwarf chinchillas, they are not very common, weigh about 300-450 grams when full grown, have much smaller feet, a shorter, bushier tail,  and large, wide, pushed in faces. Breeders are just now starting to breed these more commonly, but they are still hard to come by, and are not easy to breed. A new development in chinchillas has recently (in 2005) come about. The Royal Persian Angora chinchilla is finally leaving the one ranch they were bred from in Texas, and this is a very exciting advance to the chinchilla community. The Royal Persian is very beautiful, with the pretty big heads breaders strive for, and twice as long, wavy hair.

Chinchillas are used to cold weather, and will die of heat stroke if in temperatures greater than 74 degrees Farenheit. They should be kept in temperatures between 50 and 74 degrees Farenheit, and going colder is better than going warmer. Humidity is also bad for chinchillas, so you must keep them indoors with good ventilation and good air conditioning.

Chinchillas come in a variety of colors, from standard grey, white, ebony, black or brown velvet, beige, tan, pastel, violet, silver, to sapphire and many more! Beige, Tan, Brown Velvet, and Pink White chinchillas all have pink or red eyes, and all others have black eyes. Chinchillas are very smart, and will remember if you treat them poorly. They are not calm animals that will sit on your lap, and thus aren't the best pets for small children, but with patience and love, they can be the most rewarding animals in the world.

Cages

Chinchillas should be kept in a quiet, dark, cool room, between 50 and 74 degrees. Since chinchillas are mountain animals, they prefer to be in tall, rather than wide cages. They prefer cages with at least two levels so they can jump around, and need a cage no smaller than 2 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft for one chin, bigger for more. They need wood ledges and hiding spots, and will chew anything they can! Therefore, metal cages with small wiring is the best. Even pet stores will sell you "the chinchilla package" with a plastic bottomed cage, and other chinchilla accessories- my advice- don't waste your money! About 80% of my chins would chew through the plastic in a few months, and this can be deadly for them. Plastic should be avioded.

The floor should preferably be solid, and if not, should have spaces no greater than 1/4 of an inch, or they can break their legs, and babies will also get trapped in larger holes. Wire bottoms also hurt the chinchilla's feet. If you have wire floors (1/4 inch or smaller) make sure you have a few solid places, like a wood (white pine, poplar, apple) shelf, a house they can jump on top of, and I put some pieces of cardboard in each cage from boxes I have around- they also like to chew this, so it is double duty! Just make sure to remove all the tape and plastic from the box. Solid floors are the best if you can find them, an d are a must if you have babies, or even chinchillas younger than 3 months, and save you all this trouble. The one problem you will face with solid floors is that you have to make sure you don't leave wet hay, pellets, or bedding for long, because it can give your chinchilla fungus, infection, and other health problems. This is easily prevented from cleaning the cage frequently and putting more bedding or a litter tray in the corner they urinate in.

Bedding- You should not use cedar shavings, or other woods with oils and stong odors in chinchilla cages. Use Carefresh, although recently I have heard stories of chins ingesting them and having intesinal blockage, so the best bedding to use kiln dried pine, look for the letters KDHT, or aspen, which you can buy in most pet stores. Chinchillas are almost odor free, if you keep their cage clean, and will always urinate in the same corner. You can put a little litter box (not with cat litter, but pine or aspen bedding) in that corner to cut down on how often you have to clean the cage, but otherwise cages should be cleaned weekly, sometimes less if you only have one chin. Use a brush to get the hair out of the wire, and soap to clean the cage, and make sure it is completely dry and soap free before putting in the bedding, toys, and chins, because dampness around chins can cause fungus and other health problems.

Chinchillas will chew through plastic or wood cages, and always need safe wood chew sticks or pumice stones to keep their teeth worn down, since their teeth never stop growing. Their teeth grow around 3 inches per year. Chewing is crucial to chinchilla health. Wood shelfs or houses double are chew toys. You can make them your self, or buy them. The easiest to find for me is white pine (kiln dried) and Poplar, because you an find them at home deopt. Other good woods to use are:Mulberry, Apple, Pear, Hazelnut, Manzanita, and Willow. Some bad woods are: Any citrus wood such as orange, grapefruit, or lemon, Cherry  and wild Cherry, Plum,  Walnut, Cedar, and Fresh pine, which may have too much pitch (oils).

For each chinchilla, you should have a house or hiding spot so they can feel safe. I have found that 4 inch PVC pipes are great tunnels for them to play in, and they love paper towel tubes, cardboard boxes, and hammocks to play with. Wood shelves should be placed in their cages, since in the wild, they have many rocks and holes in the mountains to climb and jump on, they love to do this. Use wood that is safe for chins (see above paragraph).

Chinchillas also do not take bathes in water, but in special dust that mimics the natural volcanic ash they roll in. You can put the chinchilla dust in a large flat pan, or buy a specially made chinchilla dust bath house, which are personally my favorite because you have less dust flying around the house, and also less wasted dust. They are small house looking things made of plastic or ceramic. Blue Cloud is by far the best chinchilla dust around, my chins just love the stuff, and it is what most breeders use for their show chinchillas. Do not use any sand or other powder except dust especially made for chinchillas- or it could be lethal. Dust bath time is a very fun thing to watch, as chinchillas are quite the little gymnasts when dust bathing. Dust baths should be given twice weekly, or more if you are in humid weather, and should last about ten minutes. Longer can dry out the skin, and shorter will not clean the fur thoroughly. Make sure to replace the dust, or you can sift it through a sifter to remove all the poops your chins will surely leave behind. If you do not do this, it is painful for the chins to roll around in. If you have more than one cage of chins, you should use a different dust bath for each cage to stop disease and infection from spredding should that ever occur.

Food

Food- Chinchillas should be fed chinchilla pellets and hay, best if bought from a feed store rather than a pet shop, as pet shop food and hay tends to sit on the shelves for very long periods of time. I recommend using Purina Advanced Nutrition Show or Oxbow pellets and unlimited amounts of Timothy hay and a little alfalfa daily. You should not use any other animal's food like rabbit or guinea pig, except one exception. The Purina Advanced Nutrition SHOW formula for rabbits is a great food for chinchillas, and it has been nutritionally tested to make sure it fits a chinchilla's needs. Other rabbit food is NOT OK. 

Some pet store chin food comes with seeds and treats mixed in with the pellets, and I cannot tell you how bad of an idea this is! Chinchillas are very smart, and will dig through their entire food tray to pick out the treats, throwing the pellets on the floor, wasting most of the bag, and not getting enough nutrients. Even if they only eat the pellets, the pellets are of such bad quality they still don't get all the nutrients they need to thrive. To avoid this, buy a high quality pellet with no treats in it, and feed treats and/or supplements sparingly and  in a separate dish.

Supplements- Supplements can be used if a chin needs to gain weight, is sick, or if you have a pregnant chin. CriticalCare is a good supplement  that I have used, which is especially good if you have a sick chin, or one recovering from a surgery, or one with tooth problems, because it is mixed with water and you use a syringe to help you get it into the chins mouth. This is not an easy task, but ask your vet to show you how to do this so you can have a better idea. You can also mix it with some gatoraide or little bit of cranberry or apple  juice to make it taste sweeter if they don't seem to have an appetite. Many breeders have been saying that calf manna is a good supplement for chins, but it is not! Beware of this, as it can cause problems with the mother hurting or killing babies because they are too big to come out...horrible....so just don't please!

Water- Chinchillas should always have a fresh water bottle, and you should keep the water fresh every day. The water should be filtered to keep out bacteria and parasites such as Giardia. Keep the bottle clean and make sure no mold is growing, or your chins could get very sick.

Treats- You can feed them a rosehip, plain shredded wheat, a few old fashioned oats (not the quick cook kind) or a few cheerios once or twice a week as a treat, but no more than that.  Babies should never be fed treats, not until at least 6 months old. Raisins, dried or fresh fruit, vegetables, and nuts CANNOT be given ever. They cause liver and kidney failure and death. Please do not take this lightly. And even good treats can be bad if given too much. Wood chews are the only things they can have in unlimited amounts- and you will find that wood is one of their favorites anyway!

 

Make sure you buy CHINCHILLA feed and timothy hay from a FEED store, not a pet store! Check the mill date, it should be used within 3 months of that date. Feed stores arecheaper, and the feed is much more fresh and therefore healthy and causes less problems for your chins. Whenever you need to switch a chins diet or add a new treat, you need to take a few months to switch the food. You must slowly introduce it to them, mixing 4/5 old food with 1/5 new food for a week. You then mix 3/5 old food and 2/5 new food for the next week, and so on so that on week five you will have all new food. This helps ensure you chin will not develop digestive problems, and will have an easy time getting used to the new food.

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Playtime

Chinchillas are very sociable animals, and need playtime daily, especially if you only have one. You should let them play outside of the cage at least 30 minutes a day. They need time to run around and get exercise in order to stay healthy and happy. The best place I have found for this is the bathroom, since you will need to chinchilla proof the entire room. Cords, furniture, cleaning supplies, toilets, garbage, etc. can all be deadly to your chin, so playtime should always be supervised. It is a very fun thing to watch, as chinchillas are great jumpers, and very curious, exploring new things and sights. You can put pieces of cardboard and safe wood in the cage periodically to switch up the environment a bit, or change the height of the shelves, etc. They love to "wall surf" and can jump up to 5 feet, actually running up the wall and back down!

They will nibble on you to find out if you are a tasty treat, but it doesn't hurt, and they won't bite unless threatened, in pain, or are very tepermental. Chins like routine, so try to feed and play with them around the same time every day. This will make your chins happy, and make your life easier. You should hold a chinchilla close to your body, and make sure you are holding both of it's back feet with one hand and let their front feet rest on your other hand. You should be gentle but firm, letting them know that you know what you are doing. Some chins will take longer to become friendly, and with these chins, take your time. Start by quielty putting your hand in the cage, letting the chin smell and explore your hand. Don't be frightened if they nip you- remember- they are just tasting you to see if you are food.

Also make sure to wash your hands before handling chins, because if you smell like a treat, or even nice lotion, the could bite you! If that does ever happen, you should not hit or drop your chin, but blow air in its face. They do not seem to like this, and will learn not to do it anymore. You can also do that, or make a loud noise, like shaing a can full of nails, if they are doing something naughty during playtime, like chewing on the wall or electical wire! Once your chin trusts you more, it may climb up onto your hand. You can keep doing this daily until your chin comes to you when you open the cage.

Health

While chinchillas are very hearty, strong animals, they can suffer from varies medical conditions. Although chinchillas do not get sick often with proper care, when the do get sick, they deteriorate very quickly, and knowledge and a good vet can save their lives.

Chinchillas can get heatstroke very easily in hot weather, so you must always have them in a room out of the sun and with A/C. A room around 72 degrees or colder is perfect, and you want as little humidity as possible. You can tell your chin is getting hot, especially beige's and pink whites.  if their ears turn red and they are not moving around as much as normal, get them in cooler temperatures and stop playtime. Chinchillas do not sweat, so a fan does not cool them down at all. In an emergency, you can put a block of ice in a metal container for the chins to cuddle up next to and cool down.

Malocclusion is also pretty common. Chinchillas actually have 20 teeth, you only see the four front teeth, two on top, two ont the bottom. They also have one premolar and 3 molars on each of the lower and upper jaws. Malocclusion is where their teeth don't stop growing, even if given chew toys and such. This is why it is very important to check your chins teeth regularily, they should be yellowish orange, like in the photo below, if they are white, that is bad! Babies will be born with white teeth, and then the teeth will gradually get more color as they get older, indicating they are getting the right amounts of calcium and other nutrients. The teeth shoul be relatively straight, should not be chipped or cracked, or if your chin is drooling and pawing at its mouth, or you notice wetness around the mouth, you should bring them to a vet to get checked out. There is no cure for Malocclusion and you will have to make regular trips to your vet to get the teeth trimmed down. This disease is hereditary, and thus proves how important it is to know everything you can about chins before breeding.

Fur Biting- This is, well, when the chin bites and chews off its own fur. It is not dangerous for the chin, but it sure makes them look bad, and they shouldn't be bred, in case fur biting is hereditary. This can be caused by many things, and breeders disagree on whether it is hereditary or because of stress, boredome, over-crowded living conditions, starvation, loud noises (construction, loud TV right next to them, barking dogs) and other stressful things.  You should try to figure out the cause before you can treat the problem, but definitly start by making sure your chin is in a quiet, cool, room, with lots and lots of toys and chew sticks and hiding places and stuff for your chin to do so they don't get bored. Also you should let your chin run around in a chin safe room more often and play with them more, this can help a fur biter to stop its bad habit- think of it as like a person who bites their finger nails- it is a habit, and it hard to break, but the best way is to distract them and hopefully break the cycle, and thus, the bad habit as well!

Fungus or Ringworm is also a problem, especially in humid weather, if a chin gets wet, or if you have lots and lots of chins. It is passable to humans, so you must use care and make sure to wash your hands after handling a sick animal. There are powders  that are the best since the antibiotics used to treat fungus are hard on the little chins bodies, and should only be used as a last resort. These are very contagious conditions, and all chin houses, cages, toys etc. must be sterilized with bleach and a scrub brush, or the problem will most likely return.

Male chins almost always get what are called "fur rings." Especially if they are caged with a female, and sometimes if they are cages with another male as well. Single males  can also have this problem, so it is better safe than sorry, and you should check them at least once a month! Fur rings are hair that gets rapped around a male chin's penis. You must gently pull the penis out of the sheath, holding the chin tightly (it is much easier if you have 2 people!). Carefully remove the hair, keeping a firm hand on the penis and the other on the sheath, and if it is wrapped around tightly, you can very very carefully try to gently ease it off, you can use some ky jelly to help this, but be very careful, and make sure the chin is not moving around when you do this. Then carefully slide the penis back into the sheath. You can make the process a little easier by wrapping the chin in a towel to help keep them immobilized. If you cannot or do not feel comfortable doing this, you can take them to the vet or knowledgeable breeder to learn how. They should show you how to do this, as it is re-occuring, and would be costly to take to the vet each month! It takes careful and steady hands to learn how to remove these, but with some practice, it is fairly easy and should be done monthly with all males.

Other diseases also occur in chins, such as pnemonia, or a cold. For these problems you must seek a vet's care immediatly, chinchillas deteriorate very quickly, especially if they are not eating.  You should also ask your vet for some probiotics if you chin is given any antibiotics. This helps keep the good bacteria while killing the bad. Bene-bac is the name brand you can find at pet stores (I know petsmart carries it in the kitten section) and it is always good to have around. I give it to new mothers, and chinchillas that have been stressed out for any reason.

Breeding

Chinchillas live to be 20 years old, so if you decide to breed them, you MUST make sure you have room for the babies, or a good home lined up. Chinchillas bought from pet stores should never be bred, as you don't know their blood lines or if they have health problems in the family.  You shoud not breed any animal until you have fully researched and understand everything to know about pregnancy, birth, and the new babies.

You need to know what to do if the kits are breathing, what to do if they are breech, what if the kit is stuck in the birth canal, are you prepared to hand feed a baby every 2 hours for 6-8 weeks in case something happens to mommy or she doesn't produce enough milk, do you have money to pay for vet bills in case of an emergency, such as surgery? You must know all the answers to these questions, and much much more before ever attempting to breed a chinchilla. You also must realize that babies can impregnate their mothers when they are around 8 weeks, old, so they male babies will have to be separated from the mother.

Chinchillas are typically ready for breeding at about five months for the males, and about a year for the females. Females under 500 grams should not be bred, as she is too small to carry babies at that size. Chinchillas are pregnant for around 111 days. You will know if they are pregnant if you find a mating plug in their cage- a 1 to 1 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, waxy white thing. It will look like this:

 

You will also start to notice the mother to be acting strangly, such as sleeping on her side when she normally does not, changes in eating and treat habits, becoming more grumpy or more friendly, becoming tired easily, and drinking more than normal. A pregnant chins nipples will grow to almost the length of their hair, and you can find them under their armpits and down on their side. When not pregnant they will be so small that you can barely notice them. My pregnant chins usually get antsy, and start digging around the cage and pushing all the bedding to one side a few days before birth, and start drinking tons of water. This is my telltale sign that babies are on the way! Other chins show no signs of being pregnant whatsoever, and you just wake up to a baby- this can be dangerous as the baby can die of chill, the mother could have complications and she or the babies could die, and no one would be around. This is why it is so important to KNOW your chins, and sense when something is different so you can help them. There is no for sure weight amount that the expecting female should gain, but on average, mine gain around 120 grams for one baby, and add about 50 grams for each additional one.

Birth and Babies

When the babies are about to come, mommy should be placed in a baby safe cage (with 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire or they will escape) with a flat floor. Dad should be removed for at least 72 hours, or mommy will get pregnant again, and this is not healthy for her. Daddy should usually be removed for the entire 8-10 weeks the baby is with mom. The babies may also get trampled during the mating process called a breed back. Most large breeders do this, as it increases productivity, but it is very hard on the mommy because she will be nursing her kits from the first litter when the second litter is growing inside of her, taking so much of her nutrients and weakening her, along with the kits.  Mom should should have a clean dust bath or none at all for a week or they can get an infection. The mommy chinchilla will usually need no assistance during delivery, but you should always have a knowledgeable veternarian handy, just in case. A c-section is about $2,000+ so make sure you have a credit card or cash handy. Labor will usually be pretty quick, and litters are typically 1-3 in size, 2 being the average, and the most I have heard of is 7, 6 of which survived. I have had 4 (pictured above) as my highest litter, and must say- twins are much much better than quads!

Mom will make funny noises, stretch and pull at her vagina with her teeth during labor. This is normal and should last around half an hour per baby. There is little blood, and mommy will usually do a great job of cleaning up and drying her kits, but if she should have more than one, and doesn't have time to dry them off, you should carefully dry them with a towel, or heating pad and then return them to mommy. You should buy a scale, and weigh the babies daily to make sure they are eating properly. A baby usually weight between 35-80 grams. 45 grams and up is a good, healthy weight. If the baby is smaller, you have to pay extra attention to make sure they are nursing, as the runt sometimes has a hard time fighting for the nipple. After a few days the baby's tail will curl up...a sign that it is eating properly and is growing!

Babies can come about 45 minutes apart, and if the mommy is still acting funny and pulling at her vagina after that, you should bring her to a vet right away. After all babies are born, she should deliver an afterbirth for each baby. She will nibble on this, and that is good because it gives her lots of protein, but she should not be allowed to eat it all, or eat more than one, because chinchillas are vegetarians and they have very sensitive digestive systems that are not used to digesting meat. Remove the other placentas and make sure all babies are dry and warm. You should also weigh the mother to make sure she is not losing too much weight after birth, obviously she will lose weight after giving birth and a little bit after that from nursing, but soon she should get back to her pre-baby weight.

Sometimes the new mom will not produce enough milk, or will stop lactating altogether. You will need to supplement the babies if this occurs. They need to be fed every 2-3 hours for the first 3 weeks, then about every 4-6 hours for 3 more weeks, then, depending on their weight, you can try to introduce solid food. This is a very time consuming, detailed project, and you must make sure you are able to handle this before you ever start breeding chinchillas. 

 The kits are born with thier eyes open, fur and teeth! They will be jumping around and exploring almost immediatly after birth. Make sure the cage is safe and that they cannot escape, because without warm mommy they will die very fast. Take out any ramps, high shelves, heavy toys, etc. that could harm the babies. Most mothers will not mind if you hold the babies, and handling them regularly is important to ensure a friendly pet. They jump very fast and are much quicker than you would expect, so make sure you hold them carefully and do not hold them up high, baby chinchillas have no sense of height and will jump to their deaths if their cages and play areas are not chin-proofed!

After the 72 hours without daddy (or a few more days if you want to be really safe) you can sometimes put him back in. Obviously don't if you don't want more babies, if she had trouble with birth or raising the kits, or they are not pedigreed and breeding quality animals. Also make sure none of the chin houses or toys inside the cage are heavy enough that if mom or dad flips them over, they won't squish the baby!

Babies will nibble on hay and pellets within a few weeks or even days, this is normal. Never give babies treats because their digestive system is still way to fragile to handle them. No treats at all until they are 6 months old, and even then only a few treats per week. 

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