General Chat

My eldest has asked for a Chinchilla for her birthday (not til the summer) ....it's been many years since I had one and I've forgotten a lot of it all now......except that they need a sand bath at least twice a week !!!

Things I have forgotten are......how noisy are they at night? How easy would it be for a very patient 10 yr old to handle one? stuff like that.

Any advice much appreciated xx

Muffy i have three frank Betty and stumpty
they are wonderful pets if handled often
stumpty was running about last night with baby Satan
they are great friends they are very expensive
£100 for a grey and up to £150 for a colour
so contact you local RSPCA for a rescue victim
they eat special food plus dried fruit
i leave my sand bath in they are quite messy when bathing
but its funny to watch them rolling about

How noisy are they at night Joy? xx

they are active at night mostly
but only sqeek if something frightens them
but they do chew everything they come in contact with
so you must gave a piece of apple wood in the cage at all times

mine come to life about 7pm
though they do wake during the day to

stumpty even sits on my key board while i type away

Oooo yes I remember about the apple wood now....I need to soak it for at least 24 hrs before I put it in the cage don't I ?

She's wanting it to spend SOME time in her room....it's her first indoor pet that's going to be exclusively hers....I suspect it's going to be a no no in her room if he/she is pinging around the cage all night lol.

if she lets it out after tea for a run about
it might sleep through the night in silence

mine are not noisy at all

even when i hoover the cage out
they just sit there and let me get on with it

I don't have any personal experiance of Chinchillas but my friends son ( adult ) has two...........I can recall that she used to moan about her electric bill when her son lived with her , as he ran a chiller unit thing during the summer months to keep the animals cool . Are they very temperature sensitive ?

I think her intention is to let he/she out as soon as she gets home from school every evening Joy lol. She'd LOVE it if it could live in her room !!!

She's a proper animal lover so I have no doubt whatsoever she'll be devoted to her new pet.....

sorry another question lol....Are females more friendly than male or vice versa or is there no difference? xx

If my memory serves me correctly Amanda they are due to their dense coats....but you could buy marble cooler blocks for them .......not sure if they still do them now though?

in my case my two males are the friendliest
Betty sometimes threatens to bite us

though she never has
and once you catch her she is tame as

Oh good.......it's a male she was wanting.........xx

temperature wise
you just dont put the cage nr the radiator
as they come from the cold Andes

you wont need a cooler at all

my first one lived over 20 years

Sorry Joy.........another question.

Cats and dogs...........I assume you have to shut them out of the room when the chinchillas are roaming about freely? Or do they get used to each other? xx

Benson sits drooling into the waste bin
wishing to eat them
and strays cats poke them through the bars
so i never leave the bigger pets alone with them ever

they are best kept separate

Thanks Joy xx

Muffy

Joy is deffo right about them eating anything, friend had three of them, she makes wedding dresses and one of them ate the hem, the dress turn out beautiful tho with a scalloped hem! lol

Oh and don't have any gaps in your skirting boards as the little buggers will find it and run riot under the floor boards (many a time we got a call from friend to say one of hers was either in the loft or running around under floor boards)

They love raisins but don't give too many unless you want a messy cage lol

They are so affectionate when handled a lot and your daughter will love em

Kim x

She'll have to learn to be a bit tidier then Kim by the sounds of it LOLOL

Thanks for the heads up xx

hello muffy and girls its me puss, my first and last aquaintaince with a chinchilla it did poopies on me boobies lol xx

pmsl it was most likely a compliment me darling !!!

Hiya lovely xx