Chinchillas!

[PuffDragon]

Here are some pics of my Chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera) that I use to keep. I no longer had time for them when I went to college so I ended up selling them to some nice families. I miss them and can see myself getting back into them down the road. I produced 3 sets of babies too with a total of 5 offspring!! 2 kits in two litters and one in the other.

Some nice Blockheads! (Pinky and the Brain)

Weanlings

I had my hands full! (From left to right: Pepper-baby, Blarney-Mom, and Cirrus-Dad)

Everybody!

 

[VARNYARD]

Oh man, they are awesome, I like the gray colors. Are they bad about biting, I was thinking about getting a furry critter for my son. Also, are they easy to keep?

 

[Lexi]

Chinchillas are the best! I have a blind albino boy names Yoshie and a standard gray female named Chin.. Iv never owned one that bit besides yoshie but its just cause he cant see weather your handing him food of your finger.
Puff thoughs are awesome.. they are so cute!

 

[playlboi]

i was planning on keeping chinchillas a while back. don't know what happened, but i eneded up with three tegus instead. lol

 

[PuffDragon]

Bobby,
Chinchillas can make awesome pets!!! Rarely do they ever bite...at most you may get a nibble, but after all they are rodents and just use their incisors to inspect things. Of course they are constantly chewing so you must have a "chin" proof room if you want to let them run around. As a pet they can be very rewarding. Like the tegu, they build a strong bonds with their keeper. This usually takes anywhere from 3-6 months and you have to do it really slow. They are very skittish and any wrong move can result in starting the bonding process all over. But once they trust you...its so much fun. They have no detectable odor to humans so smell is not an issure. Unless of course you don't do weekly cleanings. The amonia build up could get strong. For feeding they require at the minimum a chinchilla specific pellet and timothy hay. There's alot of treats they will readily except as well. For housing I would reccomend a large wire Iguana type setup for lots of jumping. Dont worry about floor space because they love to jump and climb. They have a vertical leap of about 4 ft! Also, don't ever let them in temperatures above 75 F. Some say 80 but I always use 75 as a safe measure. They have the thickest fur in any land mammal known and are easily over heated. For every pore they have 60 hairs!! This is one reason why they are so soft. I lost one once when my AC went down on a hot summer day due to heat stroke. But with the right person adult/child they are great pets and are a ton of fun. Maintenance is not to heavy at all. Fresh water daily, dust bath 3 times per week, you can leave a constant supply of pellets and hay in the cage if you like, and weekly bedding change. That about covers the basics if I didn;t forget anything.

 

[Lexi]

good job puff!

 

[VARNYARD]

Thanks for the info, I might just look into getting one.

 

[PuffDragon]

Awesome!! Let me know if you do. Their are a few thing to look for when getting one I would like to chat with ya about if you decide on one.

 

[Mike]

Those are very cute\cool. I've heard they do crazy flips and things of the sort when you give them dust baths.

 

[PuffDragon]

oh yeah...they absolutely love it. They will roll, wiggle, flip, jump, dig and just about any over verb you can think of with their dust baths lol. Mine used to do what I called "chinny wall rides" They would run spring off the ground hit the vertical wall and spring off it in another direction. If they had a corner wall to do it in they would jump off both walls! It was so funny to watch. My girl Blarney would jump off the wall to get to a higher countertop she couldnt normally jump straight up onto.