The Chinchilla 🐾

Hello dear friends,

I spent the afternoon with friends who have a dog and cats but also a chinchilla! It's a little cute animal that looks a bit like a squirrel. The chinchilla weighs about 750 grams and is about 30 cm long.

The chinchilla is relatively sociable, I caressed him, he loves it, when caressed, he stretches his head and raises his paw so that we can better stroke his neck, so cute!

It is very soft and has a tail that looks like that of a squirrel.

I tried to take a picture but it was not easy since he is quick and moves super fast.

In captivity, it needs a large cage to climb and move easily because in the wild, the chinchilla lives in the rocks, it is a very good climber. It is necessary to arrange its cage so that it can reproduce its habitual movements, one can put trees branches and small boards in wood. He also needs a small cottage to be able to hide in case of stress or just to shelter. He also needs to take every day a special sand bath for chinchillas that is put in a salad bowl or a large enough container so that it can roll in it.

(Picture source)

Be aware that the chinchilla is a nocturnal animal so it is better that his cage is placed in a strategic place so he can sleep the day and do not wake up at night or make too much noise when watching a movie. Also be careful not to place the cage near a window because if he sees a bird he can be panicked because the birds are great predators for him.

My friends let him out of his cage at night when watching a movie and he takes the opportunity to climb everywhere in the house and let off steam.

When he has finished venting, he gets closer to the armchair and lands on their arm or shoulder (like a parrot, speaking of parrot, it reminds me of a strange scene where my godmother showed me that her parrot he cleaned his teeth, berk 🤢).

Then, when he is confident, they can caress him quietly. At first, to tame him, they gave him small granules for rodents like sweets so that they approach them gradually.

They had to take some precautions to ensure its safety, indeed, it is necessary to take care to close the toilets not to drown, to hide the electric wires not to be electrocuted by nibbling them, to close the windows so that it does not escape or remain stuck in the tilt-and-turn, ...

In terms of food, he needs rodent pellets that look like pellets for heating, hay, water of course and something to chew (so he can file his teeth as they go grow like rabbits). They find everything they need to feed him in the classic pet shops, because, indeed, a lot of people have chinchillas so there is a small department dedicated to them in pet shops.

Do not be tempted to give him leftovers of what you eat, in fact, it can kill him, many chinchillas die because of an unadapted diet. Of course it's tempting to give him a small piece of biscuit or a piece of what has on our plate while thinking to please him but on the contrary, we can hurt him by doing this.

If properly housed in a suitable cage in a cool, not humid place and given adequate food, the chinchilla can live up to 20 years in captivity