Despite the popularity of the animal, not many know how to care for chinchillas at home. The easiest way is to immediately provide her with the right conditions and learn how to follow her right. In this case, it will not give you much trouble and will please your sweet kind and affectionate character for many years.
How to keep the chinchilla at home?
Competent content of chinchilla at home involves pre-arrangement of a spacious cell, which should contain all necessary for its comfortable life, as well as the organization of its proper diet and diet. Since these rodents are incredibly mobile and playful, they should have plenty of room for motor activity and many different toys.
Chinchilla at home - cell choice
Cage for chinchilla is the most important aspect of how to care for chinchillas at home. It should be spacious - much more than for a hamster or a rat. Its minimum dimensions for one animal are 60 cm in width and length and the same in height. In a smaller cage, a chinchilla as a pet will not be able to move normally, and a sedentary lifestyle will have a bad effect on her health. The necessary equipment for the cell is:
- a house for rest and solitude;
- shelves, preferably wooden, as the animals all try "on the tooth," and the plastic, often going in bundle with the cells, clearly will not bring them benefits;
- a feeder - either hinged or heavy ceramic, so that it can not be knocked over or thrown off the shelf;
- The drinking bowl is also fixed on rods or fixed on a horizontal surface;
- mineral stones and pieces of salt - about them chinchillas sharpen their teeth, and they are also a source of salts and vitamins;
- a filler that does not adhere to the paws, preferably woody;
- toys and trainers - a running wheel with a diameter of 30 cm, wooden stairs, rings, hollows, toys made of wood (birch), a hammock made of durable fabric.
It is extremely important that the cell has strong and reliable constipation. The fact is that the chinchillas are very observant and intelligent, they easily open a simple lock and run away from the cage. To put a cage it is necessary far away from drafts and from heating devices. The optimum temperature of the animals is + 18-20 ° C. Take care that near the cage there are no wires or curtains, as the pet can reach out to them and cause you and certain troubles.
Care for a chinchilla at home
If you dream of a pet that does not need daily cleaning, haircuts, combing and washing, then the chinchilla is just right for you. Care for chinchillas in an apartment is extremely simple. Animals do not shed, so there will not be wool around the house. They have no sebaceous and sweat glands, so there is no smell from them either. In addition, they are very clean and independent, they are carefully licked themselves, so problems with their hygiene just will not arise. Chinchillas do not even have fleas, which is important when they are kept together with cats and dogs.
How many years live chinchillas at home?
When you plant a beast, you naturally want to know in advance how much chinchillas live in the home. Some sources say that chinchilla in captivity can live up to 20 years. In practice, such cases are rather sporadic. On average, the home chinchilla lives from 6 to 10 years, and then only on condition of proper care, nutrition and maintenance. Take small chinchillas from 2 months of age. It is important that the initial conditions for its maintenance are good, therefore it is better to acquire chinchillas from proven breeders or in a nursery.
Care for chinchilla wool
Asking the question of how to care for chinchillas at home, we also mean external care. Chinchilla fur is one of the thickest in the world. It perfectly protects against overheating and temperature changes. Absence of sweat and sebaceous glands leads to the fact that when water hits, the hair immediately becomes wet, becomes heavy, the animal begins to sink. This is the main reason for their dislike for bathing in the water. In addition, they get very cold after getting wet. The question arises, how to clean the chinchilla at home, if bathing in the water is undesirable for them?
In nature, these rodents with ecstasy swim in the sand. Specialty dust is sold in pet stores for these purposes. It can be bought complete with a special swimsuit with transparent walls, and this will allow you to watch the hilarious scene of the bathing animal. A week is enough for a couple of such sessions to keep the chinchilla's hair clean. More frequent bathing leads to skin overdrying.
What to feed the chinchilla at home?
Concerned with how to care for chinchillas at home, you probably already thought about what eats chinchilla at home. Everything is extremely simple - special granulated food, dry carrots and other root crops, oat seeds, dried apples, raisins and hay. That's their whole diet. No "human" food can be given to them categorically. Raisins and an apple should be a treat that is given infrequently. Dry mixture of chinchilla should eat about 2-3 tablespoons a day. Plus to this - a small bunch of hay.
How to drink chinchilla at home?
The water in the cage must be kept constantly. It is an integral part of the ration of the animal. In this case, it is undesirable to pour them running water. Better if it is bottled or filtered, but without fluoride. Boiled water is also undesirable for chinchillas - there are no useful substances in it. The contents of the chinchilla at home presuppose the selection and purchase of an appetizer. The most optimal are nipple drinkers for rodents. In them the water is always clean and fresh. Preference should be given to quality drinkers, through which water does not leak and which have valves and balls working properly.
Training chinchillas at home
Chinchilla almost does not give in to training - to sit, lie down, give voice on the command, she will not, and still some simple tricks to teach her it is possible. So, how to train a chinchilla at home:
- For the animal to recognize you and your voice, coming to the cage, you should always talk to him, making it a calm and gentle voice.
- Do not scold the chinchilla, shout loudly - it repels the rodent and reduces the success of training.
- To teach the chinchilla to her hands, it is necessary to feed her with delicious hands, give her hands a sniff. Over time, the animal will become familiar and will come to your arms. Such success should be immediately enshrined with delicacy.
- Then you can teach the chinchilla to climb to you on your shoulder or knees.
- Here are some tricks that can teach chinchillas with the help of treats and rewards - a kiss, walking on the hind legs, a ground squirrel pose, a tip to the name.
Chinchilla diseases in the home
If you keep the animal at home correctly, the chinchilla will not be ill, but sometimes some health problems may occur. How to care for chinchillas and treat it at home:
- Digestive disorders - diarrhea, constipation, which resulted from poor-quality food. In this case, you need to revise the diet of chinchilla, give fixing or, on the contrary, relaxing drugs and products. From diarrhea, you can give the bark of oak, crust pomegranate, hay, chamomile, smectus or bifidumbacterin. Constipation usually passes by itself, contributes to this introduction to the diet of fresh herbs, but if it lasts a long time, you need to give the drug regulax, adding a few drops into the water in the water bowl.
- Injuries and various injuries as a result of "fights" between several individuals are treated with hydrogen peroxide. Serious injuries, fractures are treated by a veterinarian.
- The lichen is treated with various ointments and intramuscular injection of the vaccam preparation.
- Pododermatitis. Occurs if the chinchilla lives in a cage with a mesh bottom. The affected legs can get an infection, leading to more serious consequences. Once you notice the wound, you need to lubricate them with Dermozolone and replace the floor in the cage.
- Colds, renite. It is treated with antibiotics in the form of injections for 5 days.
- Biting wool. It occurs as a result of stress after transportation, getting to another chinchilla, pregnancy. Sometimes gnawing speaks of a lack of vitamins A, E, D, calcium and other trace elements. It is treated by feeding vitamins, adding to the cage a mineral-salt stone, hay.
- Bobbin. Disease of the teeth - sharp edges of molars or incorrectly grown incisors due to incorrect jaw structure. Such an animal always has a wet breast and front legs, the mouth is almost not closed, the gum is injured. The problem can be solved by cutting off the sharp edges of the teeth with a drill and turning the tool. Do this under anesthesia, repeating again and again as the edges grow. Violation of the growth of incisors is treated by circumcision with their cutting pliers, which saves the animal for several months. Growing normally teeth will not be, which, in the end, will lead to death from exhaustion.
Breeding chinchillas at home
If you plan to sell offspring and earn on this, you should be interested in learning how to breed chinchillas at home. To do this, you need to choose strong and healthy individuals with a weight of at least 500 g and at the age of 7 months and older. Mating takes place at night. Pregnancy in the female lasts 106-114 days, in each litter there are from 1 to 5 pups. Before giving birth, the male must be sent to another cage so that he does not cover the female again.
Care for newborn chinchillas
Extremely quivering question - how to care for a tiny chinchilla at home? Cubs are born with teeth and fully visible. They have hair follicles. For small chinchillas, care and catering are simple. They eat mother's milk, if it is not - they are fed artificially. The first week they need to drink often. Already on day 5 after birth, they are able to eat food. From their mother they are planted at the age of 45-60 days, when the lactation period ends. By this time they already weigh about 200 grams. Ultimately, their growth is completed by the year.