Beady eyes, paws with marigolds, a funny movable nose and beautiful fur … This chinchilla is one of the funniest and cutest animals. What you should know about the chinchilla if you decide to keep this animal at home?
How chinchillas live in nature and at home
Chinchilla is a rodent native to South America, in nature it lives in the South American Andes, where the climate is cool, humid, harsh. During the day, chinchillas sleep, hiding in holes or crevices of rocks, and at night they are active in search of food. The main food for these rodents is the stems of grasses, branches of undersized shrubs and their dry fruits (berries and seeds). Dew is the source of moisture for chinchillas.
Chinchillas have short front legs with which they grip and hold food, and strong hind legs that help them to move easily over rocky terrain. These features must be taken into account when thinking over a place for keeping a chinchilla at home. These animals require a large spacious high cage, the size of which will allow the animal to actively move and jump. In the cage, it is necessary to provide shelves or steps, as well as the semblance of a house or a mink.
Be sure to equip the cage with a special drinker for rodents. This device has a long tube at the end, which is blocked by a ball, which provides the chinchilla with easy access to water. At the bottom of the cage, pour a small handful of compressed sawdust - a special wood filler. It needs to be changed as needed, which will avoid the appearance of unpleasant odors in the apartment and discomfort both for the rodent and for you and your household. Pour the filler into the same corner of the cage: chinchillas are very clean animals and they only have a toilet in one place in the cage.
Also purchase special sand for bathing chinchillas. Once every 5 to 7 days, put a small handful of sand, which looks like very fine gray dust, on the bottom of the cage, but not in the same place as litter or food.
Chinchilla nutrition
Provide your pet with a variety of seeds and shelled nuts, sometimes dried fruit as a treat. It is not recommended to feed rodents kept at home with moist food, such as pieces of vegetables or fruits, as this can lead to serious disruption of the animal's gastrointestinal tract. There are enough dry nuts, seeds, fruits and berries, and the chinchilla will find water in the required amount in the drinker. You need to change the water daily, since the chinchilla may not drink stale water at all, and the lack of moisture will negatively affect the health of the pet. Offer dry hay purchased from the pet store to the rodent every 2 to 3 days. Hay should be placed in a special wire netting so as not to create unsanitary conditions for the animal.
Features of the behavior of chinchillas
When deciding to buy a shinchilla, consider several features of these animals:
- not all animals are equally easy to make contact;
- chinchilla is a nocturnal animal and is capable of making a lot of noise at night, running and jumping in its cage;
- as a rule, the chinchilla is ready to play with the owner in the late evening, then it easily allows itself to pull itself together, it can be released to run around the apartment, explore the territory.
At the same time, try to ensure the maximum safety of your things and equipment, since a chinchilla is, first of all, a rodent and can gnaw everything, especially it loves to gnaw wires.
Chinchilla character
Chinchillas are sociable and inquisitive, easily get along with other pets, take part in games with cats, which are also more active in the evening and at night.
When experiencing severe stress, rodents have a tendency to shed their hair. For the animal to come to its senses, you just need to leave it alone, allow it to take refuge in the burrow and sit out for a while.
In general, the maintenance and care of a chinchilla does not present any difficulties for the owner. Chinchilla is suitable for busy people who, due to their busyness, cannot afford a more contact animal, for example, a dog or a cat. A chinchilla, provided with a sufficient amount of food and water, does not experience melancholy and any discomfort if the owner is forced to be absent for a relatively long time.
