Chinchilla is a cute active animal brought from South America. Far from home, the animal has successfully adapted and managed to gain a certain popularity. It's easy to care for a chinchilla, you just need to understand its needs and try to please her a little.
How to arrange housing
Chinchilla happily lives in a cage. It is best if the cage for one animal has a length of 70 cm, and a width and height of 50 cm. It should be made of metal rods, the dimensions of the cells for the walls are 2 × 2 cm, and for the bottom - 1.5 × 1, 5 cm. A prerequisite is a pallet. It should be metal and filled with sawdust or small shavings, which should be changed every other day.
In nature, the chinchilla sometimes loves to retire. To make her feel as comfortable as possible, a wooden house must be installed in the cage. There should be twilight in it, then the animal will love to hide and sleep there. Shelves, tunnels, ladders are welcome, where animals can rest and hide.
The drinker and feeder must not be placed on the floor: the chinchilla will turn them over. The best solution is to attach them to the walls of the cage. Separately, you can install a manger for hay, and next to a mineral or salt stone. The animal will sharpen its teeth about it and at the same time receive valuable minerals.
Chinchilla loves to swim in the sand. Sand baths help to improve the condition of her fur. For this procedure, once a day, containers with clean sand are placed in the cage for half an hour.
A cage with a chinchilla should not be kept in a draft; it is advisable to avoid direct sunlight. The best temperature should not be higher than 25 ° C, with normal air humidity.
When and what to feed a chinchilla
It is necessary to feed the South American animal on schedule. This is best done at a specific time in the evening. The diet is based on plant food. It is best to use concentrated legumes and grains, as well as green oat sprouts or young greens. The chinchilla should receive hay all year round. She would die without him. There is also a special ready-made feed in granules. Additionally, you can feed the animal with branches and leaves of willow, oak, birch and aspen bark. Sugary and high-calorie foods should be avoided as obesity can result from such feeding.
Under natural conditions, the chinchilla almost does not drink water. But in captivity, a pet should always have fresh water in the drinker. Boiled water is fine.
How to make friends with a chinchilla
To keep a chinchilla especially interesting, you need to make friends with it. The relationship with a pet, as with any living creature, is built gradually.
The first step is to call the animal by name as you approach the cage. This can be done by offering the animal some delicacy through the cage, for example, half a raisin, but no more than 1-2 raisins per day. Gradually he gets used to the owner's voice and begins to study his hand. Then you can gently tickle the rodent under the neck and behind the ears. After 2-3 weeks, the pet will get comfortable with the owner and will cease to be afraid of him.
Chinchillas are very cute animals. Simple care and attention is a sure way to make an interesting and funny friend.
