Jeffers our chinchilla. (Chinchilla)

Member Name: mumsymary

Product:	Chinchilla
Date:	08/11/04 (335 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good pet

Disadvantages: he died

Chinchilla.
I just noticed this category and thought I would tell you about our chinchilla.

We had a chinchilla called Jeffery when my daughter lived at home must be about 12 yrs ago now. My daughter suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and desperately wanted a chinchilla. I know pets are good therapy for illness so we acquired one when I heard someone was giving one away. Their kids had got bored with him. We chose Jeffery as a name as we felt it was a bit upper class He was a mid grey colour.

A chinchilla is a nocturnal rodent about the size of a small rabbit. They are born already with fur, which ranges in colour from light to very dark grey.
These animals originate from South America

When we got the chin we built him a cage it was a large cage made out of wood and wire mesh. It had a couple of shelves so he could run and jump around. Also it had a small dark box sleeping area.
On the floor of his cage we used sawdust and hay. Jeffers used to take the hay in for his bedding and eat it as well. He also ate chinchilla pellet food from pet shop and for treats loved raisins and carrots to chew. Only a few raisins as they act as a laxative. We used raisins as a bribe to temp him back to his cage rattled the tin and popped one in his food bowl and he would come back to his cage speedily for his treat.
Chinchillas eat their food and do not fully digest it the pellet comes out of their anus and they eat it again to fully digest all the nutrients. So yes they eat their poo.

We let Jeff run around free from his cage sometimes but he had to be supervised as he would eat through electric cables *******

He had a plastic drinking bottle bought from the pet shop to drink from and an earthenware pot to keep his food in.
Jeffery enjoyed a bath, a dust bath we bought special chinchilla dust for this activity.
We gave him a selection of toys, a toilet roll tube card egg boxes and logs he loved to chew anything he could get his teeth into. Giving him a wooden log to chew was good as it kept his teeth in good order apple wood was good.
It might be better to keep 2 chinchillas for company we did not as it was just the 1 unwanted chin we had
Jeffers did not like a lot of holding and stroking I think this was mostly because he had not been used to it before he came to us, They are not generally a very affectionate animal but will tolerate some human contact
When they are 4 months old they are ready to breed and produce 1 litter of baby’s a year this is usually only 1 or 2 babies Chinchillas can live up to 20 years but most manage about 10 or so I do not know how old Jeffery was he lived for about 2 yrs after we had him.
Chinchillas do pull out their fur when stressed and bored.

Chinchillas do suffer from over heating so do not keep them in an area that gets very hot.
We enjoyed having Jeffery as a pet I would recommend having a chinchilla if you have the time to look after one, Thanks for the read Mary

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