is chinchilla poo bad for you?

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erin1818

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
10
i was just wondering, is chinchilla poo bad for you to be around and breathe around? i keep my chinchillas in my room and vacuum frequently but my family always says how bad that must be for me to be in a room of rodent poo. like i said i vacuum frequently and do a full out thorough clean of my room like once every week and a half. is it really that bad?
 
Droppings of just about every sort are bad for you in some way shape or form. While I have never seen any reports specifically on chinchilla droppings, I know for a fact that rat and mice droppings along with bat droppings and bird droppings can be dangerous and cause health issues. With birds such as pigeons the danger comes from the accumulations of droppings which pigeons use as nesting material. it's highly disgusting. clean up of that sort of mess requires the use of a face mask and the droppings should be wetted first to keep the dust down while cleaning up the accumulations. Breathing the dust from droppings is the main concern. That is why with pigeons when they nest near an air conditioner intake it can cause people inside a building to become sick. Rodent droppings are much the same. The drier the dropping the more risk of particles becoming airborne. I've had to crawl through urine and feces covered insulation in attics many times searching for rats and I've never gotten sick, even when I was unsafe and went in without a proper mask. But I'm also fairly young and in good health. Those that are going to be affected to a noticeable degree are going to be the elderly, and those already in poor health. Knowing what I do about pests (I'm a pest control technician) I still have chinchillas and do not believe that I am putting myself or my family in any danger. I'm sure that just about everyone with chins is running a vacuum daily to keep the poops picked up. With that level of cleanliness common among so many owner, I think I can safely say that the accumulation of poops is not going to happen to a level that would present danger, nor would the poops be able to dry out enough to become dangerous.
 
I've had poo fights with my children as chin poop makes for great artillery! lol. Obviously, we wash our hands afterward but we've never had any ill effects from it.
 
ticklechin said:
If it was, we would all be dead, LOL.
Click to expand...

LOL !!!!!!!!!!


I clean the poos in my room but then I find poo in my window sill....behind my bed...under my desk....in my drawers somehow ( chilla does not go in there)

been ok so far...I even pick up chin poo with my hand if I have to and wash them right after
 
erin1818 said:
i was just wondering, is chinchilla poo bad for you to be around and breathe around? i keep my chinchillas in my room and vacuum frequently but my family always says how bad that must be for me to be in a room of rodent poo. like i said i vacuum frequently and do a full out thorough clean of my room like once every week and a half. is it really that bad?
Click to expand...

It's unlikely chinchilla poop is carrying the plague :)
 
halfstache said:
Droppings of just about every sort are bad for you in some way shape or form. While I have never seen any reports specifically on chinchilla droppings, I know for a fact that rat and mice droppings along with bat droppings and bird droppings can be dangerous and cause health issues. With birds such as pigeons the danger comes from the accumulations of droppings which pigeons use as nesting material. it's highly disgusting. clean up of that sort of mess requires the use of a face mask and the droppings should be wetted first to keep the dust down while cleaning up the accumulations. Breathing the dust from droppings is the main concern. That is why with pigeons when they nest near an air conditioner intake it can cause people inside a building to become sick. Rodent droppings are much the same. The drier the dropping the more risk of particles becoming airborne. I've had to crawl through urine and feces covered insulation in attics many times searching for rats and I've never gotten sick, even when I was unsafe and went in without a proper mask. But I'm also fairly young and in good health. Those that are going to be affected to a noticeable degree are going to be the elderly, and those already in poor health. Knowing what I do about pests (I'm a pest control technician) I still have chinchillas and do not believe that I am putting myself or my family in any danger. I'm sure that just about everyone with chins is running a vacuum daily to keep the poops picked up. With that level of cleanliness common among so many owner, I think I can safely say that the accumulation of poops is not going to happen to a level that would present danger, nor would the poops be able to dry out enough to become dangerous.
Click to expand...

Pigeons are also scavengers. As are rats and mice.

Chinchilla poop is probably closer to rabbit poop. So unless the chinchilla has parasites in their GI tract, it's probably mostly hay and pellets. Pretty safe.
 
halfstache said:
Droppings of just about every sort are bad for you in some way shape or form. While I have never seen any reports specifically on chinchilla droppings, I know for a fact that rat and mice droppings along with bat droppings and bird droppings can be dangerous and cause health issues. With birds such as pigeons the danger comes from the accumulations of droppings which pigeons use as nesting material. it's highly disgusting. clean up of that sort of mess requires the use of a face mask and the droppings should be wetted first to keep the dust down while cleaning up the accumulations. Breathing the dust from droppings is the main concern. That is why with pigeons when they nest near an air conditioner intake it can cause people inside a building to become sick. Rodent droppings are much the same. The drier the dropping the more risk of particles becoming airborne. I've had to crawl through urine and feces covered insulation in attics many times searching for rats and I've never gotten sick, even when I was unsafe and went in without a proper mask. But I'm also fairly young and in good health. Those that are going to be affected to a noticeable degree are going to be the elderly, and those already in poor health. Knowing what I do about pests (I'm a pest control technician) I still have chinchillas and do not believe that I am putting myself or my family in any danger. I'm sure that just about everyone with chins is running a vacuum daily to keep the poops picked up. With that level of cleanliness common among so many owner, I think I can safely say that the accumulation of poops is not going to happen to a level that would present danger, nor would the poops be able to dry out enough to become dangerous.
Click to expand...

Leptosporosis and disease like that that are transmitted through the droppings of rodents and birds are wild and access the feces of infected animals. So unless your chin is wild caught running the sewers of New York, you should be safe.
 
i have never worried about anything harmful coming from my chins' poops. i often will 'hand pick' them off the carpet in my chin room if there are just a few, after playtime. if i see a couple in the pellet dish, i'll pick them out. of course, i wash my hands after handling poops, as they are feces, albeit dry and free of the diseases and parasites commonly found in wild animal feces.
 
You would have to consume so many chin droppings to have them be toxic that you'd probably make yourself sick because you are actually eating droppings. This is best done only if you are winning money on a bet or a dare!

Seriously, there isn't much toxicity or problems with getting ill from the droppings. There isn't much there that can actually make you sick. A chin would die long from infection long before it would produce (normal) droppings that would cause issues.

The only thing is that if there is a bad parasite in the droppings that could make humans or other animals sick. A healthy chin doesn't have anything in his or her droppings that would cause any issues at all.
 
Wow I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering this. I've been a long time lurker and today I was on the floor playing with my chin, she always jumps on my arms, shoulders, etc. I took out a box of raisins and was eating them as well as giving her one for a treat. Only to realize -gasp- I hit a grainy one, it was my chin's poop. I was soooo grossed out :O!

She's been with me for ages and in excellent health, should I be worried?! Has anyone else ingested chin poopies?
 
Chins eat their droppings to keep their GI track balanced. If they can eat it, it can't be that toxic. :hmm:
 
kerri101 said:
LOL !!!!!!!!!!


I clean the poos in my room but then I find poo in my window sill....behind my bed...under my desk....in my drawers somehow ( chilla does not go in there)

been ok so far...I even pick up chin poo with my hand if I have to and wash them right after
Click to expand...

Yup, me too. If I miss one, I'll just pick it up and throw it in the cage and wash my hands right after.

Chin poo gets everywhere, doesn't it? LOL
 
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