Cage location

[Beckjean]

Hi, so I recently became super interested in wanting a chinchilla over the last couple months and have been browsing the web and different forums on their care. My biggest concern currently is the room I have to keep them. Because of the other pets (dogs and cats) in my house and my sister being allergic I would only be able to house them in my bedroom.

My bedroom is in the basement so it never really gets hot even in summer and I do get central A/c so I'm not worried about keeping my room cool enough. But that also means there is no natural light. I keep the lights in my room on during the day for my guinea pigs and then obviously shut them off at night, usually around 9/10pm and go back on anywhere between 8 and 10am. Would this be ok?

However, I do keep 2 guinea pigs in my room and didn't know if that would be an issue. The guinea pigs and chinchilla would be in separate enclosures but the enclosures would be next to each other most likely.

My other issue would be noise. How much noise do they actually make? My guinea pigs are pretty talkative but aren't super loud so I'm able to deal but I wasn't sure about chinchillas.

Lastly, since it is my bedroom would they be OK with me in there during the day when they should be sleeping? I watch a lot of Netflix but it's usually on my tablet so it's not loud, I rarely use my TV. But say I had somebody over to hang out would they be OK with us talking or watching a movie on the TV which would be a lot louder?

 

[Amethyst]

So long as you can guarantee it will stay cool enough in the basement and it stays dry down (I know most basements tend to have issue with humidity) it should be fine, they need a low temp and low humidity environment. If you can get daylight light bulbs that would be good, no natural light is not ideal but they should be ok so long as they still get a day/night cycle. In the summer with the AC in the window the room my cage is in doesn't get any natural light either since the sun shines on the only window I have it covered (except for the AC of course).

Living in the same room as guinea pigs is fine, so long as they don't have any contact, they can spread illnesses to each other. Also make sure the cages are at least far enough apart that stuff from one cage isn't going to get into the other, chins are very messy. Try to remember to wash your hands between handling the different animals too, and if they need to have playtime in the same area make sure you clean up between different animals.
Chins are quiet compared to guinea pigs, chins do "bark", but it's for a reason and it's not normally as loud as a guinea pig squeal. They also do "chat" with each other if you have more then one but it's more soft squeaks, and if you have a single chin it's possible you wont hear them make any noise (likely because there is no one to talk to). Here is an article talking about the sounds they make to give you some idea Chinchilla Sounds

Chins aren't strictly night time animals, they are more like cats, they are most awake early morning and evening and sleep most of the day but are up throughout the day to grab a bite to eat, potty, play and chew some stuff. For example they are normally up when my husband gets up for work (around 5-6am) and going to bed when I get up (around 9-10am) but then awake for a bit again around 3pm, then napping again until sometime around 9-11pm, I normally go to bed around 11 and they are up by then.

My chinchilla cage is just a few feet from my computer desk, and I watch Netflix and play video games most days and they don't seem to mind. Some shows they even enjoy watching with me. They get use to whatever noise is normal in their environment, if you are throwing a party in your room then I would say the chin(s) need to be somewhere else, but just normal volume watching stuff, listening to music, or "indoor voice" talking shouldn't be an issue. People often leave a radio or tv on specifically for their chin when they are gone too.

 

[Beckjean]

So long as you can guarantee it will stay cool enough in the basement and it stays dry down (I know most basements tend to have issue with humidity) it should be fine, they need a low temp and low humidity environment. If you can get daylight light bulbs that would be good, no natural light is not ideal but they should be ok so long as they still get a day/night cycle. In the summer with the AC in the window the room my cage is in doesn't get any natural light either since the sun shines on the only window I have it covered (except for the AC of course).

Living in the same room as guinea pigs is fine, so long as they don't have any contact, they can spread illnesses to each other. Also make sure the cages are at least far enough apart that stuff from one cage isn't going to get into the other, chins are very messy. Try to remember to wash your hands between handling the different animals too, and if they need to have playtime in the same area make sure you clean up between different animals.
Chins are quiet compared to guinea pigs, chins do "bark", but it's for a reason and it's not normally as loud as a guinea pig squeal. They also do "chat" with each other if you have more then one but it's more soft squeaks, and if you have a single chin it's possible you wont hear them make any noise (likely because there is no one to talk to). Here is an article talking about the sounds they make to give you some idea Chinchilla Sounds

Chins aren't strictly night time animals, they are more like cats, they are most awake early morning and evening and sleep most of the day but are up throughout the day to grab a bite to eat, potty, play and chew some stuff. For example they are normally up when my husband gets up for work (around 5-6am) and going to bed when I get up (around 9-10am) but then awake for a bit again around 3pm, then napping again until sometime around 9-11pm, I normally go to bed around 11 and they are up by then.

My chinchilla cage is just a few feet from my computer desk, and I watch Netflix and play video games most days and they don't seem to mind. Some shows they even enjoy watching with me. They get use to whatever noise is normal in their environment, if you are throwing a party in your room then I would say the chin(s) need to be somewhere else, but just normal volume watching stuff, listening to music, or "indoor voice" talking shouldn't be an issue. People often leave a radio or tv on specifically for their chin when they are gone too.

That is super helpful information thank you so much. We run a dehumidifier in the basement constantly, we have it hooked up to the hvac system so it continuously drains. I personally don't find it that humid but I can buy one of those thermometer things to double check what the humidity actually is. Do you know what the percent humidity is supposed to be I don't remember seeing an exact number anywhere.

The noise aspect is definetly a relief I was worried they would be too noisy but it sounds like it should be fine even after reading and listening to the article you shared. I'm typically not a loud person and it's rare I have somebody over so it sounds like me making noise shouldn't be too much of an issue for them.

I can definelty make sure the guinea pigs and chinchilla don't interact and clean up after each one before the next I try to clean up right after the guinea pigs anyways to keep my room clean and not smell like them for my cats and dogs.

 

[Amethyst]

Humidity levels of about 20-60% are safe, and about 40-50% is comfortable (similar for humans). The higher the humidity the lower the temp needs to be and the higher the risk of mold and fungal issues. Lower humidity the more risk of dry cracked skin, which is not only itchy and uncomfortable but also opens the skin up to infection.

 

[Beckjean]

Humidity levels of about 20-60% are safe, and about 40-50% is comfortable (similar for humans). The higher the humidity the lower the temp needs to be and the higher the risk of mold and fungal issues. Lower humidity the more risk of dry cracked skin, which is not only itchy and uncomfortable but also opens the skin up to infection.

That's super helpful, thank you