Chinchilla Proofing a Room

[tessapixie]

Hey, guys! I was wondering how you guys chinchilla proof a room for playtime? I know electrical cords are a big no-no, but what do you guys do about things that need to be plugged in, like lamps and alarm clocks? Any tips you guys have on how to successfully chinchilla proof a bedroom would be much appreciated! You can even reply with photos if you want! I purchased a playpen for her for playtime, but I would like to give Amaris semi-free reign of my bedroom, where she's being housed. I think I'm just going to use the playpen to put her in when I clean her cage. Thanks in advance!

 

[Winston_]

I can't give a complete guide but I'll get the ball rolling.

First things first: there is no alternative to supervision. The the closer the better.

Is the play pen one of those ones that's a bunch of cage pieces on hinges that you can set up? Like this?
http://animal-picture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Dog-pen-pictures-7.jpg

What we do here is we set it up as a wall to block half the room. Note that if that's what you have they'll probably learn how to squeeze through, but you can pretty easily stop them. It's not that fast of an escape, unless they're small. Ours are around 625g and 650g.

Kiwi has also started to jump to the top of the pen to jump out. Again, not really a problem because you can grab her.

Both of these escapes are predictable based on their behavior, so again, there is no substitute for supervision.

 

[tessapixie]

I can't give a complete guide but I'll get the ball rolling.

First things first: there is no alternative to supervision. The the closer the better.

Is the play pen one of those ones that's a bunch of cage pieces on hinges that you can set up? Like this?
http://animal-picture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Dog-pen-pictures-7.jpg

What we do here is we set it up as a wall to block half the room. Note that if that's what you have they'll probably learn how to squeeze through, but you can pretty easily stop them. It's not that fast of an escape, unless they're small. Ours are around 625g and 650g.

Kiwi has also started to jump to the top of the pen to jump out. Again, not really a problem because you can grab her.

Both of these escapes are predictable based on their behavior, so again, there is no substitute for supervision.

Hey, Winston! Thanks for your help! No, it's not. I ordered one that has zippered enclosures, but I ended up making a foldable playpen similar to what you showed, but no bars for her to try to squeeze through. I'm in the process of chin proofing the entire room, but this seems like a good option until I can get to the rest of it.

 

[Amethyst]

Honestly, a bedroom is not the ideal place, there is too much in there that can cause issues. It's not actually possible to truly chin proof a bedroom in my option, but there are ways to make it safer. As said those high dog pens can work, I use a similar one http://www.amazon.com/Ware-Manufacturing-Small-Animal-Playpen/dp/B000HATR70/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1434239994&sr=8-18&keywords=small+animal+pen has smaller bar spacing so they can't squeeze though, but can hop over if they get it in their mind that they can, it's only 2 feet high. I actually have two critter fences that I hook together around the cage so they can hop in and out. Another option though is to use similar fencing and just fence around the areas you don't want the chin to go, so instead of fencing them in fence say around the bed and around outlets.
Ideally though people use a room that doesn't have to be blocked so much, like a hallway, bathroom, or spare room.

As said though all the safety measures you do don't make up for supervision, chins have been known to get into trouble in just a minute unsupervised. If the chin is out of it's cage your attention should be on the chin, not your cell, computer, tv, etc. I'm not saying you don't, I just know some people think chin proofing = not needing to supervise.