Chinchillas in Basement - Question

[Brittany_Lynn]

Hey all, I've been super busy lately with work so this is my first post in a long time. Anyway, my mom has been looking for a bigger place for us, and she found a nice place but my chinchillas (Rodya, Sonya, Mork, Pico) won't fit in my bedroom like they do in our current place. Now it's still theoretical if we even are going to move in there, but if we do, the chins would go in the basement.

The basement is unfinished - it has cement walls, a cement floor, and IDK about the ceiling, I would imagine it's just the i-beams that support the floor above. My mom said that before she puts my chins down there we would paint the walls with Must/mold resistant paint, and I would also like to do some bombing because I hate bugs and I'm freaked out by them, but my question for you is - 3 of my cages sit on the floor - 2 of them are about 1/2 inch off of the floor and the other is 2 or 3 inches off of the floor - would it be safe for my chinchillas to go in this basement?
Other info:

They will not be let out to play in the basement. This is strictly a housing/caging situation.

I'm really worried about/freaked out by bugs. Specifically house centipedes. Is it likely that they would be attracted to my chinchilla's cages? All of them have a 'litter box' with aspen bedding in it, in which they urinate-would that attract creepy crawlies?

Would it be better if I invested in Ferret nations (like I've been meaning to :wacko if they're going to be in the basement? What I mean is, should they be significantly higher up from the floor than they would be in their current cages?


2 of the cages look like this - they're technically 'cat cages'::

(Only they have wheels, so they are off the ground by about 1/2 an inch)

1 of the cages looks like this::

(MINUS Plastic shelves/tubing.)

And the other cage rests on top of 1 of the 'cat' cages.

Any suggestions, opinions, stories from those who have/had their chinchillas in the basement?

 

[mishalaa]

There are two things to consider with cement basement floor - coldness and dampness. My herd is kept at least 18 inches off the floor because, like now in the winter, that concrete floor gets pretty cold and I worry about draft in the lower cages. However, I don't know if that would be as much a concern for you since your cages are tall and they could escape the cold floor by just going up. The chins in my runs don't have that option.

Second thing you'd have to consider is if your basement will flood. My yard drains pretty well but I still get seepage during a heavy rain. Also, I had a small problem with my sewer backing up which is now fixed, but I was getting puddles in my basement under two of my banks. Just keep an eye out for that as you don't want the bottoms of your cages under water. The purple cage ought to be find I'd think, but the cat cages might need raising if your basement gets more than an inch or so of water.

Bugs depend on how clean you keep it. If you keep your cages clean, the bugs will keep to the walls/rafters. You will never completely get rid of them, but they will mind their own business. I run into the occasional spider here and there in my basement, but never anywhere near my cages.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

Thanks for the quick reply, Mish. I clean their cages weekly - sometimes every 5 days rather than 7 - and vacuum the poo about every 3 days so their shelves stay clean.
I think I'll invest in 2 of the double Ferret Nations - the kind that can be split--so I'd have all 4 chins in '2' cages, and they'd be far enough off of the ground. now, to find some cages...

 

[Twilight Chinchillas]

I have a partial unfinished basement. The chins are in one of the rooms finished off. I actually pulled up our carpet, to the bare cement floor, then purchased inexpensive laminate tiles, and adhesive glue and put that down. It made clean up so much easier. I also have a couple fans to help aid in air circulation.

 

[alli713]

I housed my chins in a basement for about 2 years. Ours is partially finished, meaning it has cement walls in half, and the floor is just a cheap carpet over the cement. I never had an issue with bugs, although I know they are living down there (things like spiders and those gross earwig looking things). Most bugs aren't going to live with your chins, especially if you keep it clean.

My chins loved the temps in the basement, you just may need to invest in a dehumidifier if it's damp down there.

 

[3CsMommy]

Centipedes creep me out too, but unless you have a bug problem in the chin cage, which it doesn't sound like you will given a regular cleaning schedule, the centipedes won't want anything to do w/ them. Centipedes eat other bugs, not plant matter, so your chinnies should be fine.

 

[Mikayla]

Mine are in the basement, we sealed the floor and painted the walls after we let off a bug bomb. (I HATE Bugs) and the chins LOVE it down there, we have a little bit of a heat issue during the summer because the room is directly below the driveway but we installed a air conditioner.

So, yes, my chins are in the basement and the love it I would think yours would probably be fine.

Edit: Here's a picture

 

[Chintastic!]

As long as you keep it cool and moniter the humidity they should be fine. Mine are in the basement and I believe they are happier than they were upstairs for sure. The room is mostly unfinished except its insulated.

Never had a problem with bugs- even the time I went on vacation and my sitter "forgot" to change the liners.

 

[Tulula]

Mine are in my basement as well - the only issue I had was ventilation - there is only one window and it was a pain to open as the dryer is vented out of it. My boyfriend rigged up an industrial vent fan that sucks the air through the house and out through the basement and that made all the difference in the world. It's also much easier to keep them cool in the summer being in the basement.

 

[kathiva]

I used to have my chins in the basement, and myself I really didn't like it, I found it would get too humid, even if I had a dehumidifier on, so I ended up moving my chins to another room and it is on a second floor, and I still have a dehumidifier, but I notice that the humidifier gets full in 2 days instead of half a day like before,

 

[greychins]

We have the chins in the basement. However...almost all of our cages are sitting on tables. See picture here Would that be possible for you?

We have never had a problem with bugs around the chins. We have thousand-leggers *shudders* and spiders and other creepy crawlies, that are seen occasionally around the house, but I've never seen any around the chins. I would imagine if the house and cages are kept clean, there wouldn't be. Any crawlie critters we see are shop-vac'd up very quickly.

I agree that I don't like any of my cages to be that close to the ground. With the exception of our runs (many of which do not contain chins and are simply used to lift the other ones up until I build a stand) and the one tall cage, all the cages are at least 3 feet off of the floor. The main reason for me keeping the chins off of the floor is because we once had the basement of the old house flood. Not like wading-through-water-flooded, but there was maybe 6-8 inches of water on the floor. In this house, we already had to replace the sump pump, and were up all night running buckets of water outside during a torrential downpour. If the basement was to flood... most of the chins are at least 3' off of the floor so I wouldn't worry about them... I suppose our dust and some supplies would be ruined, but the chins would be fine...and we'd notice before the flooding ever got that bad.

We've never had a problem with high humidity in the basement, though we have a (can't think of what it's called) a thing that shows the temperature and humidity... and it's always been at ok levels. Though if it were to get too high, we have a dehumidifier, which is good to have for a basement.