Good idea for a post! At the end of the sheet, I have a paragraph describing the parents and kit(s). I'm open to comments for improvements on mine:
To Buy:
Cage – the taller the better as chins love to climb & jump.
Wheel – good exercise and helps maintain digestive health
Glass water bottle
Food dish – preferably heavy ceramic that won’t break
Pine bedding – not cedar, not Carefresh or Yesterday’s News
Corner litter box
Plain shredded wheat, plain cheerios, plain uncooked oats
Good quality chinchilla or rabbit pellets
Hay – horse hay or alfalfa/timothy hay
Small broom & dust pan for cage cleaning
Chinchilla dust (not sand) - unscented
Health:
Your chin’s teeth should be orange. White teeth show a calcium deficiency. If this becomes a problem, good sources of calcium are: cuttlebone (for birds); Calf Manna pellets (available at Tractor Supply); TUMS. Only use these if there is a problem as excess calcium can cause kidney stones. Chin teeth never stop growing, so be sure to provide plenty for them to chew on. A chin’s eyes should be bright and dry around the edges. A healthy chinchilla can live for 15 or 20 years.
Diet:
Chinchillas need a very dry, bland diet. They must always have access to hay and water. They are prone to diabetes and obesity, so despite their best attempts to convince you otherwise, offer very limited treats such as: dried bread, unfrosted shredded wheat, Cheerios, dried rosehips and plain old-fashioned uncooked oatmeal. Chins absolutely cannot digest meat and will die if they eat any kind of meat. Nuts are too fatty for their liver. They cannot have vegetables, fresh fruits, acidic fruits or fruits with a pit.
Environment:
Chins have very dense coats and can get overheated (heatstroke can kill them). They need to be indoors in temperatures no higher than 80. Whereas humans have one hair from each follicle, chinchillas can have 50 hairs from each follicle. They should never get wet and should receive regular dust baths to keep their coats clean. Cages should be closed in a secure manner (we call one of our chins a locksmith). A chin on the loose can be a real hazard - to your house (wires, furniture, carpet etc) and to themselves.
Kiln dried pine is a good bedding choice. Never use cedar bedding - it smells good to us but has phenols which are dangerous to chins. Carefresh, Yesterday’s News and the like aren’t the best choices because your chin may munch on their bedding and these materials can expand in their bellies. We just use a little bedding in a litter box and along the cage edges and that keeps the rest of the cage dry, though they do poop everywhere.
General Happiness:
A bored chinchilla is not happy. Provide cardboard for chewing (with as little dye as possible, and with no tape left on packing boxes). Provide them company - either from you their favorite human, or from a same-sex companion chin! They like places to jump up on to like shelves and hiding places like boxes. A chinchilla wheel is good for their general health and digestion. Make supervised play time outside of the cage a practice. They can jump 4 or 5 feet high, so make sure you have a safe place they can’t escape. Never use an exercise ball as the animal can get too hot in the enclosure.
You can get supplies online at a chin rescue:
http://www.geocities.com/forchinatechins/index.htm - we have ordered from this site many times and gotten good prices and great quality toys and treats. There is endless information online, so educate yourself as much as possible!
Contact Us:
If you have any questions, please call or email: . If we don’t know the answer, we have a great breeder we can contact with questions. If for any reason this chinchilla doesn’t work out for you, we will gladly take the chinchilla back.