Chinchillas Can Be Awesome Pets

By: Rachel Rae

Chinchillas are of the rodent family although they don't seem like it. If you've never had a chinchilla before you may want to consider one as a pet.

"Chins" for short are very clean animals so their cages do not smell as so many other types of animals tend to. They have incredibly soft, velvety fur and resemble a chubby squirrel with Mickey Mouse type ears. They are very playful and even tho they are nocturnal, they do play alot during the daylight hours too.

I got my first pair of chinchillas, as adults, a proven breeding pair. They were nice enough but they never really did bond with us. We ended up having 3 litters total. They usually have 1-3 babies (also known as kits), and their pregnancy is 111 days (about 4 months), which is a very long gestation period for an animal that size.

The babies are born really advanced for newborns. They are open eyed, fully furred and running around nearly within minutes of birth. They can also eat adult food nearly from that first day, although the majority of their diet is from nursing.

One of the funnest parts of being a chin owner is bath day. Take a bowl and put chinchilla dust in it. They dive in, roll, kick, swirl and is a delight to everyone who watches! They eat pelleted chinchilla food and should be given a raisin a day.

We kept one of the babies from this pair, and she was the best pet we ever owned. We handled her from day one and she bonded to us very well. She was playful, sweet, never bit and had a cute little quiet bark. Tons of personality as well!

Chins are a more playful active type pet, versus a sit down lap animal. I would recommend getting a baby if you decide to get a chinchilla. They usually run about $100. in the US for a pet, but that price can vary a lot.

Another very nice quality about chins as pets, is they have no claws or fingernails. They have these little soft pads on the bottom of their feet, so you don't get scratched. I wouldn't recommend them with small children however, as young children could easily hurt a chinchilla.

They have a life span of about 10-15 years. They do need to live indoors, or a climate type controlled setting. Chins come in a variety of colors but the standard gray color is the most common, and the other, more rare colors will cost more usually. Because of their long life span, be sure you're ready for that commitment before getting one however.

When we were finding good homes for the babies, most people who were interested had never seen or been around chins before. The ones who did know something about them all had this in common; they either had owned one previously or knew someone close who did, which speaks very well of chins as pets.

Article Source: http://www.dxarticle.com

By Rachel Ray - Trying to help others use their creativity by recharging and having some fun with life. Many times home life can be simply too difficult and stress filled.

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