Has anyone else got a Chinchilla?

[kiwigirl42]

I got a 3 year old chinchilla 4 weeks ago and he is fantastic! His mate had died and the lady who had him worked full time and was worried he was lonely. I work part time and have plenty of time to keep him company.
I'm going to investigate re - introducing another mate for him but understand that this can be quite difficult.

Any other chinchilla owners out there?

[lilacblossomtime]

I don't have a chinchilla but Dh used to have a pair of them that he really liked. He said they were lovely pets and wonderful to stroke as so soft.

[kiwigirl42]

Mine is starting to get tamer with me. Takes food out of my hand etc and loves zooming around in his outside pen (in the sitting room, not outside outside!). I'm building him up to bring picked up.

[Tiptops]

Two here.

Wouldn't recommend them as pets, although it's lovely that you are having a different experience! I did research thoroughly before getting them but either the information I read was biased, or I've been very unlucky with these two.

Mine are messy, destructive, and one has totted up vet bills into the thousands with dental issues.

Will never rehome them and they are really well cared for (when the one with dental issues was most unwell I was either feeding or medicating her every 2 hours, day and night!), but never again.

Does yours poo everywhere? Ours are so messy and the mess doesn't all stay in the cage either.

[kiwigirl42]

Yes, mine poo's all the time. Glad he isn't the size of our dog or we'd be up to our necks! I sweep out his cage every morning though with a mini dust pan and brush and change the sawdust tray every couple of days. When he's in his sitting room pen I have an old sheet down, both to catch the odd poo and to stop him chewing the floorboards!!!! So, yeah, destructive too!

[mistlethrush]

We have one - did have a male and a female and had two lots of babies but the female didn't like being pregnant and it was hell with the babies (although VERY cute) So male got the snip. He died at 15. The female was slightly younger but is now 18 or so. She's never liked being held, although she would be more content if she could climb all the time.

They are destrictive, although the male learned his name and to stop eating the door / skirting / book spine / table / chair / lampshade edge when told to. He loved being in a very large hamster ball and going for a significant explore around the house - the female would just sit still in it. The male even chased a friend's cats in it.

Certainly not good pets with children.

[kiwigirl42]

I'll try a large hamster ball! That'll stir our cats up a bit. DH still thinks they only live as long as a hamster ...

[mistlethrush]

Have you got a large hamster ball? We found ours only fleetingly available. It's about 15" across, so really quite large. Might even still be able to track it down if you can't find one....