At home, these wonderful animals are usually kept singly or in pairs. In nature, they live in mountainous areas, so the cage for the chinchilla, of course, must correspond to the biology of these animals and their lifestyle.
Before you get yourself this cute animal, you should take care of his place of residence in your apartment. A cage for a chinchilla cannot be small; it must be quite spacious. Cages smaller than 80x80x60 cm are not suitable for keeping animals . These animals are quite large, so the cage for chinchillas 90x90x60 cm in size will be the most suitable for living. If you decide to have not one but several animals, the cage should be even larger.
Metal cages with a sliding tray are very convenient, since during cleaning, they are not damaged when treated with disinfectant solutions and boiling water. Such a chinchilla cage has a high plastic edge that prevents feed, hay and sawdust from entering the cage. Chinchillas are very active animals, so keeping them in a cage without sides provides for daily cleaning of the area around the cage. The only drawback of a metal cage is its rather high cost.
The ideal option for keeping these animals is a special multi-tiered, high cage for chinchillas, equipped with shelves, ladders, tunnels, gangways, hammocks and a comfortable house in which they can hide. The lower part of such a cage is closed with glass so that food, sawdust, hay and sand do not spill out of the cage. Suspended feeders and drinking bowls are located in such a cage, which prevent contamination of feed and water with garbage and animal excrement. In the corner there is a manger in which they put hay. Sawdust is poured at the bottom of such a dwelling. For this purpose it is impossible to use sawdust of coniferous trees containing tar and having a pungent odor.
If you put a tray with a special filler in a corner for a small chinchilla, it will gradually learn to cope with its need for a tray, which will greatly facilitate the care of the animal. A cage for a chinchilla should have a specially designated place where twigs, wooden sticks, mineral stones for grinding teeth are located. Otherwise, toothy pets will do this procedure with your furniture when you let them out for a walk around the apartment.
There should be a place for bathing in the cage. These animals need swimming in the sand. Thus, they clean their chic fur coat, so every day for a couple of hours a special container with volcanic sand is put in a cage.
To maintain a family of chinchillas, a cage is not more suitable, but an aviary, which is divided into several boxes for females, which are interconnected by a tunnel for the male. In each of the boxes a separate drinking bowl, feeder and house are placed.
People with a knowledge of hammers, nails, and wood can make DIY chinchilla cages. In the manufacture of cells should observe these rules:
- all connections must be without gaps;
- the cell walls (at least 3 of them) must be made of a metal mesh (thus, it will be well ventilated).
- the mesh should be made of stainless steel with a thickness of at least 2 mm.
The cell framework is usually made of boards, hetinax or organic glass. The frame is fixed with screws or glued with special glue. When assembling the cell frame over the middle plank, a small clearance is made for the door. The door should be large enough to freely remove the animal from the cage. It can be made from getinax or plexiglass. The slot for the pallet is 4 cm high.