Chinchilla is a small fluffy rodent, fascinating everyone with its lovely appearance. When choosing this animal as a pet, you need to ask beforehand how to take care of these rodents, how to feed and bathe them, how many years the chinchillas live, what their character is. Chinchilla at home can live from 10 to 20 years, so with proper care of your pet, you will not part with it for a very long time.
Chinchilla: content
If you have a chinchilla in your home, feeding and caring for it should follow certain rules. In order to create chinchilla comfortable conditions for living in an apartment, it is necessary to take into account the specific characteristics of this rodent.
The cage for a small animal must have a height of at least 70 cm, and a width of at least 50 cm, so that the chinchilla can move freely. The cage should be kept away from heating devices, not in a draft and not lean against the outer wall of the house.
Cleaning in the cage should be done every day, and general cleaning - once a week.
For chinchilla there is a certain temperature regime of the room. The optimum temperature is from 18 to 21 ° C. The temperature of 25 ° C is critical, and at 30-32 ° C there is a chance of a thermal shock and death of the animal. The room should always have fresh air, humidity from 50% to 60%.
Chinchillas are very timid, so care should be taken in light and sound stimuli. Suddenly included bright light, too loud music sound or sharp clap can lead the animal to stress, illness and even death. Therefore, next to the cage, while your chinchilla is not accustomed to the general atmosphere of the house, in no case can one shout, do sharp movements and turn on bright lights.
It should also be remembered that the chinchilla leads a twilight way of life, and in the daytime it sleeps, so you need to create a condition for the animal for such a regime.
Bathing chinchillas should be in a special sand (zeolite or sepiolite), which is similar to dust. It can be purchased at a pet store. Before you begin to feed the animal, study well what feeds the chinchilla. The main diet consists of special granulated food and hay. And besides this, the chinchilla must be given twigs, so that she can grind her teeth, special salt wheels, useful treats (nettle leaves, dried dandelions, dried hawthorn and dog-rose, dried apple slices) and vitamins. In the water bowl there must always be water, always clean and fresh.
Breeds of chinchillas
To date, there are 14 breeds of chinchillas and 12 interbreeding mixtures. These figures are constantly growing, as the activities of breeders do not stand still. On the farms of these rodents are divided into three colors: light, dark and gray. Especially valuable animals, which have a bright zone on the roots of the hairs (up to 1 mm). The main breeds of chinchillas, differing in a greater degree in color, are listed below:
- not agouti (color gray monophonic);
- charcoal (almost black);
- albino (white with red eyes);
- white recessive (white);
- beige Wellman (beige with black eyes);
- Beige Sullivan (beige with red eyes);
- foggy (dark gray, with a blurry pattern);
- Sapphire (also called "blue powder" or "blue carat");
- variegated (has a small white spot on the background of other colors);
- black velveteen (black back and white tummy);
- white dominant (white color with light silvery);
- Beige dominant (light beige fur with white fluff).
And also the breeds derived from crossing the above-mentioned breeds with each other: brown corduroy, velveto, velveteen blue, light pastel, dark pastel, pink-white.