Choosing the Right Chinchilla Cage: When is comes to choosing the right cage for you chinchilla, there are many options and with every option, there is someone with an opinion. On this page I will do my best to bring forth all the logical options and the concerns with them as well as my opinion.
First you may choose to either buy a cage or to make one yourself. In all circumstances you need to be prepared that the cage will be the biggest expense when buying a chinchilla and this is where you really should not be cheap! There is great disagreement about how small a cage for a chinchilla could be. The only thing that everybody agrees on is that the cage can easily be too small but never too big. One must realize these fine pets might be spending most of their time in their cage, and not running & jumping about like they prefer to, so the bigger the cage the happier and healthier your chinchilla will be.
If you choose to buy a cage there are two main categories- wire bottom and solid bottom.
With a wire bottom cage, the spaces in the wire must be no larger than 1/2"x 1/2". If the holes are bigger than that the chinchilla will have trouble walking and could hurt himself by getting their feet stuck in the holes. If you do get this kind of cage you need to give your chinchilla plenty of flat places to rest his feet from the hard wire. This can be a piece of pine wood, or a house with a solid floor in it. In this category you will find some wire cages that have a bedding drawer under the wire floor in which the waste may fall though the floor into the drawer for easy cleaning.
Raw metal or plastic covers wire, this is one of the more common debates with chinchilla owners. While plastic covered wire is much easier to find and clean, many chinchillas will chew at the plastic (not healthy for them) as they tend to chew at everything. (Chinchillas chew at pretty much anything for a couple different reasons. 1. This is how they keep their teeth in healthy conditions. 2. Chinchillas will give a “test nibble” to objects to find if they taste good.) It is true though that not all chinchillas will chew at a plastic covered wire cage, but more of them do and you will not know your chinchillas taste preferences till after you have already paid for your cage (kind of too late then). For this reason many chinchilla owners will stick with raw metal (it is actually treated metal like galvanized) wire cages.
Solid bottom cages, are cages don’t have the wire floor so the chinchilla can sit right in the shavings. They make a nice soft floor for the chinchillas. They love to dig around in it and chew on the pieces. It can be a messier cage since the shavings will end up all over the floor but the chinchillas sure enjoy it! The draw back to this is that if you do not replace the bedding regularly, your chinchilla will end up walking around and sleeping on their own waste and their health will be in danger. This cage type maybe the best option for you chinchilla only if you know that you will be cleaning it (maybe 1-2 times a week or more depending on how many chinchillas you have in the cage and the cage size) Making you own cage, for those of you whom may be well versed in making things, this may be an option as well. By making your own cage you can really get a size and shape of the cage that may maximize idea size while fitting your room better. To really go into detail on how to make one would be futile as there are many different ideas and designed that have been made and there may be no right or wrong to it. There are many things to keep in mind when designing the cage though. You need to be aware the cage must be able to close securely, as chinchillas are very good at escaping. You need to also think of how easily the cage will be to clean. Many builders will use melamine pressboard as the cages main material, this is because it is very easy to clean. Do keep in mind though that melamine pressboard is not good for chinchillas to chew at (plastic and glue) so only use it in ways that the chinchilla will not be able to get their little teeth on it. For shelving you should use just regular, untreated wood (pine is good) as this is not only ok for them to chew on but it is also healthy for them to have many things to chew on. Chinchilla Cage Location: First of all you should figure out where to put the chinchilla cage. Make sure the cage has good circulation; as chinchillas do not sweat so if their body temperature rises over 75° Fahrenheit they can overheat or suffer from heat stroke, yet then again it should not be too cold or drafty either. Avoid placing the cage where an A/C vent my blow directly on to it.
Make sure that the temperature will not suddenly rise due to direct sun light and that there may not be a lot of noise around the cage during the daytime (this is when they sleep).
Inside the cage: you should have a few important things and if you got a cage big enough, you should have some extra things.
Things you MUST HAVE:
Food dish (ceramic ones work great because they will last forever and are easy to clean), Hay dish (or hay rack that attaches to the cage walls),
Water bottles that attach to the outside of the cage are great,
Hiding house (this is where they are going to hide when scared and sleep),
Shelves (chinchillas love to jump around and if the shelves are made of wood that gives them something extra to chew on).
If you got enough room with out making the cage too cluttered there are some more things that chinchillas love to have:
Chew Toys (simple wood bird toys are idea), like most rodents, a chinchilla's teeth are constantly growing, so chewing on wood is a great way to keep their teeth worn down and healthy. White pine and apple are the best of woods to use. Other woods like cedar, eucalyptus, plum, plywood, cherry, fir, spruce, or redwood; are bad for chinchillas.
Running Wheel - try to get a 15 inch wheel as the 12 inch will be too small, keep in mind though that not all chinchilla will use a wheel and you will still nee to let them out from time to time so that they may get their exercise (there are a few different designs and some are safer than others)
Tunnels (Cardboard cylinders in which chinchillas like to run through and chew on)
Cleaning the cage: this is where keeping your chinchilla healthy is most important. Clean the cage about once a week is idea, but never let it go more than two weeks. For the cage bedding you should NEVER use cedar or un-dried pine as they have aromatic oils which can damage the respiratory tracts of chinchillas and could cause liver problems. Most other mediums are fine though (wood chips, regular pine bedding, newspaper). I personally used newspaper and newspaper shreds.
NEVER use strong cleaners to clean the cage! Remember there will be residual residues that not only may find their way into your chinchilla tummy but also in to their lungs. You should use just simple mild soap and water and make sure you really rinse it off with the water to remove and residual soap.
It is also a good idea to replace the shelves and housed (hiding boxes) a couple times a year.
