Chinchilla — Fact Sheet

Chinchilla lanigera · Chinchilla · Langschwanz-Chinchilla

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Keep a compatible pair or group unless solitary housing is clinically justified
• Pair target: 200 × 100 × 200 cm or larger
• Chew-resistant metal cage with solid base, broad platforms, and strong ventilation
• 5–10 cm low-dust paper bedding or kiln-dried aspen
• Avoid glass tanks, cedar, scented litter, mesh-only floors, and plastic furniture

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• One hide per animal plus a shared shelter; duplicate hay, pellet, and water points
• Staggered broad shelves with no uninterrupted drop over about 60 cm
• Untreated branches, wooden chews, pumice, tunnels, and secured heavy furnishings
• Optional solid-surface wheel at least about 38 cm; no mesh track or center pinch point

💡 Lighting

• No basking lamp or routine UVB required
• 10–12-hour day followed by darkness
• No direct sunlight on the enclosure
• Protect all fixtures and cables from chewing

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: none required

• Warm zone: 15–21 °C

• Cool zone: 12–18 °C

• Night: 12–18 °C

• Install and test air conditioning before hot weather

• Treat 23–25 °C as an action threshold; heatstroke risk rises sharply near and above 26.7 °C

• Fans circulate room-temperature air but do not provide reliable cooling

💧 Humidity & water

• 30–50% RH with dry bedding and strong ventilation
• Fresh water continuously; check bottle flow every day
• Never wash or allow swimming
• Dust bath for 10–15 minutes most days; remove after use

🌾 Diet

Feed freely:

• Fresh grass hay such as timothy or meadow hay

In moderation:

• Plain complete chinchilla pellets, usually about 1–2 tablespoons per adult daily
• Tiny, slowly introduced leafy items only if stools remain normal

Avoid:

• Muesli, seeds, nuts, bread, cereal, yogurt drops, honey sticks, dried fruit, frequent fresh fruit, moldy hay, and sudden diet changes

Supplements:

• None routinely when suitable hay and a complete pellet are fed
• Add vitamins or minerals only under veterinary direction

🌙 Daily and weekly routine

• Check room temperature, water, appetite, and fecal output every day
• Refresh hay daily and clean wet or soiled bedding
• Weigh each animal weekly or at least every two weeks
• Supervise exercise only in a cool, chinchilla-proof room

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Wet chin, dropping food, eye discharge, or weight loss → dental disease
• Reduced appetite or smaller/fewer feces → gastrointestinal stasis or other illness
• Warm ears, panting, drooling, weakness, or collapse → heat emergency
• Swollen abdomen, labored breathing, persistent diarrhea, or blood → urgent veterinary problem
• Foot sores, fur loss, crusting, or excessive chewing → housing, skin, pain, or stress issue

Consult an exotic-mammal veterinarian urgently for anorexia, reduced fecal output, breathing difficulty, collapse, or severe injury.