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Chinchillas are a type of rodent that originates from South America. They have thick, luxurious coats. In captivity they can live between 10 and 20 years. In the wild, their life expectancy falls to between 10 and 15 years.
In the early 1900’s chinchillas were on the brink of extinction. They were being hunted and killed for their fur. It takes about 80 to 100 chinchillas to make a single fur coat. Upon seeing their declining numbers 11 chinchillas were caught and brought back to the United States. One died during the trip and one was born keeping a consistent 11 chinchillas. The chinchillas in the United States that are pets today all originated from these original 11.
Chinchillas are nocturnal, which means that they are most active at night. Since they spend their days sleeping, they need to be protected from a lot of noise and disturbances during that time. They are sensitive to stress and noise, so approach them in a quiet way. A chinchilla’s temperament ranges. They are intelligent, mischievous and social. They can also be affectionate with their owners. But, a chinchillas temperament is inbuilt meaning that how your chinchilla is when you first get it is most likely how they are always going to be. If you have a calm chinchilla, they most likely will always be calm. If your chinchilla is mean, they may always be mean. When you first bring a new chinchilla home they may be shy or tend to run, this does not mean that they will always treat you as a threat. By spending time with your chinchilla, you will earn their trust and they may even get to a point where they come to you for a little scratch behind the ear. Although they do not enjoy being held or cuddled but some chinchillas will allow you to hold them. Make sure you use two hands. Support their back legs in one hand, and their front feet slightly higher than the back with the other hand. You should also hold them up against your body to make them feel more secure. Unfortunately, chinchillas do not make good pets for someone who has allergies to animal fur or dust. Also, they do not always make good pets for children because they do not like to be held and cuddled.
Like all rodents, a chinchilla needs to chew in order to keep their teeth healthy and filed down. You should always provide them with something safe to chew on rather then letting them chew on the bars of their cage or their food bowl. Amazingly, chinchillas are able to make sounds. They make a variety of squeaks, squeals and odd sounding barks. They do not make vocal sounds that often. Most of the noises from an active chinchilla are the sounds that come from their chewing, rearranging of the things in their cage or running on their wheel.
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