Clarification!!

Just to clarify something I put in another post...

I had mentioned the temperature inside the home where you keep your chinchilla. It should be 75 degrees or less. As in, 75 is the very maximum. Remember, we are from a mountain environment and unlike humans we don't sweat because in the wild they don't need to! Plus, imagine wearing this fur coat in 80 degree weather! It's really warm, let me tell you! To keep your chinchilla cool, give him or her a frozen ceramic tile to lay on (as long as it isn't glossed with bad chemicals) or a frozen bottle of water wrapped up in a piece of fleece (to ensure the bottle doesn't get chewed and leak). Chinchillas like to chinchill, not chin-ROAST!

Here's a link to an excellent product for helping your chin to chill -

Chinchilla Proofing Your Room

Chinchillas are curious and active creatures. We need time to run outside of our cages for both exercise and stimulation. There are basic guidelines that you need to follow in order to ensure that your chin can run around safely. Here are five quick tips:

1. Make sure all electrical outlets and cords are secured or put away! This is the easiest way to cook a chinchilla and I highly doubt that's what you want. At least... it better not be! Eeep!
2. Close off areas you don't want your chinchilla to have access to by closing doors and using sheets of cardboard or other chin-safe materials.
3. Pick up things off the floor you don't want chewed!
4. If your room is deemed not safe for chinchilla playtime, a bathroom makes an excellent playroom for a chinchilla. Block off areas such as behind the toilet so your chinchilla can't get stuck and let them hop and run around as their little hearts desire!
5. To keep us from chewing walls, give us something to chew while outside our cage too! Cardboard, egg cartons, or chin-safe woods work well.

Remember, even chins need to work out these days so don't forget to give your chinchilla the play time they need! Zumi out!

Naughty Chin...

So... last night Janna got a little mad at me. I chewed up her headphones. Whoops. I thought it was a snack! Just remember to keep important things out of chinchilla reach when you let us run around. We will chew on anyone and anything that we can. Don't forget!

Food time!

Hey everyone! I'm just chinchillin' here, munching on some timothy hay. Chinchillas love the stuff, not to mention we need it! Here are a few guidelines for chin nutrition:

• Chinchillas need timothy hay on a daily basis.
• We should also have access to high-quality pellet food. Pellet food shouldn't have contain tons and tons of seeds and extra snacks. Just plain pellets are best. We might like the treats better but they just aren't as good for us!
• Occasional treats are just fine, of course. We LOVE raisins. Fresh fruits and veggies are also okay.
• Fresh WATER! Preferably in a water bottle. A dish is too messy.

As treats go, chins enjoy fresh and dried fruits and veggies as well as some cereals. Low sugar cereals like Cheerios, Wheaties, bran flakes, and anything else made of whole grains and with a low sugar content will do. Raisins are often the favorite but don't feel like that's all you can give us! We enjoy a wide variety of treats.

Though personally, I'm a hay-loving chin. I can't get enough of the stuff!

More Fun Chinchilla Facts

Hey everyone! I thought of more fun facts about chinchillas, so I thought I'd make up another post and add them.

• When frightened, we have two forms of defense: hair loss and peeing. If you grab a chinchilla and they become frightened, their hair will come out so you lose your grip. Another way of defending against an enemy is to spray urine. This doesn't often happen to humans but be careful!
• Chinchillas are sensitive. We need the temperature of our rooms to be around 75 degrees with low humidity otherwise we don't feel good.
• Chinchillas LOVE raisins, but limit raisins to only one a day. Otherwise it's too much sugar. Imagine the size of that raisin compared to me! It's like a football!!
• When you let your chinchilla run around the room, you've got to chin-proof everything. For more on chin-proofing so you can have a safe environment for your chinchilla, keep reading Chinchilling and I'll be posting soon on this ever so important topic!!

Again, post comments and leave me questions. I'd love to answer them.

CHIN 101: Intro to Chinchillas

For those of you out there who've never been exposed to the adorableness that is the chinchilla, here are some quick factoids you might want read up on. If you don't have a chin, maybe then you'll decide you'd like to get (i.e. ADOPT) one!

• Chinchillas are originally from the Andes in South America. They're used to a dry environment where they've got to hop around on rocks and cliffs. So, keep your chin dry and give her room to jump around!
• Chins were once hunted for their fur because they have more hairs per follicle than any other creature. It's sad that people still raise them for their fur, but it's good for chin owners because we're so soft! Pet me, please!
• Chinchillas can live together with another chin of the same sex as long as they get along. I live alone in my pad, but that's okay because Janna plays with me enough so I don't get lonely.
• We chins aren't entirely domesticated, so we're not real fond of being held and snuggled like a guinea pig or rabbit would be. You can get us to like snuggling sometimes, depending on our personalities, but most chins prefer a nice scratch behind the ears to a hug. At least, that's what I like!

If you have any other questions about chin life, don't be afraid to ask! I'm always open for questions. Leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Zumi-chin OUT!

Welcome to Chinchilling!

Hello everyone! The name's Zumi. I was just hangin' out in my pad, chewing on some hay and running on my wheel and all that, and I got to thinking, ya know? I thought the internet needs more chinchilla blogs. We chinchillas are totally underrepresented on the net. So here I am. I'll be your guide and I'll be writing all sorts of fun stuff about chinchilla care for you humans and chinchilla toys for you to buy for your favorite chins. Squee!