When choosing housing for the chinchilla, you must follow one simple rule - the more the better. The size of the cage should allow the animal to move freely and jump from shelf to shelf.
The cage for chinchilla must meet the following requirements:
- the minimum dimensions of the cage - height - 80 cm, length - 80 cm, width - 50 cm,
- the distance between the bars of the cage is a maximum of 2 cm,
- the distance between the bars of the cage, if desired, breed chinchillas and raise offspring with a maximum of 1.5 cm
- the shelves are wooden (from fruit trees, for example, apple trees), the tree must be well treated, without knots and chips;
- the pallet is high, approximately 15 cm, retractable.
Choosing a place in the house to accommodate chinchilla cages
Not only the comfort and convenience of a fluffy pet, but also its health depends on which place is chosen to house the cage. To choose the perfect place, use the following tips:
- the room in which the cage will stand must be dry, well ventilated and lighted,
- on the cell should not fall direct sunlight
- drafts are unacceptable
- the temperature in the room where the chinchilla lives should not be higher than + 25 ° C. It must be remembered that the chinchilla tolerates lower temperatures better than elevated ones,
- the cage should not be placed near heating appliances and electric heaters, window or split air conditioners,
- the cage should stand on a table or nightstand, - there is a high probability of drafts and undesirable temperature differences on the floor,
- unsuitable place is the location of the cell next to the TV, computer, music center, i.e. any equipment, especially the one that makes loud sounds,
- so that the furniture upholstery or wallpaper should not suffer from the animal's teeth, the cage should be at least 5 cm further from the walls or furniture,
- Considering the increased activity of animals at night, the cage is best placed in the living room, not in the bedroom.
We create a cosiness in a cage
Chinchilla is very agile and loves to jump. Knead the legs will help the shelves, located at different levels parallel to each other in a checkerboard pattern. This will eliminate the possibility of a pet falling from a height. Shelves are made of wood (apple, linden, aspen, birch, alder, etc.) and can be of various sizes and shapes.
An important detail of the interior is a wooden house - a secluded place to relax. If breeding chinchillas is supposed, it is quite possible to use it as a cozy nest.
It is convenient to use ceramic bowls or glass ashtrays as feeders: they are heavy and difficult to turn over. Mounted removable feeders should be well attached to the wall so that the animal could not remove them and scatter the food in the cage.
Hay - a necessary element of the diet of the animal - should always be available in the cage.
One more necessary element is a drinking bowl - ball or nipple. It should be hung in such a way as to protect chinchilla’s sharp teeth, and the animal should not have difficulty drinking.
Its pride - a smart fur coat, chinchillas are cleaned in special sand. Do not forget to take care of the bathing intended for this purpose.
Chinchillas cleanly. If you put in a cage tray filled with wood or sawdust, the pet will celebrate a little need for it. The shallow shape for the microwave is a comfortable, heavy and non-burnt toilet.
Entertainment
In his house, a pet should not only be safe, free and comfortable, but also not boring.
What can you please your pet? Of course toys! It is not recommended to buy toys intended for other animals, especially edible for dogs or cats, which are based on raw materials of animal origin. In pet stores you can buy a lot of toys for chinchillas, and the most popular with animals are wooden balls, cubes, cylinders, etc.
For especially restless animals, a running wheel, which is not only sports equipment, but also a great place to sleep and rest, will be an excellent acquisition. To eliminate possible troubles and injuries, purchase a running wheel designed specifically for chinchillas, and not for other rodents. In such wheels there are no wide crossbars in which the paw of a small animal or a grid with wide cells can get stuck, in which a chinchilla's finger can get stuck. Both in the first and in the second case the probability of a fracture is high.
Hang bridges, ladders, tunnels, gamachki will also help to diversify the pet's life. It is better if they are made of wood.
Breeding chinchillas for fur
To breed chinchillas for fur in a simple city apartment is no longer possible, because the whole family of rodents will not fit in one cage. They will need a specially equipped aviary. On the farms for these animals, such enclosures are set up that do not obstruct the access of the males to the females, because if they do not meet, the offspring will not appear. The size of farmers' cells should be no less than 163 cm by 43 cm by 200 cm. In order for the females not to leave their cages to the males, a special device is attached to their neck.
These lovely creatures will live comfortably in places with temperatures around 20 degrees. The animals are very sensitive to heat and less sensitive to cold. Make sure that the air temperature does not fall below zero!
Chinchillas will not live on metal gratings, so lay hay or sawdust on the bottom of the cage.
Breeding chinchillas as pets
As mentioned above, you can start chinchillas in an apartment or in a house. But it is worth remembering that to get more than two individuals will not work. You will definitely need to purchase a cage for your unusual pets, which will be comfortable and suitable size. 14-20 degrees Celsius for living this type of rodent will be the most suitable temperature. Remember the most important thing: they absolutely do not tolerate drafts or the sun's rays that fall directly on them.
Chinchillas, which are bred at home, very quickly get used to people and become completely tame. They will not be afraid of people. They will be very nice, kind and friendly. But forget about the fact that they can be released for a walk around the apartment. Rodents by nature gnaw something, so keep them better in a cage. The size of the cage for chinchilla should be chosen correctly to ensure the comfort of the pet.
Choosing a cage for chinchillas
The size of the cage for chinchilla should be such that the animal fit there easily and can comfortably live.
Many experts say that this type of animal is most suitable cage. But in order for rodents to feel comfortable there, you need to know what size a cage for chinchilla should be. To understand this is not so difficult. So, what is the optimal cage size for chinchillas?
You choose a house for the animal. And you need to choose the size of the cage for chinchillas under the animal, and not to your taste, because the main thing is that it should feel comfortable and cozy in it. The animals spend most of their lives there, so do not save!
In addition to the question of what the size of the cage for the chinchilla, you need to wonder about what should be inside it.
First - come to the store and choose a spacious, hygienic design. Passage to the cell must be easy. Do not leave chinchillas in places where it is constantly noisy or in deaf rooms. The animals will not be able to relax, which means that they will not be able to relax either. All this will not lead to good.
Since the animals can not stand the sun's rays, then put them to the window can not. Remember: if you want to sleep at night, do not put a cage with chinchillas in the bedroom, because the greatest peak of activity they have at night.
Among the cells the most popular options are with a retractable tray, as it is quite simple to care for them.
So, the size of the cage for the chinchilla, the most minimal, is 50 cm by 70 cm by 50 cm. But this is still not enough. The optimal cage size for chinchillas is 84 cm by 50 cm by 40 cm.
Having bought housing for animals, do not rush to put them there. First, add special shelves to the cage so that the animals can run anywhere. Place a bowl for food and install a water bowl. Some chinchilla owners make a cage in a cage. If you have such a desire, then buy it, it will not interfere.
Cage for chinchilla do it yourself at home
If you do not want to buy a cage for the chinchilla, then you can do it yourself! It remains only to find out the size of the structure and build it with your own hands. It will not be difficult to make a cage, the main thing is to want and try. As an example, you can use the photos given in the article.
Instructions for making cages for chinchilla at home with your own hands
So, before you start making the cell, you need to decide on the material. Plastic, chipboard or DVD will not work. Also dirty, fungus-infected wood is not suitable. Artificial materials are also unsuitable for making cells for animals such as chinchillas. When making a cage, pay attention to various small items, such as bolts, nuts, and so on. They must be securely fastened. They are small in size, which means that the animals can easily swallow them, which is very bad.
So, the cell itself, more precisely, its frame, is made of aluminum. Side walls are made of metal grids, and the pallet - of steel sheets. Other materials are used for finishing inside the cage.
Once the design is ready, you can fill the bottom with sawdust or straw for the convenience of chinchillas. They will have to be changed daily, but in parts, and every week - completely.
The main rules for the maintenance of chinchillas
You should know that chinchillas practically do not shed, and if they shed, it is only from fear or any excitement. Wash the hair with water is not necessary. Nature has been designed so that chinchillas clean their wool with volcanic dust. Of course, there is no such dust at home, but it can be replaced with sand. It can easily be placed in a cage.
Plus chinchillas is that the fleas and ticks of their thick and dense fur does not like, which means that they will not bother either the animals or you.
Chinchillas do not smell, while many other rodents require constant change of litter so that the smell does not increase.
Do not take chinchillas from random breeders, so no one will guarantee that the animal is healthy. The best option is to take the animal in the nursery.
1 What should be a cozy cage for chinchilla?
If you decide to keep the animal in a city apartment, you need to carefully consider buying or making the right house. The size of the cage for chinchilla should be at least 80 × 80x50cm. The second question to be solved by the owner of a wonderful Fuzzy is how to equip a chinchilla cage.
Cage for chinchilla
The required minimum required from the cell:
- feeding trough - strong and well fixed,
- the drinking bowl should not roll over
- mineral salt stone,
- sand tank
- several wooden shelves for relaxing,
- sennik. Chinchillas love hay.
1.1 Guide to choosing a cage for chinchilla
The task of the owner of the animal is not only to arrange comfortable housing for the pet, but to make comfortable the coexistence of man and beast as much as possible.
- the cage must fit into the interior of your home. Agree, it's nice when a house for a pet in harmony with the rest of the design,
- it is desirable that a house for chinchilla had a platform and was not on the floor. So it will be more convenient for you to feed, water and care for her, and, of course, admire the cute face,
- cell must be ventilated. In the showcase houses there are special openings through which fresh air enters. Check for those still in the store. Otherwise, the animal wool will spoil, and it gets sick!
- the distance between the rods can not be more than 2.3 cm. The animal must be safe and not be able to escape and harm itself. Especially if there is a dog or cat in the house,
- the pallet must be metal and, necessarily, retractable. Chinchilla is clean and usually litter is changed only once a week. Pour sawdust in the pan, they like these rodents.
Important: in no case can you equip the cell at the place of direct sunlight!
1.2 How to equip a cage for chinchilla
Chinchilla is a native of South America and an absolutely unpretentious animal. But there are things without which she definitely can not do. A house equipped with all the recommendations will ensure a long and healthy life for a fluffy pet:
- Capacity for swimming in the sand. Chinchilla - a great lover of sand baths. For the bath, you can adjust the capacity of the terrarium (about 6 liters). It is not recommended to use kupalka with a side entrance - the sand will get enough sleep, but it is expensive.
Bathing in the sand is fun for the chinchilla
2 Chinchilla in the house: where to start?
After you bought the animal and chose a cage, move the pet home. Below is the algorithm, using which you can do everything correctly.
- Place the cage on a stand or chest of drawers. You can put it near the battery, but not close. Do not lodge a chinchilla near tulles and curtains - each piece of fabric that will pull into your house. The cell should not be exposed to direct sunlight.
- Put sawdust in the pan. If you wish, install a toilet in the corner for the animal.
- Put 0.5 cm of sand in the bathing bowl.
- Put food in the feeder. About one tablespoon. The animal can not be overfed! Watch out for his diet.
- Pour boiled water into the drinker. 100 ml is enough for 2-3 days.
Chinchilla Drinker
Never forget that your pet is a rodent, and walking around the apartment can be disastrous both for him and for your property. The chinchilla will taste all that is in the house. Therefore, it would be much more sensible to immediately equip a chinchilla cage and enjoy your pet.
Select cell design
Before you take on the drawings, you need to decide on the type of future design. Chinchillas are mobile animals that require a lot of space. The minimum cage size for one animal is 75x35x50cm. Remember that chinchillas can not be kept alone, and the more animals, the larger must be the size of the product. It is also important to allocate enough space for the playing area - these rodents love to jump, climb to the height, run in the wheel.
If you plan to keep chinchillas in a private house, you can build a real home aviary. Fluffy animals also climb and climb well, so they will feel great in high devices with shelves. If there is not enough space in the apartment, it is recommended to choose a vertical structure with several floors:
Drawing cage for chinchilla
On the Internet you can see a lot of photos of self-made cells and self-made windows for chinchilla. Complex projects with interesting transitions and shelves may inspire work, but with a little experience it is better to choose a simple design. If necessary, in the future, the base frame can be easily built on, complicating the cell structure.
It looks like a cell with the superstructure of the second floor
Materials and tools
To make a cage for your pet, you first need to buy everything you need for work. Materials for construction should be safe; natural wood is best suited. Make a strong frame can be of bars, edged boards, wall paneling, also need boards for shelves. Types of wood such as birch or pine are easy to process and are inexpensive. Also for manufacturing it is possible to use chipboard or plywood.
To tighten the holes and windows need a metal grid with small cells (about 2-2.5 cm). You can use ready-made metal sections with rods, or you can weld them yourself from wire. It is better to choose galvanized or high-quality painted metal. Protection against corrosion will prolong the product's service life, will allow cleaning with household chemicals.
IMPORTANT: In the absence of funds for the manufacture of cells from scratch, you can reuse the old unnecessary furniture - tables, shelves, cabinets. It is enough to tighten the doors with a grid and cut holes in the shelves for ladders. This design is very convenient and will cost almost free.
Another cage option from old furniture
The work will also require a set of common tools for wood:
- saw, hacksaw,
- jigsaw,
- hammer,
- drill and wood drill,
- office knife, marker,
- metal shears
- ruler, building level.
It is important to take care of the fittings - so that the doors are securely locked, it is better to buy ready-made locks in the furniture store. You can also find guides for drawers and sliding shelves, hinges and handles for doors, castors for fastening to the bottom.
How to make a cage for chinchilla do it yourself
After all the materials have been bought, you can start building the structure. To make a cage at home, prepare in advance a convenient place to work. The manufacturing steps are performed in the following order:
- According to the measurements taken a drawing is made. Check your calculations well before cutting out the details.
- Из прочных брусков, в соответствии с размерами чертежа, изготавливается прямоугольное основание. Сверху его обшивают вагонкой в один слой или кладут лист толстой фанеры.
- Если не предусмотрена установка съемного поддона, основание обязательно обрабатывается силиконовым герметиком. This will protect the wood from soaking up liquid and odors.
- The frame of vertical bars is growing. They are fastened at the corners of the base using self-tapping screws or long nails.
- Carrying the top of the frame of the bars of the appropriate length. For the stability of the structure, you can also make several crossbars along the height of the walls. They can later be mounted shelves.
- The walls and the roof are tightened with a durable metal mesh using self-tapping screws with a wide hat. In order for animals not to get hurt, trying to gnaw the sharp edges of the netting, it is necessary to put a metal profile in the place of attachment.
- It is best to make a few doors from different sides of the structure and a removable roof - this will facilitate cleaning. The frames are made of clapboard, the fastening of the doors will be made on metal hinges for bedside tables.
- Shelves are installed - it is better to choose solid, with holes, hatches for ladders. So chinchillas will be able to move freely from one floor to another, and shelters and toys can be placed on the shelves themselves.
- The back wall of the cage is usually closed with a continuous sheet of chipboard or plywood. You can also close one of the side walls to protect the animals from drafts.
The design must be raised to a level of at least 50 cm from the floor - this is necessary to protect the thermophilous animals from the cold. To do this, you can either install strong legs from a timber, or assemble a pedestal stand. Additional space at the bottom is convenient for storage of sawdust, fodder, and other accessories for chinchilla maintenance.
After completion of the work, the homemade cage is treated with special protective impregnations. Outside the frame can be painted or varnished, but inside the wall is treated only with antibacterial and moisture-proof solutions that are safe for animals. You can buy them at the hardware store - you should choose the means without a strong odor.
Arrangement
To correct choose a cage for the animal, you need to decide on the purpose of growing chinchilla.
In the house of rodents decided to breed in pairs. A male chinchilla covers a female, and she brings cubs twice a year, from one to six chinchillas. In pet breeding cases, large cells should be selected that have a lot of free space inside. The size of the cage for chinchilla should be up to 1 meter, and the area is not less than 0.5 cm. Square. for one individual. The bottom covering the cage should be in the form of a grid.
In cages intended for chinchillas, must be available:
- The bars consisting of zinc.
- Pallet (it will be good if it is removable for more comfortable cleaning processes)
- Wooden shelves at different heights
- Houses with multiple entrances.
- Metal feeders, as well as drip drinkers and bathing tanks.
One chinchilla enough cage size 100cm * 50cm * 50cm. In this case, the house should be equipped with a rotating wheel about 10 centimeters in size and various tunnels for the game.
For the reproduction of chinchilla offspring in industrial plants, it is necessary to acquire a large cage for a rodent family, consisting of one male and eight females. Such a cell should consist of 5-6 smaller cells, which will be located along a twenty-centimeter corridor. Thus, the male will be able to access any female, which will be isolated from each other. A special collar that will prevent the female from leaving her cage will be included in the package of the cage.
All cells should be cleaned, dry, and also lit by the sun, warm and be away from drafts.
When purchasing water troughs, it is important to know that the animal loves to drink water, but does not like to be wet, therefore ball type drinkers are well suited for chinchillas. At the same time, the drinkers should not be made of plastic, as the animal will easily gnaw through plastic and the drinker will leak. For chinchillas, it is better to choose glass drinkers.
Particularly popular are vacuum types of drinkers, equipped with good fixings. These drinkers can be filled daily, while not removing them from the cage. Also, the water in these models remains fresh for a long time..
Mainly, the feeder should be comfortable and stable, as chinchillas are quite active animals and any capacity is easily folded. Particular attention is paid to ceramic and metal models of feeders with a strong mount. Do not buy plastic feeders, chinchillas can gnaw them together with food.
Place to sleep
Cell must necessarily contain a comfortable house, preferably made of wood, and fastened with nails or special strong glue. In the daytime, the animal sleeps and rests here, and hides at night if necessary. Most of the houses are based on plywood. The houses serve for about five months, since chinchillas can actively gnaw them. It is necessary to take into account the fact that a cell must have as many houses as there are individuals living in it.
Chinchillas love to sleep in a hammock specially created for them. It is created using fleece fabric, as well as sewn independently from old and unnecessary denim. Usually, these are structures that have several layers of fabric and have well-treated seams. It’s known that hammocks serve a pet much longer than a wooden house.
Rodents love to be in hammocks and choose it as a subject for sleeping more often than a house.
Chinchillas decided to grow in well-lit rooms, ventilated, but without drafts. Rodents feel good at normal room temperature and moderate humidity in the room. Litter animals are well sawdust, and the animal can be on a metal floor. The animals do not tolerate low temperatures, which is why keeping a chinchilla in a room with temperatures below zero is very dangerous for their health.
Animals are not particularly capricious and do not require the presence in the diet of special additives and feed. Experts also recommend to hang salt rollers in a cage with a chinchilla in order to regulate the balance of salts and minerals in the body of the animal. Even these videos will help the animal sharpen its teeth if necessary. Cuttlefish shell can be a good source of calcium for the rodent. Also, the cells are usually equipped with a large number of toys so that the animal does not get bored.
Chinchillas hate water, so in nature they are washed in volcanic ash, and at home in specially prepared sand., Which is obtained by crushing the mineral zeolite. Before this, the sand is subjected to calcination and a little wood ash or talc is added to it (to absorb moisture between the villi), as well as 2% medical sulfur (it can scare off parasites from animal hair). Sand acts as a purifier. hair rodents from excess fluff. It is forbidden to use river-type sand, since it is bad for the health of chinchilla fur.
Also, some kupalki may have the appearance of an unusual house, which will be attached to the metal bars of the cage or to its front door. Such kupalki cost quite a lot, so some owners create them themselves, using in their work empty cans of large size. The main thing is that the house for washing should be well strengthened, for this it is equipped with special legs, mounts and struts.
