Buying a chinchilla

If you are buying a chinchilla for a child then when they change schools, have too much homework, discover boy/girl friends you will be the ones looking after it, so be prepared to do all the work in the future. They can live a long time and younger children easily lose interest.

You don’t need a huge cage but if you rarely let the chinchilla out for a run the cage needs to be at least 36” x 18” in size (height is not necessary as chinchillas are rock hoppers by nature and don’t adapt to heights very well – if you buy a tall cage make sure it has almost complete mesh floors at each 18” in height).

Chinchillas can be kept on their own but some people prefer them to have a friend to talk to in their own language, and someone to cuddle up to when sleeping.

Chinchillas are crepuscular (awake dawn and dusk) and so if you’re in all day, don’t expect your new friend to play with you – they are therefore ideal pets for people who are out during the day.

Colour really doesn’t matter, and the more common colours (such as standard grey and beige) are cheaper and usually more robust whereas the rarer or more genetically difficult to reproduce colours such as ebony, violet, sapphire, charcoal are not only more costly but can be more highly stressed and difficult to keep as pets and are therefore best left to experienced owners.

You can buy your first chinchilla from a pet shop, animal sanctuary, chinchilla rescue, friend, hobby breeder, larger breeder, or NCS show member - many of the chinchillas from all these sources will be happy and healthy, but some may have genetic faults or contagious diseases if purchased from dubious sources. It’s very difficult to find out which are good and bad sources, so always go to look at more than one place before buying, always ask lots of questions about the health of the owner’s chinchillas, the health and genetics behind the chinchilla you are looking at, and also ask about its actual colour, and age. If owners don’t ask you any questions about how you are going to keep it, care for it, house it and feed it, walk away as they may not have the chinchillas' best interests at heart. You may be buying a cheaper chinchilla but you may also be landing yourself with a huge vets bill one day (or even a problem which could affect your other pets).

When purchasing your new chinchilla, always ask for a supply of the food they have been using. You may not be able to buy the same food straight away and therefore you will need to mix any new variety in with the existing one, gradually increasing the new one's percentage until the chinchilla is weaned off onto the new variety. This will help to avoid diarrhoea. Also check what sort of water and container the previous owner has been using. They may be used to an automatic system and need to be shown a bottle, or they may be used to tap water and you intended to use bottle supermarket water (chinchillas often don't like the taste of this). Also ask about the feeding times they are used to and any play time. Try to stick to the same routine for at least a month in order to acclimatise your new pet. Also ranch bred chinchillas rarely have any exercise (it's also a good idea not to give your pet much exercise before it reaches 6 months of age anyway). If you do over-exercise it, you may find it suffers from heatstroke or a fit and this can be distressing for both you and the chinchilla, so a short run a couple of times a week is sufficient.

Once you’ve decided on a place to buy your new chinchilla, ask around from other chinchilla owners (websites on my contacts and links page are good places to start) about their views on the owner. If any of them hesitate or are cagey in their replies, don’t buy the chinchilla from that place, look elsewhere. There are many, many chinchillas looking for new homes in the country at the moment, and many are from reputable places, so try to find a reputable owner or breeder who can find you your ideal new companion.

Have you got the space for a second cage ? Introductions should only take place after at least a month’s quarantine (unless you know and really trust the breeder/owner).

Are you 100% sure of the sex of your existing chinchilla (and also of the chinchilla you are going to buy)? There have been many cases where unexpected litters appear when the pair was meant to be the same sex.

You will definitely need a second cage if you are setting up a breeding pair as the male must be removed within 12 hours of the babies being born (he can go back again after 5 days and she is unlikely to become pregnant while lactating, or he can stay out until the babies are weaned). You will also need a second cage for weaning the babies at around 2 months of age.

Have you got the money for expensive vets bills if problems arise with the pregnancy (caesareans can run into many hundreds of pounds with no guarantee of the survival of the mother or the babies), or if the female attacks the male or the male attacks the babies?

Have you got new homes lined up for any possible litters ? The country is over-run with chinchillas at the moment and you may just be adding to the chinchilla “mountain”.

What colours are the existing chinchilla and the one you intend to buy ? Some colours MUST NOT be paired together except by experienced breeders. These are white to white (which includes wilson white, silver, mosaic, pink-white, brown-white cross, black-white cross, ebony white, white violet……), and black to black (these include black velvet, brown velvet, TOV ebony, black-white cross, brown-white cross, dark pastel, dark tan….). Please ask around if you’re not sure before you pair up two chins. The reason for this is that there is a fatal factor involved with these particular coat colours. You may get no babies, less litters than expected, less kits than expected, or even deformed babies.

Do you know the full genetic history of both your existing chinchilla and the one you intend to buy ? If not then there may be hereditary faults such as malocclusion (tooth problems), fitting, deformed babies, dystocia (difficulty in giving birth), short lifespan etc, which you may pass on to the next generation. Never breed from pet chinchillas if you don’t know at least 3 generations of health history (having a “pedigree” doesn’t guarantee health, nor does the chinchilla having produced healthy chinchillas once before, or appearing to be healthy itself).

If you intend to show the chinchilla you purchase or to breed show quality chinchillas, it is best to attend several shows in your region before buying your first show animals. You can then start to learn the differences between pet, novice and show quality chinchillas. Some people may offer you a top show quality chinchilla at a highly inflated price which turns out to be no better than a pet or novice animal.

Always try to buy your first show animal at a show (decide on the colour you want to own/breed then listen to the judges comments and approach the owner of the animal being sold - just because an animal doesn't win a ribbon on the day doesn't mean it's not a good animal, check to see what it's bad points are then discuss the animal with the owner and other breeders).

If you intend to breed show quality mutations, always use good quality standards (the best you can buy) to breed with the colour of your choice as this will keep the fur quality and strength of the mutation and pass it on to the next generation. Breeding two mutations together (if weaked fured to start with) will result in non-show quality offspring being produced.

Once you know what you are looking for, you can then visit several top show breeders to purchase further show animals. Always ask for a pedigree to check the genetic and health history of the animal (but remember that these can easily be faked so check up on pedigree codes with the original breeders if you don't feel certain you can trust the person you are buying from), and ask to see siblings parents, and other relatives. If they cannot show you any of the lines that are in breeding with them it may be because that line isn't good enough or it may be that they have just started out with the line, or it may be that they purchased in the chinchilla and have found it surplus to requirements or has not developed enough for them to use to produce top show animals.

However two top quality show animals won't necessarily produce top show offspring due to the combination of the genes carried by the two animals. Also an animal that has never won a ribbon in its life can still produce a show champion (Champ our brown velvet came from an animal that was a rescue but with a known genetic and health history and so was never shown).

We will do our best to ensure that any animals you buy from Albatross Chinchillas are healthy and have a good reliable, trustworthy genetic background. Some of the rescues that we rehome have no background but they will have been health checked and kept with us for at least 3 months before they can go to their new home.

We are happy for you to come and look at the chinchillas in their home environment, and will be able to show you many of their relatives. If you are pairing a chinchilla we may allow you to bring it with you (as long as it is healthy and free from contagious diseases) so that they can meet and get to know their prospective partners as some chinchillas will not get along together.