A chinchilla is a small burrowing rodent that originates from South America. These small creatures are taken into many American homes today and treated as household pets. You need to know the basics about owning one of these small exotic creatures.
One of the most important things to remember about caring for non-domestic animals is that their behavior can be quite unpredictable. Therefore, if you are going to purchase a small household animal such as the chinchilla, you are advised to invest your money in one bred in captivity rather than one was captured from the wild.
Not only is the behavior of wild animals unpredictable, but they can also spread unknown (and many known) disease agents which could be harmful, especially to children and other household pets. Therefore, choose carefully when chinchilla shopping. The future of your entire household depends upon it. You need to know what you are getting yourself into when you commit to buying one of these animals.
Another aspect of owning a chinchilla involves assessing the cost of taking care of one once you bring it home. You need to make sure you can afford to feed your pet the proper chinchilla diet. The good news is, however, that chinchillas are not nearly as picky of eaters as ferrets. The most important aspect of feeding a chinchilla is to make sure that you do not give it any seeds. They do not take well to seeds.
If you want to make absolutely sure that your chinchilla is fed right and receives the right nutrients, you can feed your animal chinchilla pellets-and NOT rabbit or gerbil pellets. Food pellets created for chinchilla contain the amount of prescribed nutrients that is right for them. The best pellets created for this type of animal contain two parts calcium to one part phosphorus, with a low protein count and high roughage count. You can further check with experts to see what they would recommend. If you follow these above guidelines your animal will be most likely properly fed, however.
If you want to calculate the cost of feeding your new pet, you may want to make sure you consult a specialist who deals with exotic animals, or you can research that cost online. Pet stores that deal with chinchillas would have this kind of information as well. Talking to a chinchilla dealer about that animal's eating patterns will help you figure out if you can afford to feed your pet.
Another important factor you may need to know about your chinchilla is how to properly groom and care for your pet. For example, you may need to know how to deal with blotches of fur that may come out when you comb its hair. You have no need to be alarmed if this happens. It will grow back if it does. If you want to prevent from the hair falling out you will want to be careful not to pull too hard when coming.
Another time when you have to be aware of fur falling out is when you are handling your pet chinchilla. Sometimes they will lose fur when someone pulls on their fur too hard. If you do not want your animal to lose hair you can grab it by the base of the tail and the shoulder. This will decrease the chance of your pet losing too much fur. You will want to teach others how to handle your pet as well, so they are prepared in case the animal wants to get away.
The process of a chinchilla losing fur is a natural defense mechanism, which they use to protect themselves. If they are not alarmed by those who are holding them, they will be more likely to not lose any fur. No matter how careful you or your visitors are, however, it could still happen regardless. Either way, just do the best you cannot to startle your pet, and to teach others how to handle it properly. That is all you can do, and allow the pet to warm up to you and those around you.
For more information on what you need to know if you own or plan to own a chinchilla you can read more articles such as this one. You can also count on the advice of experienced pet owners and pet professionals to help you out. You can find these resources very quickly by searching on the Internet.
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