Life of a Chinchilla
How to Care For Chinchillas:
Many chinchillas get slaughtered and killed every day. They are used to make fur coats and hats that are sold for 30,000 $ - 120,000 $. This is a touchy subject to me because I raise my own chinchillas. At the beginning of October (October 3), I got my first chinchilla named Stitch. He was a dark standard grey chinchilla and not long after we brought his brother home Sabastian who is a Light grey standard chinchilla on November 5th. Sadly 15 days before Christmas stitch got super ill from a rare disease that had been with him since birth and he passed away December 27th, 2019. It was really sad to watch one of my favorite things on the planet go so soon, and also watch Sabastian get super sad over the loss of his best friend, But as always life moves on one way or another. Sebastian is now 1 years old and his birthday was on September 15th. I’m so glad to have him there with me every single day and he is like my own tiny best friend who sits on my shoulder everywhere I go. I also hope to get another one eventually and I would like to get a black velvet or a white one with black eyes. Chinchillas are NOT just an animal you decide you want to get one day. You need to do week’s worth of research. They can also live up to 20 years old which is a big commitment and the longest living chinchilla was 29 years and 229 days old. They take tons of attention and cost around $500-$1,000 with proper care. A fact that most people don’t know is that chinchillas can NOT get wet or even close to liquids other than their water bottle. Since chinchillas don’t get baths they get baths dust baths with the chinchilla dust found in your local pet store. Why can’t chinchillas get wet? Well, their fur is so fine and soft that it would clump together and could possibly kill them. Getting them wet is seriously damaging to the animal. I also don’t recommend getting a chinchilla if you live in an extremely noisy environment. It can stress the animal out and cause loss of fur to your animal. Chinchillas can also become overheated because they are from the colder parts in mountainous areas so you must make sure you have an environment for them that’s at least 60f-75f. If looking to get an exotic animal just make sure you have the right environment, space, money, and education to get one. Just be sure you have everything needed such as a 5-foot tall cage, cooling pad, fleece liners (no bedding), lots of wooden toys so they can sharpen their teeth, ledges to jump on, hide houses ( absolutely no plastic), glass water bottle, Oxbow essentials, chinchilla food, variations of treats (not many fresh foods), Metal chinchilla wheel, space where they can run and play, dust and dust bath, litterbox or designated spot to pee, and many other essentials are need for chinchillas. Also, keep in mind exotic pet means exotic vet which also means exotic prices. Be prepared for how needy they are and make sure you have the time and money to have one.
Slaughter Houses and Farms:
One question I had about chinchilla farms is how do they get their fur? They are usually by the age of one-year-old gassed, beaten, or have their necks broken. As much as I hate researching this I want to know how people can help save them. I found an article on how “Serbia Bans Fur Farms” was banned and up to 12,000 chinchillas were saved. Life on a fur farm isn’t how these adorable and loving animals should be living. They are kept in battery cages for months and sometimes even years. This keeps them from doing what they should be able to do like running and jumping. Even though chinchillas are kept safe most of the time since they are considered an endangered species, thousands of them have still killed each year for the name of fashion. Chinchillas aren’t the only animals at the farms. Other animals such as lynx and foxes are also killed for their fur. I found an organization called Cuddle Bug Chinchillas. Their purpose is to get more people to breed, raise, and help save chinchillas. It explains why they need more people to join and also what the advantages are if you were to join this unit. If more people step up chinchillas will not be feared to go extinct. There are only about 10,000 left in the wild mountain ranges which isn’t good because eventually there will be no chinchillas left out in the wild.
What’s so cool about them:
Yes, they may just seem like some other rodent out there but they are actually unique in their own way. Why is this? Well, their fur is called to be the softest thing you could ever touch. That is if it is taken care of properly. It’s known to be 30 times softer than a human’s hair. They have amazing jumping abilities being able to jump up to five feet in the air as a grown adult. They also do something called the fur slip. This is where if they feel threatened they will immediately lose large clumps of fur to try and slip away from their predators Which is why if you grab your chinchilla to fast they may start to shed and lose fur. One thing to be careful about if you need to wash your hands before and after holding or handling your chinchilla. They can catch and carry diseases easily. Which is why they need to be taken to an exotic vet quite frequently. If your chinchilla uses noises such as barking, squeaking, and chirping they may feel the presence of another chinchilla or could be very stressed and needs to be in a more calm environment. I hope you learned something while reading my article and now know more about chinchillas and their backgrounds.