Fluff the Chinchilla's Cages Page.
If you are thinking of buying a chinchilla please read my Before you buy a Chinchilla page first for some of the realities of life with a chinchilla.
APPEAL: Could you donate your old cage to a rescue? R&J Chinchilla Rescue in Northampton have been inundated with chinchillas needing new homes, many needing vetinary treatment. Please contact them via their site if you have any spare cages you could donate. If you are not close enough then maybe you could find a more local rescue to donate your cage to - try the Chinchillas Unlimited Forums to find one near you.
I've recently started an Environment Enrichment page with ideas on how to keep your pets entertained. Also check out the Pet Shopping and Chinchilla Links pages which contain links to a number of people who make great cages that are both larger and cheaper than pet shop bought ones and also great sites for buying materials to make your own and accessories.
Fluff started off in a standard Terenziani chinchilla cage. This cage which is two story and sold as a chinchilla cage but I think is more suitable for Rats and Degus - my degus have been living in it happily for many years with the mesh floors out. I prefer these cages to the standard galvanized mesh cages that they sell in places like Pets at Home and although some people say that you shouldn't use plastic coated mesh as the plastic gets chewed off it's not been a problem. As you can see from the picture below this cage really isn't big enough for her. Chinchillas kept in small cages like this may develop behavioral problems if not let out for long periods each day. It is however better to be in a smaller cage with plenty to play and lots of attention with than a large cage with nothing to do so if you cannot afford a large cage look at some of the ideas on the Environment Enrichment page.
So we got a Ferplast Duetto aviary for her. A large cage like this means if we don't have time to let her out every single night we don't have to worry about her getting too bored. Have a look at the pet shopping page for places to get a similar cage if you can't find one. This is a two story bird cage and we had to use a jigsaw to cut a hole between floors, cutting both the tray and the support floor underneath. We bought some strips of angled metal from a DIY store and stuck them on the edges of the tray with aruldite to stop bedding being kicked over the edge. This originally was aluminium and the little wotsits chewed it - we replaced it with iron which wasn't quite as attractive but was chewproof. The floor of he aviary tray was filled with Eco bed which is low dust shredded cardboard - see the Bedding page. Originally, as shown in the first picture, we had a wire mesh middle floor.However, this arrangement did not work well as she had the habit of peeing on the second floor and spraying the wall. With the solid floor we have managed to litter train her to use a stainless steel tray when she pees which allows us to keep the cage a lot cleaner without having to do a full clean out as often. Unfortunately Spike wasn't a good and tended to go where he felt like it. There is a lot of discussion about the reletive merits of mesh vs solid floors, mesh floors can be more hygeinic and lower risk of dust allergy, but solid floors are safer and can't cause bumblefoot. The second floor was originally reached by a metal parrot ladder, but later replaced with a perch that they use to jump up. One warning about cage heights - with a tall cage like this always make sure that they cannot fall more than about 18 inches as they can injure themselves.
The cage as it started out and after many years of toy aquiring.
There is a wire mesh floor covering about a third of the top of the cage allowing them to sit up in the roof of the aviary. I have added bits of cardboard so that they are hidden up there and a towel folded towel to sit on. Fluff and Spike used to hide inside the towel - I'm not sure how good this is for their fur but they really seems to like it. It is changed and washed when the cage is cleaned out - if you do this under no circumstances put the chinchilla towel in with your clothes unless you really like chinchilla fur everywhere! Chinnies do like somewhere to hide and get a good sleep - favorite places are perches high up in dark corners and smallish boxes with a hole at each end. Over the years I have added a wheel, lots of perches and tubes and some nice hammocks. I must make a quick plug for Hammocky Hammocks, all funds from which are going to chinchilla rescues. These are just wonderful, the chinchillas adore sleeping in them, they haven't managed to chew them even after several months and they wash well.
The much-missed Fluff relaxing in her hammocky hammock.
I can open the left hand door and the chins can let themselves in and out using the plastic tank in front of it - it is much better to allow chinchillas to let themselves in and out during playtime as they will feel much safer if they can run for home. Outside the cage the corners of the walls are protected with aluminum angle strips bought from B&Q and screwed onto the skirting boards and stuck to the walls with heavy duty sticky pads. I have large plastic sheets from the DIY store to protect the wooden doors. They trashed the wallpaper and skirting boards when I first had them and I had to change to painted walls and snazzy metal clad skirting boards to make a suitable, safe chinchilla rooms. It goes without saying to never, ever let a chinchilla loose in a room with electric wires in.
Trashed wall and after repairs and redecoration
Fluff lived fine in this cage on her own but Spike had an accident with the corner of the cage almost as soon as I put him in it - he caught his toe in a tiny hole and ended up dangling by it - described in more detail on Spike's Page. I would strongly recommend that you block the hole if you buy one of these cages.
This corner cost poor Spike a toe - and how we fixed it.
