Chinchilla owners - housing question?

You don't *have* to have a five-story mansion, however, the more room your chin has, the happier it will be. If you get a cage that's too small, your chin could end up with health and/or behavioral problems. Get the biggest cage you can afford!

My dad built my chins' cages. I can't remember the exact measurements, but I'm thinking they're about 4' tall x 3' wide x 2' deep. If you or someone you know can build a cage, then here's a link that has some other links to sites with homemade cage designs: http://www.chincare.com/HealthLifestyle/HealthLife...

As for some other nice cages, Martin's Cages Inc. makes some good ones: http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/chinchi... The only thing I don't like about their cages is the platforms/levels are made from wire mesh. These cages would still work, but you should buy something to place over the levels and platforms so your chin isn't walking on the mesh (toes could get stuck or could lead to bumblefoot). Something like the mat found on this page: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display... would work, but you would need quite a few of them to cover all of the platforms.

There's also some really nice cages on the market for large birds that would work for chinchillas. You could easily add wooden shelves, climbing branches, and a wheel to the cages and they would provide your chinchilla with plenty of room.

One thing to keep in mind when looking for a chinchilla cage - NO PLASTIC!! This also includes plastic-coated bars. Chinchillas will chew on it and, over time, the plastic can kill your chinchilla.

It depends; one chinchilla or a few? If there are like 3 you are planning to get, you'd probably need a "3-story mansion." You don't really need such a big home for one chinchilla, but make sure there's enough room in the cage for it to move around, jump and have fun.

I have a 3-story chinchilla cage because a family of 3 used to live in it. 2 of them passed away but I kept it anyways because the one left behind seemed to like moving around a lot.

my brother has a 3 story chinchilla cage for his 2 chinchillas and they absolutely love it! They are so active they literally jump off the walls! : )

Nice, I just asked a similar question about rats. :)

Anyways, does a chinchilla really need a 5 story mansion? Probably not, but never hurts to have more room than you really need. :)

Heck, if you can afford a ''chinchilla mansion'', why not?

As with all animal cages - the bigger the better!

Remember your pet will spend almost all of its life locked in that cage - which is only a tiny fraction of what its natural wild habitat would be.

The cage needs to be large enough for the animal to exercise properly and have suitable enrichment.

Always go for the absolute biggest cage you have the space and money for.

A sturdy wire cage with two levels would suffice. They are wonderful pets but do get noisy at night being that they are nocturnal. They have the cutest bark. are you housing it indoor or out? They are very sensitive to the heat, due to their dense coat. Temp above 75degrees can be detrimental. (speaking from experience! still suffering from that loss) We usually house them outside during the winter and have them indoor with air conditioning in late spring. Here is a tip, try getting cage on ebay. we bought one for 20 dollars. (1 dollar for the cage and 19dollar for shipping) but still a fantastic deal. you wouldn't be able to find it at that price anywhere. Good luck

It is nicer to get a 5-story cage, but not necessary. I recommend a 3-story starter kit cage. You know, the ones that come with the water bottle, the food, the bedding, and the chewing blocks. I have one, and it works great.

What ever you choose, remember not to get a cage or a wheel with a wired base. Makesure nothing he can walk on is barred. He/She can get their foot stuck and out of desperation, will chew his/her foot off to get out.

Chinchillas do like to bounce around and bounce off their cages walls.

More Width would be better. But they also like height, when they get used to your house, they will like to climb to the highest thing they can.

It's always nice for the Chinchilla's. They're so active. If you can afford it, the bigger the better!